1989 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1989 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1989 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
1989 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
National champion (Berryman, Eck, FACT, Sagarin), Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 21–6 vs. Colorado
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 2
1989 record	12–1
Head coach	Lou Holtz (4th season);
Offensive coordinator	Jim Strong (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Barry Alvarez (2nd season)
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium (c. 59,075, grass)
	Seasons ← 1988 1990 →

The 1989 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1] The team was coached by Lou Holtz and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	8:00 p.m.	vs. Virginia	No. 2	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	Raycom, WGN	W 36–13	77,323
September 16	3:30 p.m.	at No. 2 Michigan	No. 1	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	ABC	W 24–19	105,912
September 23	2:30 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Megaphone Trophy)	CBS	W 21–13	59,075
September 30	12:00 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 1	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)	ABC	W 40–7	67,861
October 7	4:00 p.m.	at Stanford	No. 1	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (Legends Trophy)		W 27–17	86,019
October 14	7:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Air Force	No. 1	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	ESPN	W 41–27	53,533
October 21	3:30 p.m.	No. 9 USC	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Jeweled Shillelagh)	CBS	W 28–24	59,075
October 28	5:00 p.m.	No. 7 Pittsburgh	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	ESPN	W 45–7	59,075
November 4	12:00 p.m.	Navy	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	SportsChannel	W 41–0	59,075
November 11	12:00 p.m.	SMU	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	SportsChannel	W 59–6	59,075
November 18	2:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Penn State	No. 1	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	CBS	W 34��23	86,025
November 25	6:30 p.m.	at No. 7 Miami (FL)	No. 1	Orange Bowl Miami, FL	CBS	L 10–27	81,634
January 1, 1990	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 1 Colorado	No. 4	Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	W 21–6	81,191
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Personnel[]

1989 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
TE	`86`	Derek Brown	So
RB	`5`	Rodney Culver	So
WR	`13`	Pat Eilers
WR	`25`	Raghib Ismail	Jr
RB	`22`	Anthony Johnson (C)	Sr
C	`76`	Gene McGuire	So
RB	`35`	Ryan Mihalko	Jr
QB	`3`	Rick Mirer	Fr
QB	`9`	Tony Rice (C)	Sr
G	`52`	Tim Ryan	Jr
WR	`12`	Ricky Watters	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DT	`90`	Jeff Alm	Sr
LB	`47`	Ned Bolcar (C)	Sr
DT	`93`	Bob Dahl	Jr
		D'Juan Francisco
LB	`37`	Scott Kowalkowski	Jr
LB		Donn Grimm
CB	`1`	Todd Lyght	Jr
CB		Stan Smagala
DB	`21`	Rod Smith	So
LB	`42`	Mike Stonebreaker	Jr
S	`15`	Pat Terrell	Sr
DL	`50`	Chris Zorich	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K		Craig Hentrich
P	`16`	Jim Sexton	Jr

Head coach

Lou Holtz

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Barry Alvarez (DC)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Game summaries[]

at Michigan[]

Michigan State[]

Stanford[]

Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Stanford Cardinal

	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	0	14	7	6	27
Stanford	6	0	8	3	17

at Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California

Date: October 7, 1989
Game attendance: 86,019
Recap/Box

Game information

First quarter

STAN – John Hopkins 34-yard field goal, 5:14. Stanford 3–0. Drive: 14 plays.
STAN – John Hopkins 42-yard field goal, 2:40. Stanford 6–0. Drive:

Second quarter

ND – Anthony Johnson 7-yard run (Craig Hentrich kick), 12:24. Notre Dame 7–6. Drive: 4 plays, 64 yards.
ND – Rodney Culver 2-yard run (Craig Hentrich kick), 1:15. Notre Dame 14–6. Drive: 9 plays.

Third quarter

STAN – Ed McCaffrey 2-yard pass from Smith (run good), Tie 14–14. Drive: 79 yards.
ND – Anthony Johnson 1-yard run (Craig Hentrich kick), 7:28. Notre Dame 21–14. Drive:

Fourth quarter

ND – Craig Hentrich 20-yard field goal, 12:42. Notre Dame 24–14. Drive:
STAN – John Hopkins 27-yard field goal, 8:14. Notre Dame 24–17. Drive: 12 plays, 70 yards.
ND – Craig Hentrich 18-yard field goal, 1:27. Notre Dame 27–17. Drive:

Top passers

ND – Tony Rice – 7/17, 102 yards
STAN – Steve Smith – 39/68, 282 yards, TD, 3 INT

Top rushers

ND – Anthony Johnson – 15 rushes, 75 yards, 2 TD
STAN – Tommy Vardell – 9 rushes, 22 yards

