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

Brown was previously an assistant coach for the New York Jets and Powlus had been Notre Dame's director of personnel development since 2005.

Former offensive starters Brady Quinn, Ryan Harris, and Dan Santucci and defensive starters Victor Abiamiri, Derek Landri, Mike Richardson, and Chinedum Ndukwe were taken in the 2007 NFL draft, while five others, Marcus Freeman, Chris Frome, Travis Leitko, Rhema McKnight,[15] and Darius Walker,[16] signed contracts with NFL teams.

Sources: Four players were named to six national awards watch lists in the pre-season: The 2007 Notre Dame schedule was ranked the 13th hardest in the country by Sports Illustrated.

Giving up nine sacks and two fumbles, and having negative 8-yards rushing, the Irish lost 33–3 in their most lopsided season opening loss in the history of the program.

Charlie Weis issued a statement saying, "At 2:30 today, while boarding the bus to Michigan, I was notified that Demetrius Jones had decided not to make the trip.

[39] Despite scoring their first two offensive touchdowns of the season (the first resulting from a fumble by MSU's quarterback, Brian Hoyer, at the 9-yard line), Notre Dame fell to Michigan State 31–14.

[40] Despite outgaining the Boilermakers in total yards (426–371) and Clausen throwing his first collegiate touchdown, the Irish fell to 0–5 on the season to Purdue by a score of 33–19.

UCLA starter Ben Olson went out with a knee injury late in the first quarter, which left freshman walkon redshirt McLeod Bethel-Thompson to lead the Bruins.

[45] In a battle between the two Catholic schools, the unbeaten Boston College Eagles and Heisman-hopeful Matt Ryan faced off against the struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Just as the game appeared headed for another blowout, Evan Sharpley, replacing an ineffective Jimmy Clausen, threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Robby Parris followed by a pick six of Ryan during the next possession.

[46] In what was the largest margin victory the Trojans have put forth on the Irish to date, Notre Dame was shut out by USC for the first time since 1998.

Notre Dame (1–8) likewise scored a touchdown, but failed to make their own two-point conversion on a rush attempt.

[11] Notre Dame garnered its second win of the season in a game between what ESPN's Lee Corso called the two worst teams in major college football.

[51] The Irish gained 220 yards rushing behind the hard running of freshman tailbacks Robert Hughes and Armando Allen.

[52] Robert Hughes ran for 136 yards and the go-ahead 6-yard touchdown with 6:06 remaining in the 4th quarter to help the Irish beat Stanford 21–14.

[52] David Bruton intercepted Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard's last-play heave at the 3-yard line and began a three-lateral return to the end zone that was called back on a personal foul on Notre Dame defensive lineman Trevor Laws.

[53] Seniors John Carlson and Trevor Laws also picked up second team Academic All-American honors from ESPN The Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

[55] Center John Sullivan was the final Notre Dame draftee, going to the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round.