The 2024-25 college football season officially kicks off Saturday with No. 10 Florida State and Georgia Tech facing off not in Tallahassee, not in Atlanta, but instead in Dublin, Ireland.
It will mark the second straight year and the ninth occasion all-time that the season will begin on the Emerald Isle. But why is that? The history may fascinate you.
1988-89
According to Dublin City Libraries, the inaugural Emerald Isle Classic in 1988 was part of a promotional campaign to mark the Dublin millennium, a year-long celebration of 1,000 years of Irish independence.
Boston College defeated Army 38-24 in front of 42,500 fans at Landsdowne Road — now known as Aviva Stadium — in what was the first NCAA-sanctioned game played in Europe.
The second edition of the Emerald Isle Classic was played in 1989 between Pittsburgh and Rutgers, this time only drawing a modest 19,000 spectators. The No. 24 ranked Panthers downed the Scarlet Knights, 46-29, in that one.
1996
After a seven-year hiatus, the Naval Academy and Notre Dame (naturally) tried to revive the Irish faceoff by playing in what was rebranded as the Shamrock Classic.
The No. 19-ranked Fighting Irish beat the Midshipmen 54-27 in front of nearly 37,000 fans but the tradition wouldn’t catch on again for another 16 years.
2012-16
Notre Dame and Navy returned to Dublin in 2012 for a revival of the Emerald Isle Classic at the new Aviva Stadium, in what was part of Irish tourism’s “The Gathering” initiative, aimed at inspiring Irish-Americans to return to their heritage. Notre Dame went on to trounce Navy 50-10 in the sport’s return.
According to Off The Ball, the 2012 game provided the Irish economy with a 100-million euro boost.
While there was no game played in 2013, in 2014, Penn State and UCF participated in what was called the Croak Park Classic — a nail-biting 26-24 win for the Nittany Lions in front of a record 53,304 fans.
Two years later, in 2016, what is currently known as the Aer Lingus College Football Classic was held back at Aviva Stadium between Georgia Tech and Boston College.
Georgia Tech emerged victorious 17-14 but the Ireland-hosted game was about to take another hiatus.
2020-present
Notre Dame and Navy were supposed to complete their Irish trilogy in 2020 until the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Instead, the game was moved to Annapolis, Maryland, and would not return to Dublin’s shores for another two years.
In 2022, Northwestern defeated Nebraska 31-28 in the first game hosted by Aviva Stadium in six years.
After that successful resumption, Notre Dame and Navy triumphantly returned in 2023. While it was mostly triumphant for the boys from South Bend — Notre Dame won 42-3 — the spectacle drew 49,000 fans, the most since 2014.
Once Saturday’s edition between No. 10 Florida State and Georgia Tech is in the books — the first time the Heisman trophy will be in attendance, by the way — fans can look forward to two more future scheduled matchups in Dublin.
In 2025, Kansas State and Iowa State will represent the first Big 12 schools to step foot in Aviva Stadium while Pittsburgh and Wisconsin are set to face off in 2027.
