The 42nd Degree: 1963, 1964, and Jack Snow

Program-Altering Openers, Wisconsin And Jack Snow

The upcoming Shamrock Series game in Lambeau Field against Wisconsin reminds me of a legendary Notre Dame football season opener against the Badgers.

I have always been fascinated by Ara Parseghian’s first game as head coach at Notre Dame in 1964. The Irish were coming off a 2-7 season in 1963 that included five consecutive losses to end the year. That first game in 1964, however, the Irish routed Wisconsin in Camp Randall Stadium 31-7 while unveiling a devastating passing attack.

The only modern equivalent, which might stretch the definition of equivalent, was the debut for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame in 2005 when the Irish offense put up 42 points in a season debut victory at Pittsburgh. The program had only scored 30 points three times in 2004 and never broke 40 points once in ‘04.

Notre Dame fans walked away from the 1964 and 2005 openers knowing that something was different.

The 1964 season ended in a heartbreaking loss at Southern Cal that denied Parseghian and the team a national title in his first year.

The 2005 team might have been two plays (an overtime loss to Michigan State, the infamous Bush Push game against Southern Cal) from playing for a national title in 2005.

Most informed Irish football historical fanatics know that the 1964 Wisconsin game also saw the debut of John Huarte, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback and Jack Snow, who would finish fifth in Heisman voting, at wide receiver. The Huarte tale has been told many times, seldom used before Parseghian's arrival, he took the college football world by storm in 1964.

Ara had a particular ability to take misused or underused players and transform them into stars when he took over the Irish program. A series of rule changes helped as well.

Modern football fans are accustomed to liberal substitutions on each play but that has not always been the case.

Here is an attempt at a ‘quick’ NCAA football substitution history.

Before World War II, if you came out of the game in the first half, you could not return until the second half. If you came out of the game in the second half, you were done for the game.
During World War II the NCAA allowed unlimited dead-ball substitutions due to the war-depleted rosters. This prompted the first version of what we see today, which is players who specialize on one side of the ball or the other (i.e. the two-platoon system).
In 1953 the NCAA stepped in and effectively banned the two-platoon system passing a rule that a player can only enter the game once per quarter.
After the 1953 change, the rules got increasingly more complex as they allowed more substitutions but only at very specific times. There were such things as ‘wild card’ substitutions that allowed a sub on first or fourth down. Other than those wild cards, a team could only sub on second and third down if the clock was stopped.
The 1964 season allowed for unlimited free substitutions when the clock was stopped and two players could be subbed in when the clock was running.

Confused? I don’t blame you but the key take away is that Ara had a unique eye for talent and a key rule change allowed that eye for talent to be unleashed.

Jack Snow is the perfect example of the upgraded version of Notre Dame football in 1964 to begin the ‘Era of Ara.’

Let’s look back at that first game of the 1963 season first. Snow, forced by the rules at the time to play both ways, starred on both sides of the ball against Wisconsin. He had three carries for 26 yards and Notre Dame’s only touchdown in a 14-9 loss. He caught a pass for 15 yards, he punted six times for a 38.0 average and ended up second on the team with nine tackles.

It is a pretty remarkable performance in an otherwise unremarkable game in Irish football history.

Free to focus on offense in 1964 Snow helped lead the Irish to victory over Wisconsin with nine catches for then school-record 217 yards and two touchdowns. The 217-yard effort is still ranked the third-best in school history for a single game.

Looking forward to seeing if the incredible talent on the 2026 Notre Dame football roster can provide another remarkable – or legendary – season-opening performance on Sunday night.

If you want to see more of that 1964 game against Wisconsin, here is a full highlight recap:

Irish Items

☘️ The Men’s Soccer team has a group of talented freshmen making plays early this season, including a thrilling 84th-minute equalizer goal on on Friday night against No. 8 Saint Louis in Alumni Stadium. Notre Dame faces Harvard tonight (Monday, Aug. 31) at Alumni Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET on ACCNX).

☘️ The Women’s Soccer team has earned four draws in five matches this season as the group is working through several injuries. The Irish will also have two key players competing in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup this week and next. The Irish are back in action at home this Thursday when local Fighting Irish fans can bring their furry friends to Pups at the Pitch versus No. 3 Michigan State (7:00 p.m. ET at Alumni Stadium).

☘️ Notre Dame Football has won 10 games in a row by double-digits entering the season opener with Wisconsin. That is the longest such streak for the program since 1944-43 when Frank Leahy’s teams won 11 straight.

☘️ A common refrain this time of year is that preseason college football polls are meaningless. There is a bit of truth to that, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t take a historical look at Notre Dame’s No. 4 Associated Press preseason ranking. It is the first time since the AP preseason poll debuted in 1950 that Notre Dame has ranked No. 4. It is the 20th time that the Irish have been in the preseason AP top five. In 1953, 1954, 1967, 1968, 1977, 1989 and 1992 Notre Dame was in the top five to begin and end the season.

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The 42nd Degree is written by Alan Wasielewski. Alan has worked on campus as a member of the athletic communications team and video production unit since his graduation from Notre Dame in 2000.

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