Top receivers

ND – Raghib Ismail – 3 receptions, 67 yards
STAN – Jim Price – 14 receptions, 98 yards

USC[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
USC	14	3	0	7	24
• Notre Dame	7	0	7	14	28

Date: October 21
Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
Game attendance: 59,075

^[2]

at Miami (FL)[]

#1 Notre Dame at #7 Miami (FL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Irish	0	10	0	0	10
• Hurricanes	10	7	7	3	27

Date: November 25
Location: Orange Bowl (stadium), Miami, Florida
Game attendance: 81,634
Game weather: 77 °F (25 °C), Chance of rain, Wind E 15–20 mph (24–32 km/h)
Referee: Jimmy Harper
TV announcers (CBS): Jim Nantz, Pat Haden, John Dockery

Colorado (Orange Bowl)[]

#4 Notre Dame vs. #1 Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Fighting Irish	0	0	14	7	21
Buffaloes	0	0	6	0	6

Date: January 1
Location: Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL
Game attendance: 81,190
TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh

^[3]

Team players drafted into the NFL[]

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Anthony Johnson	Running Back	2	36	Indianapolis Colts
Tim Grunhard	Tackle	2	40	Kansas City Chiefs
Jeff Alm	Defensive Tackle	2	41	Houston Oilers
Pat Terrell	Defensive Back	2	49	Los Angeles Rams
Mike Brennan	Tackle	4	91	Cincinnati Bengals
Stan Smagala	Defensive Back	5	123	Dallas Cowboys
Ned Bolcar	Linebacker	6	146	Seattle Seahawks
D’Juan Francisco	Defensive Back	10	262	Washington Redskins
Dean Brown	Guard	12	316	Indianapolis Colts

^[4]

Awards and honors[]

Tony Rice, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award^[5]
Tony Rice finished 4th in voting for the Heisman Trophy.
Raghib Ismail finished in a tie for 10th in voting for the Heisman Trophy.

References[]

^ "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1989 Oct 22.
^ "Lackluster Colorado Leveled by Notre Dame". The New York Times. January 2, 1990. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
^ "1990 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-20.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-12-16. Retrieved 2008-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

This college football 1980s season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[1] "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

[2] Gainesville Sun. 1989 Oct 22.

[3] "Lackluster Colorado Leveled by Notre Dame". The New York Times. January 2, 1990. Retrieved January 1, 2019.

[4] "1990 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-20.

[5] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-12-16. Retrieved 2008-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1]

[2]

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[5]

v t Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Venues	Brownson Hall field (1892?–1899) Cartier Field (1899–1928) Soldier Field (1929) Notre Dame Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Emerald Isle Classic Army Boston College: Holy War Michigan Michigan State Navy Northwestern Pittsburgh Purdue Stanford USC
Culture & lore	History Band of the Fighting Irish Irish Guard Notre Dame Box Notre Dame Leprechaun "Notre Dame, Our Mother" "Notre Dame Victory March" Play Like a Champion Today Subway Alumni T formation Tall Grass Game 1946 "Game of the Century" 1966 "Game of the Century" Catholics vs. Convicts 30 for 30 film 1993 "Game of the Century" Bush Push Navy ends the drought 2020 ACC Championship Game The Spirit of Notre Dame Knute Rockne, All American Notre Dame Football on NBC Rudy
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Four Horsemen NFL draftees Statistical leaders Team captains
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1989 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 1 Miami (FL)		–		11	–	1	–	0
No. 2 Notre Dame		–		12	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Florida State		–		10	–	2	–	0
Northern Illinois		–		9	–	2	–	0
No. 15 Penn State		–		8	–	3	–	1
No. 17 Pittsburgh		–		8	–	3	–	1
No. 21 West Virginia		–		8	–	3	–	1
Syracuse		–		8	–	4	–	0
Southwestern Louisiana		–		7	–	4	–	0
Akron		–		6	–	4	–	1
South Carolina		–		6	–	4	–	1
Virginia Tech		–		6	–	4	–	1
Louisiana Tech		–		5	–	4	–	1
Army		–		6	–	5	–	0
Louisville		–		6	–	5	–	0
East Carolina		–		5	–	5	–	1
Tulsa		–		6	–	6	–	0
Southern Miss		–		5	–	6	–	0
Tulane		–		4	–	8	–	0
Navy		–		3	–	8	–	0
Rutgers		–		2	–	7	–	2
Boston College		–		2	–	9	–	0
Memphis State		–		2	–	9	–	0
Cincinnati		–		1	–	9	–	1
Temple		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll