The team was coached by Charlie Weis and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

After finishing the 2004 season at 6–6, Notre Dame officials, in a controversial move,[1][2] fired third-year head coach Tyrone Willingham.

The Irish initially hoped to hire University of Utah head coach Urban Meyer, who had led the Utes to an undefeated season, as Meyer had been an assistant coach for the Irish for five years and had a clause in his contract stating he could leave Utah without penalty if Notre Dame offered him a job.

On the offensive side of the ball the only key losses for the Irish were running back Ryan Grant and former quarterback and wide receiver Carlyle Holiday.

The Panthers were led by their first-year head coach Dave Wannstedt and junior quarterback and two-year starter, Tyler Palko.

At Notre Dame, the previous season, Palko became the first quarterback to throw five touchdown passes against the Irish in the Panthers 41–38 win.

The Irish began the game with the ball, and marched down the field with a 76-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard Brady Quinn touchdown pass to Rhema McKnight.

In the second quarter, on Michigan's first drive past the 50-yard line, Garrett Rivas was able to hit a 38-yard field goal to make the score 7–3 in favor of the Irish.

On the Wolverines next possession, on another fourth down attempt near midfield, Henne completed a 54-yard pass to Jason Avant who was tackled at the Irish 1-yard line.

Michigan had one final possession with two minutes remaining, but failed, once again, to convert a fourth down, sealing the win for the Irish.

During the overtime period, the Irish, with the ball first, missed three attempted passes by Quinn into the endzone, and settled for a field goal to give them a 41–38 lead.

On the Spartans second play in overtime, Stanton, while running the option, pitched the ball to Jason Teague for a 19-yard touchdown to win the game.

After the game, apparently upset at not having the Megaphone Trophy to raise after the win,[26] a small group of Spartans planted the Michigan State flag on the field.

With three minutes left in the game, Stanback was replaced with backup quarterback Johnny Durocher, who threw a 41-yard touchdown to Chambers, to give the final score of 36–17.

The Irish next went on the road, for the fourth time in the season, to face the 20th ranked Purdue Boilermakers, led by 9th year head coach Joe Tiller, for the Shillelagh Trophy.

The ensuing kickoff was returned by Dorien Bryant 66 yards to give the Boilermakers the ball on the Notre Dame 30-yard line, however, they were unable to advance it and didn't score due to a missed 43-yard field goal.

After both teams had turnovers, Painter and the Boilermakers capitalized with Sheets second rushing touchdown of 8 yards, giving the final score with the Irish winning 49–28.

The Trojans, led by coach Pete Carroll and Heisman-winning senior quarterback Matt Leinart, were ranked first in the country, were on a 27-game winning streak, and had won three straight meetings with the Irish, each by 31 points.

[38] On June 10, 2010, the NCAA found that Bush was ineligible for college athletics during the 2005 season and USC was forced to vacate all wins from that year.

The Cougars started the scoring with a 45-yard field goal, but Brady Quinn, completing six of seven passes on his first drive, threw a 10-yard touchdown to Maurice Stovall to take the lead.

The Cougars led 10–7 at the end of the first quarter, but a pair of 15-yard Quinn touchdown passes to Jeff Samardzija and Stovall gave the Irish a 21–10 lead at halftime.

After a Quinn fumble that was recovered by the Volunteers, Ainge led a 40-yard drive and threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Bret Smith to give the halftime score of 21–10.

After both teams failed to convert on fourth downs in the second quarter, Quinn led the Irish to a Travis Thomas 12-yard touchdown run.

In the second quarter, after both teams failed to convert fourth downs, a 38-yard Edwards pass to Justin McCullum, tied the game once again.

In the third quarter, Quinn threw his third touchdown to Maurice Stovall for 10-yards, however, D. J. Fitzpatrick missed the extra point, and left the Irish only winning by 6.

Early in the fourth quarter, Carl Gioia replaced Fitzpatrick and kicked a 29-yard field goal to put the Irish up two scores, however, on his kickoff, T.J. Rushing returned the ball 87-yards to bring the Cardinal to within two points.

Ostrander when Edwards didn't move the ball in the third quarter, capitalized on the miss and took the lead on a 4-yard pass to Matt Traverso, with less than two minutes left in the game.

The Buckeyes, led by coach Jim Tressel and junior quarterback Troy Smith, had a 9–2 record, with losses to BCS contender Penn State and eventual national champion Texas.

[48] The Irish took an early lead on a 20-yard run by Darius Walker, but Smith answered for the Buckeyes three minutes later with a 56-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr. to tie the game.

In the third quarter, the Irish blocked a second field goal attempt, and finally took advantage with a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Walker.