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Champaign-Urbana
Serving Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy, IllinoisVol. 1, No. 25
Sports

Illinois and Notre Dame schedule first football meetings in 59 years for 2027 and 2028

Sports desk
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026In the Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026 edition

CHAMPAIGN - Illinois and Notre Dame will play football for the first time in 59 years under a home-and-home agreement the schools announced Nov. 3, according to Illinois Athletics. The Illini play at Notre Dame on Sept. 4, 2027, and host the Irish in Champaign on Sept. 2, 2028.

"This is a series I have wanted to get on the football schedule since I arrived in 2016," said Josh Whitman, Illinois' director of athletics.

The teams have met 12 times, most recently at Notre Dame Stadium in 1968. Nine of those games came between 1937 and 1946; the first was in 1898.

The Notre Dame games replace Missouri on Illinois' 2027 and 2028 schedules. Illinois also added FIU on Aug. 28, 2027, and will no longer play Eastern Illinois that season. Game times and TV will be announced later.

Away-game tickets are allotted by I FUND membership level and priority points, and the only guaranteed way to get 2028 season tickets, which include the Notre Dame home game, is to buy 2027 season tickets, the university said.

Source: Fighting Illini: Illinois and Notre Dame schedule home-and-home for 2027 and 2028 (read Nov. 4, 2026).

Drafted by AI from the linked public source. Approved by a Daily News Editor.

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