#3 Iowa Hawkeyes vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ Kinnick Stadium 11/24/1956 - 48-8 blowout win

The victory, combined with Ohio State's loss, gave Iowa its first undisputed Big Ten championship since 1922. Iowa's 48 points was the fourth highest total allowed by a Notre Dame football team to that point in the program's history. Paul Hornung sprained a thumb 10 minutes into the game and did not return. Iowa rushed for 409 yards and scored on runs of 10 and 41 yards by Ken Ploen, 23 and 61 yards by Fred Harris, and 54 yards by Mike Hagler.
Learn more about the game at hawkeyerecap.c...

[@8avexp]

I was born five days before this game! Paul Hornung became the only Heisman winner to date on a team with a losing (2-8) record. He led the nation in kickoff returns that year, but as he put it, "We gave up so many touchdowns that year, our opponents were always kicking off to us."

[@johnmanier7968]

1956 was by far Notre Dame’s worst football season to that point. They finished 2-8 and gave up 289 points. Before this, ND had never lost more than 5 games or allowed as many as 200 points in any season-and this was the only time ND would ever allow 200+ points in a 10-game season. ND didn’t allow more than 200 again until 1984 (7-5) and 1985 (5-6). Three 1956 teams scored 40+ on ND-Oklahoma, Michigan State, and Iowa-something that had happened only five previous times combined in 68 seasons. The terrible season was completely unexpected: ND entered the season ranked 3rd in the AP poll. ND finished above .500 the next 2 years, but floundered from 1959-1963 and wasn’t a national championship contender again until Ara Parseghian arrived in 1964.

[@brionhurley]

Good insights on the status of the program at that time

[@nickgold4111]

Is that Jim Zabel calling the game?

[@brionhurley]

Yes, I'm almost positive. He covered all the Rose Bowls, and Iowa went to the Rose Bowl after the season ended

[@DrKnipe]

An absolute treat getting Zabel on this!