Friday night will mark one of the coldest games in the history of Notre Dame Stadium.
No records will be broken, as a late November contest in South Bend against Iowa in 1964 saw 13 degrees at kickoff with snow.
It might be one of the ten coldest games there ever, but it won’t be that bad when Indiana and Notre Dame get rolling at 8 p.m. ET.
But it won’t exactly be pleasant either.
The current forecast at kickoff is calling for 28 degrees, cloudy, with 11 mph winds and a 15% chance for snow.
And if anything, the conditions should improve slightly over the course of the game.
The temperature at 11 p.m. will be around 25, the snow chances never really change, and perhaps most notably, the winds will calm to around 6 mph in the fourth quarter.
If Indiana needs to open up the passing game late, the weather should cooperate.
With the stadium just 25 miles from Lake Michigan, anything is possible, but IU coach Curt Cignetti is not worried about a cold, wintry game.
Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke is from Oakville, Ontario, and he’s coming off one of the best games of his career — in very similar conditions.
The temperature at kickoff when Indiana beat Purdue 66-0 on Nov. 30 was 29 degrees. It was snowing and the winds were 5 mph. The competition will be much better on Friday, but those conditions had no impact on Rourke.
Known as the Maple Missile, or Maple Maestro if you prefer, all Rourke did against the Boilermakers was complete 74.2% of his passes while throwing for 349 yards and six touchdowns.
So when it comes to the weather in South Bend, Cignetti says bring it on.
“I hope it snows a foot and a half. We have a Canadian quarterback. Did you see him throw the ball against Purdue?” Cignetti said on Wednesday. “This guy grew up like in the frigid north. He looked pretty good to me that night. So I don’t think it’s going to bother him very much.
“So much revolves around that guy, right? Everybody else will find a way to stay warm, but it’s not a concern. It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be windy. There could be snow on the ground. Both teams have to play on it.
“We’ve been practicing outside in the cold for a long time. We played in it against Purdue. When we started the game, there was snow on the turf. It was cold. It was windy. So we’ve been through it.”
Although he’ll be playing at home, Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard might have more trouble acclimating to the conditions. The product of Alabama played at Duke the last three years before transferring to the Irish.
Indiana (11-1) and Notre Dame (11-1) kick at 8 p.m. ET Friday at South Bend (ABC/ESPN).
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