Autry Denson ran for 162 yards to help Notre Dame beat Michigan in 1998.

Thursday Night Classics Presented By TireRack.com Debuts Tonight

Aug. 28, 2014

WatchND Live Stream (8 p.m. ET, Aug. 28) | 1998 Game Recap | 1998 Box Score | 1998 Postgame Notes | 1998 Postgame Quotes

NOTRE DAME, Ind. –

University of Notre Dame football fans can now spend Thursday nights reminiscing about some of their team’s greatest moments and share the experiences with fellow Irish fans around the world through the school’s new “Thursday Night Classics presented by TireRack.com” streamed live at WatchND. The show debuts at 8 p.m. ET Aug. 28 with a replay of the 1998 season-opener against No. 5 Michigan, one where the Irish claimed a 36-20 upset win over the Wolverines behind 162 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns from Autry Denson.

Made possible by the University recently regaining control of archival NBC game telecasts, the series reflect a unique partnership between Fighting Irish Digital Media (FIDM) and the innovative social media specialists from SpredFast. The interactive WatchND webpage will filter Twitter activity using the hashtag #NDFBClassics. The viewing screen will even include a leaderboard to see which fans engage the deepest through retweets and other social interactions on a weekly basis.

The social media-enhanced classic game streams will be only available live and not in an on-demand format in an effort to help bring Irish fans together globally for a shared viewing experience.

“Thursday Night Classics” will air at 8 p.m. ET the Thursday of each football game week in 2014 with many of the upcoming editions also featuring exclusive commentary from participants in that game. The series continues next week (Sept. 4) when “Thursday Night Classics” revisits the 2008 Michigan game, a 35-17 Irish victory.