1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

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1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Cotton Bowl champion
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 6
APNo. 7
1978 record9–3
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMerv Johnson (4th season)
Captains
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium
Seasons
← 1977
1979 →
1978 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 Penn State   –   –   11 – 1 – 0
North Texas State   –   –   9 – 2 – 0
East Carolina   –   –   9 – 3 – 0
Navy   –   –   9 – 3 – 0
No. 7 Notre Dame   –   –   9 – 3 – 0
Rutgers   –   –   9 – 3 – 0
Florida State   –   –   8 – 3 – 0
Temple   –   –   7 – 3 – 1
Pittsburgh   –   –   8 – 4 – 0
Holy Cross   –   –   7 – 4 – 0
Louisville   –   –   7 – 4 – 0
UNLV   –   –   7 – 4 – 0
Southern Miss   –   –   7 – 4 – 0
Northeast Louisiana   –   –   6 – 4 – 1
Georgia Tech   –   –   7 – 5 – 0
Hawaii   –   –   6 – 5 – 0
Miami (FL)   –   –   6 – 5 – 0
South Carolina   –   –   5 – 5 – 1
William & Mary   –   –   5 – 5 – 1
Cincinnati   –   –   5 – 6 – 0
Villanova   –   –   5 – 6 – 0
Army   –   –   4 – 6 – 1
Memphis State   –   –   4 – 7 – 0
Tulane   –   –   4 – 7 – 0
Virginia Tech   –   –   4 – 7 – 0
Air Force   –   –   3 – 8 – 0
Colgate   –   –   3 – 8 – 0
Richmond   –   –   3 – 8 – 0
Syracuse   –   –   3 – 8 – 0
Illinois State   –   –   2 – 9 – 0
West Virginia   –   –   2 – 9 – 0
Boston College   –   –   0 – 11 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule[]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 92:30 p.m.MissouriNo. 5
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
L 0–359,075
September 2312:50 p.m.No. 5 MichiganNo. 14
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
ABCL 14–2859,075
September 302:30 p.m.Purdue
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
W 10–659,075
October 71:30 p.m.at Michigan State
  • Spartan Stadium
  • East Lansing, MI (rivalry)
W 29–2577,087
October 1412:40 p.m.No. 9 Pittsburgh
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
ABCW 26–1759,075
October 213:30 p.m.at Air ForceNo. 20
  • Falcon Stadium
  • Colorado Springs, CO
W 38–1535,425
October 282:30 p.m.Miami (FL)No. 19
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
W 20–059,075
November 41:50 p.m.vs. No. 11 NavyNo. 15
  • Cleveland Municipal Stadium
  • Cleveland, OH (rivalry)
W 27–763,780
November 111:30 p.m.TennesseeNo. 14
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
W 31–1459,075
November 181:30 p.m.at No. 20 Georgia TechNo. 10
W 38–2154,526
November 254:10 p.m.at No. 3 USCNo. 8
  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)
ABCL 25–2784,256
January 1, 19792:00 p.m.vs. No. 9 HoustonNo. 10
CBSW 35–3432,500
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Personnel[]

1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
HB 2 Tyrone Barber Fr
FB Tony Belden
FL Mike Boushka
FB 35 Pete Buchanan
C Bob Burger
SE 80 Dave Condeni Fr
FL 2 Mike Courey So
C 53 Jeff Crippin Jr
TE Marty Detmer
RB Steve Dover
HB 32 Vagas Ferguson Jr
OT 73 Tim Foley Jr
TE Dennis Grindinger
SE 83 Kris Haines
TE Kevin Hart
OG Jim Hautman
FB Jerome Heavens (C)
FL 31 Pete Holohan So
OG Ted Horansky Injured
OG Larry Hufford
C 56 Dave Huffman Sr
OG 78 Tim Huffman So
QB 13 Greg Knaflec So
QB Tim Koegel
OG John Leon
OT Rob Martinovich Jr
TE 86 Dean Masztak Fr
OT Keith McCormick
OG Howard Meyer
OG Ron Mishler
FB Dave Mitchell
QB 3 Joe Montana (C) Sr
E Lou Pagley
FB Pete Pallas
OT 71 Phil Pozderac Jr
T 57 John Scully So
HB 42 Jim Stone So
E Tim Tripp
TE 95 Nick Vehr So
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DT 94 Tom Bock Fr
CB Dick Boushka
S 33 Jim Browner Sr
CB Rick Buehner
DT 77 Mike Calhoun Sr
DE Jay Case
S 40 Steve Cichy Fr
LB 43 Bob Crable Fr
DB 20 Angelo Fasano So
CB 25 Tom Flynn Sr
CB 27 Tom Gibbons So
LB 55 Bob Golic (C) Sr
DE 92 Joe Gramke Fr
DE John Hankred
S 10 Randy Harrison
LB Steve Hartwig
LB 58 Steve Heimkreiter
LB Pete Johnson
S Phil Johnson
CB 19 John Krimm Fr
LB 61 Bobby Leopold Jr
DE 98 Pat Kramer Fr
LB Brendan Moynihan
DE Hardy Rayam
S, P Joe Restic
DT John Thomas
CB 34 Dave Waymer Jr
DT 74 Jeff Weston
OLB 54 Mike Whittington Jr
DT Tom Wroblewski
DE 70 Scott Zettek So
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
PK Chuck Male
PK Joe Unis
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2015-12-20

Game summaries[]

Michigan[]

See also: 1978 Michigan Wolverines football team and Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry
Michigan Wolverines (1–0) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0–1)
1 2 34Total
Michigan 0 7 71428
Notre Dame 7 7 0014

at Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana

  • Game attendance: 59,075
  • TV: ABC
  • Recap

The Reunion Game - first meeting between the two schools in 35 years

Notre Dame wore green jerseys for the game.

Pittsburgh[]

1 234Total
Pittsburgh 0 1007 17
• Notre Dame 7 0019 26
  • Date: Saturday, October 15
  • Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
  • Game attendance: 59,075

Notre Dame handed Pittsburgh is first loss of the season. Jerome Heavens, who had never seen Knute Rockne, All American, surpassed George Gipp on the school's all-time rushing list. Heavens passed Gipp on his 24th carry but lost yardage on his 25th before moving pass him for good on his 26th attempt. "I think the Gipper tackled me on that," Heavens said.

[1]

Cotton Bowl[]

The Cotton Bowl win was Notre Dame's 600th victory in school history.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ "Irish stir the echoes with 26-7 win over Pitt." Eugene Register-Guard. p. 18. 1978 Oct 15.
  2. ^ 2010 Notre Dame football media guide.
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