Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2020 65 Corrigan wanted to make the head coaching change then, but school pres- ident Rev. Theodore Hesburgh C.S.C. informed him the school would honor the full five-year contract unless some cheating was occurring. 1993: No. 50 — 56-54 (.509) No Irish head coach played more killer schedules than Lou Holtz (1986- 96). In his first seven years Notre Dame's strength of schedules were ranked No. 3, No. 1, No. 25, No. 1, No. 4, No. 14 and No. 14. This one in 1993 turned out more manageable, even though the regular season concluded with eventual na- tional champ Florida State and then Boston College, which would finish No. 13. Although Notre Dame defeated the top-ranked Seminoles (31-24) to move to 10-0 and temporarily No. 1, the up- set to Boston College the next week (41-39) at home resulted in a No. 2 final placement. 1996: No. 54 — 58-53 (.523) Holtz's final season had the lowest ranking of schedule from the NCAA in his era, which made the 8-3 result all the more disappointing. He knew it was over after losing at home to a subpar 6-5 Air Force team in overtime. After posting a 9-0-1 mark versus USC, his Notre Dame career ended with a defeat to the 6-6 Trojans, also in overtime. This was a 10-1 team that managed to finish 8-3. 1998: No. 82 — 52-61 (.460) When including only the regular season, this is the lowest cumulative winning percentage by Irish foes since the NCAA began recording this stat in 1977. Under second-year head coach Bob Davie, Notre Dame began the year 9-1, highlighted by a season-opening win over Michigan and starting quarter- back Tom Brady, before a 10-0 loss at USC when starting Fighting Irish quar- terback Jarious Jackson was unable to play because of an injury. However, this is also another exam- ple of never knowing how a schedule will shake out. In the preseason, both Arizona State and LSU were deemed potential top-10 to top-15 material. But ASU finished 5-6 and LSU 4-7, losing to Notre Dame by scores of 28-9 and 39-36, respectively. The intent for a top schedule was there. It's not Notre Dame's fault that some of the opponents underachieved. 2005: No. 52 — 66-57 (.537) Another example of one never knowing about schedules was Charlie Weis' first year as head coach. In the preseason, ESPN was project- ing a potential 1-5 start (maybe even 0-6) for the Irish because the first six foes included four teams that had de- feated Notre Dame the year prior — Pitt, Purdue and defending national champ USC, plus No. 3 Michigan on the road. The other two among those first six were Michigan State (which had won four straight at Notre Dame) and at Washington — which had new and former Irish head coach Ty Willingham bent on revenge in "The Ty Bowl." Oh, and Tennessee was also on the docket and favored in some circles to win the SEC. Instead, Notre Dame defeated four of those first six teams en route to a 9-2 regular season and some Coach of the Year honors for Weis. Pitt (5-6), Purdue (5-6) and Tennes- see (5-6) all lost to the Irish, and so did Michigan (7-5) and Washington (2-9). Suddenly, it went from "Notre Dame has a killer schedule" to "Notre Dame doesn't play anybody." 2008: No. 89 — 67-78 (.462) As disappointing as the 3-9 record the previous year was, the 6-6 regular season in 2008 was just as bad because of not taking advantage of a more fa- vorable slate. The nadir was reached with a 24- 23 loss at home on Senior Day to a 2-8 Syracuse team that had just fired its head coach. In six road games that season, the Irish averaged 15.7 points. 2009: No. 50 — 71-64 (.526) Weis was axed after another 6-6 regular season versus another subpar schedule. This time the unacceptable setbacks included the final two home games, 23-21 to Navy and 33-30 in double overtime to Connecticut, the latter after jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead. 2016: No. 80 — 66-65 (.504) Far and away this was Brian Kel- ly's lowest-ranked schedule in his 10 seasons at Notre Dame — which made the 4-8 finish all the more mind numbing. The 1-3 start with losses to 6-7 Texas (50-47 in double overtime), 3-9 Michi- gan State (36-28) and 4-8 Duke (38- 35) prompted the firing of defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder at the one-third mark of the season. Setbacks against North Carolina State (3-5 in the ACC, plus lost to East Carolina) and Navy later exacerbated the frustration. ✦ The schedule Notre Dame and quarterback Jarious Jackson played in 1998 resulted in the lowest cumu- lative winning percentage by opponents since the NCAA began recording this stat in 1977, in part because of underachieving foes such as LSU. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA Shortened Slate Notre Dame could add an 11th game in 2020 as a non-conference contest. Otherwise, a 10-game regular-season format would be a first for the program since 1973. That year the Fighting Irish won the national title after a 24-23 Sugar Bowl victory over No. 1 Alabama to finish 11-0. The following year (1974), head coach Ara Parseghian's last, saw Notre Dame regularly move to an 11-game regular season. Although a 12th regular season game was thrown in versus Virginia in 1989 and Maryland in 2002 in the Kickoff Classic to open those campaigns, and at Hawai'i in 1991 and 1997 to end them, it wasn't until 2006 that 12-game regular seasons became the norm. Notre Dame last had a nine-game regular season in 1950 (4-4-1). It also finished 2-7 in 1963, but that's because the Nov. 23 game at Iowa was canceled the day after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and it was not rescheduled. — Lou Somogyi