The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame Stadium, which has a capacity of 77,622. Notre Dame is one of seven schools that competes as an Independent at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level; however, they play five games a year against opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), of which Notre Dame is a member in all other sports except ice hockey. The school claims 11 national championships, including 8 from the major wire-service (AP, Coaches'). Seven Notre Dame players have won the Heisman Trophy. Notre Dame home games have been televised by NBC since 1991. History Early history (1887–1917) Football did not have an auspicious beginning at the University of Notre Dame. In their inaugural game on November 22, 1887, the Irish lost to Michigan by a score of 8–0. Their first win came in the final (and only) game of the 1888 season, when the Irish defeated Harvard Prep School of Chicago by a score of 20–0. Between 1887 and 1899, Notre Dame compiled a record of 31 wins, 15 losses, and four ties against a diverse variety of opponents, ranging from local high school teams to other universities. In 1894, James L. Morrison was hired as Notre Dame's first head football coach. Notre Dame took a significant step toward respectability, prominence, and stability when they hired Morrison. He wrote an acquaintance after his first day on the job: "I arrived here [Notre Dame] this morning and found about as green a set of football players that ever donned a uniform... They want to smoke, and when I told them that they would have to run and get up some wind, they thought I was rubbing it in on them....One big, strong cuss remarked that it was too much like work. Well, maybe you think I didn't give him hell! I bet you a hundred no one ever makes a remark like that again." Morrison had been hired for $40 plus expenses for two weeks. In 1908, a win over Franklin saw end Fay Wood catch the first touchdown pass in Notre Dame history. Notre Dame continued its success near the turn of the century and achieved their first