A quick look at Notre Dame schedules:
1973 first game September 22 - 10 game season
1974 first game September 9 - 11 game season
1997 first game September 6 - 12 game season
Does anyone know how early players reporting for fall practice has changed over the years?
ND's opener was October 4 as late as 1947, and September 30 as late as 1961. The first time ND played two games in September was 1965 -- at Cal on the 18th and at Purdue on the 25th.
The two factors that led to earlier season openers were an increase of the maximum schedule from 10 games to 11 in 1970, and the proliferation of TV games. Through 1973, ND's earliest-ever opener had been September 18, in both 1965 and 1971. But the 1974 game at Georgia Tech was moved from November 9 to September 9, a Monday night, for ABC-TV. The following year, the game versus BC in Foxbor was actually moved back from September 13 to September 15, also for a Monday night telecast. The Pitt games in 1976 and 1977 were moved from October to September 11 and 10 for TV. The 1978 opener, versus Missouri on September 9, was the earliest at the time which was not related to the TV schedule.
In 1983, the first Kickoff Classic was played, and it was the first time a regulation college game was scheduled for August. In 1984, the NCAA's TV contracts were voided by the Supreme Court on antitrust grounds, which induced more and more teams to schedule earlier and earlier openers to accommodate TV. There were a few teams that opened 1985 on August 31. Such early openers became even more common through the 1990s and nearly universal by the 2000s.
That was the Pigskin Classic, Oklahoma vs. Northwestern at Soldier Field. NU won 24-0, during a severe down time at OU.
EDIT: I also see that there were two August 23 games in 2003. K-State beat Cal in the BCA Classic at Arrowhead, and San Jose State beat Grambling in the "Literacy Classic." And there was an opener on Thursday, August 22, 2002 (CSU winning at UVa).
August 24, 2002 had some big names kicking off the season. I believe this year’s game was approved as a waiver to go a week early to kick off the 150th anniversary of college football (and/or of Michigan sucking).
that you don't think Michigan sucked before college football began.
Were around that time in the ‘90’s.