[1] Led by Heisman Trophy finalist and Butkus Award winner Manti Te'o, the Irish finished with the number one defense in the country, giving up just 10.3 points per game.

A crowd of 49,000, mostly visiting Americans, filled Dublin's Aviva Stadium for the first U.S. college game in Ireland since 1996, when the same two teams played in the Emerald Isle Classic at Croke Park.

Navy managed a 26-yard field goal before halftime and opened the second half with a nifty three-pass drive capped by Shawn Lynch's 25-yard grab to make it 27–10 but could get no closer.

[5] Notre Dame's defensive leader, inside linebacker Manti Te'o, recovered one fumble and intercepted Navy quarterback Trey Miller's final pass of the day, an underthrown ball into triple coverage.

[5] Irish starters Tommy Rees and Carlo Calabrese did not make the trip due to violating team and university rules regarding an off campus incident with Indiana police last Spring.

Cierre Wood, Notre Dame's starting running back from a year ago, also did not play due to being suspended the first two games of the season for violating team rules.

Unlike the 1996 meeting, the 2012 game was aired live in parts of Europe as well as the U.S.[6] Following Notre Dame's dominant performance against Navy, the Irish found themselves in a dogfight versus their in-state rival Purdue, a team they had beaten soundly the year before 38–10.

Marve then hit O. J. Ross with a 16-yarder and, on a third-and-goal from the 2, he found Antavian Edison in the corner of the end zone with nine seconds to play in the half to tie the game at 7–7.

in the fourth quarter, Purdue came roaring back with a field goal and then a TerBush 15-yard TD pass to Edison with 2:12 left to tie the game at 17–17.

Golson was shaken up on the play and having trouble gripping the ball, so the Irish turned to Tommy Rees, who was returning from a one-game suspension as a second stringer.

The former starting quarterback got one chance and produced a last-minute drive that led to a 20–17 victory over the Boilermakers on Kyle Brindza's 27-yard field goal with seven seconds to go.

Michigan State's slim comeback hopes were dashed when Spartan running back Le'Veon Bell was going out of bounds and his lateral was caught by linebacker Manti Te'o with 4:20 left in the game to set up Brindza's 47-yard field goal that provided the 20–3 final score.

Te'o also had a game-high 12 tackles, one for a loss, and broke up two passes, playing just a few days after the supposed death of his girlfriend, who he believed had lost a long battle with leukemia, and his grandmother.

Irish backup quarterback Tommy Rees sparked the Notre Dame offense after a shaky start by Everett Golson, who threw two interceptions of his own before being pulled by Coach Brian Kelly.

The Irish defense once again proved to be the strength of the 2012 Notre Dame team, stuffing Stanford on a classic goal line stand in an overtime thriller to down the Cardinal by a score of 20–13.

A wall of Notre Dame defenders stopped Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor inches from the end zone on fourth and goal.

In the 2nd quarter, BYU quarterback Riley Nelson threw a pair of touchdown passes, the first to Cody Hoffman to tie the game, the second to Kaneakua Friel to give the Cougars a 14–7 lead.

Using an up-tempo, no-huddle offense that forced the Notre Dame defense to play most of Oklahoma's first two drives out of their base package, Landry Jones led the Sooners down the field with ease.

Only a bad snap on their first possession and a pass deflection in the red zone by Louis Nix on the second kept the Sooners from scoring more than a field goal halfway through the opening quarter.

Notre Dame hit back two plays after falling behind 3–0, with Cierre Wood running up the middle for a 62-yard touchdown, the longest of the season for the Fighting Irish.

The teams traded field goals in the second quarter, and the only other notable play took place near halftime, when an apparent Blake Bell touchdown was nullified by a holding call.

On the Notre Dame side, Manti Te'o led all comers with 10 tackles and a sack, while Golson was putting together his most poised performance of the year.

Notre Dame missed a field goal at the end of a drive that consumed half of the third quarter, and the defense continued to stifle Oklahoma in the ground game, while surrendering yards but no points through the air.

The next Oklahoma drive produced the defining play of the game, as linebacker Dan Fox tipped the ball away from Saunders, and Te'o dove to snatch the interception only inches off the grass.

This led to another Brindza field goal, and the Irish iced the game after gaining possession on downs, with a 15-yard jaunt by Theo Riddick accounting for the final margin of 30–13.

Down 20–6 in the fourth quarter with its national title hopes on the line, Notre Dame rallied in triple overtime to defeat the Pitt Panthers and remain undefeated.

Complicating matters, USC had to play without its four-year starting quarterback, Matt Barkley, who was lost to injury just the week before against its cross-town rival UCLA.

USC Coach Lane Kiffin elected to start redshirt freshman Max Wittek at quarterback, who despite some late-game heroics, was outmatched against the No.

After three straight runs yielded minuscule gains, Wittek threw incomplete to fullback Soma Vainuku, setting off a celebration on the Notre Dame sideline and in the Irish sections of the sold-out stadium.

[16] The 22–13 win secured Brian Kelly's Notre Dame squad a trip to Miami to play in the National Championship game, its first in 24 years.