Pack football to play at Notre Dame in 2016

The University of Nevada football program has agreed to a one-game deal to play at Notre Dame in 2016, athletics director Doug Knuth announced today.

The game will mark Nevada’s second visit to Notre Dame Stadium and the game is scheduled for Sept. 10, 2016 in South Bend. It will be one of two trips to Indiana that season for the Wolf Pack as Nevada will also play at Purdue in 2016.

“We are very excited to add the University of Notre Dame to our 2016 schedule,” Nevada coach Brian Polian said. “The opportunity to go and compete against a storied college football program in a unique atmosphere will be a great experience for our student-athletes. And the exposure that our university and program will gain from the broadcast of the game on NBC will be invaluable. We are excited about the chance to play this game.”

The game will be a homecoming of sorts for Polian, who was an assistant coach for the Fighting Irish from 2005 through 2009, including the final two seasons as special teams coordinator.

In order to place the game on the schedule, Nevada was able to work with two other schools to rearrange the dates of other non-conference games that were on the 2016 schedule.

“We very much appreciate our colleagues at Cal and Cal Poly for their willingness to reschedule our games with them,” Knuth said. “We’re excited for this opportunity.”

Nevada was scheduled to play Cal in Berkeley in 2016. The schools have agreed to push that game to a later season.

The Wolf Pack will now open the season at home with Cal Poly coming to Mackay Stadium on Sept. 3, in a game previously scheduled for Sept. 10 that year. Nevada will also play host to UCLA on Sept. 17 and will be at Purdue on Sept. 24.

Nevada has agreed in principle to the game at Notre Dame. The schools are still finalizing details of the contract.