Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the fifth quarter lou somogyi med major Reggie Ho. • Gone were three defensive assistants after a late-season meltdown. Oddly, outside linebackers coach Barry Alvarez was promoted to coordinate a college defense for the first time in his career. • Gone was the honeymoon period for third-year head coach Lou Holtz. His record dropped to 13-10 (almost the same as predecessor Gerry Faust's 11-10-1 mark after his first two seasons) after finishing 1987 with three straight losses while getting outscored 80-30 and yielding an average of 257 yards rushing. • Unfortunately to many Irish faithful, not gone was junior quarterback Tony Rice. As a sophomore a year earlier, he completed only 35 of 85 pass attempts (41.2 percent) with one TD — and that was with Brown as a target. In the spring of 1988, Rice was at it again. He completed only 28 of 77 throws (36.3 percent). In the Blue-Gold Game, Rice's Blue team lost when he was 6-of-19 passing with two interceptions. He began the season by completing 5 of 23 passes in the first three games. When, oh when, will Holtz learn that he can't win anymore with the option? Maybe the Irish could be 8-4 again … but it won't get to the next level this way, especially with a schedule that includes defending champ and No. 1-ranked Miami, Sporting News preseason No. 1 Michigan and Penn State (6-1 versus the Irish since 1981) at home, plus defending Rose Bowl champ Michigan State, Pitt (2-0 versus Holtz) and USC on the road. When the Irish rolled into 10-0 and No. 2 USC, Holtz suspended leading rusher Tony Brooks and leading receiver Ricky Watters for repeated tardiness. No problems. The galvanized Notre Dame team responded with a 27-10 victory despite getting "out-firstdowned" 21-8. The 1988 Irish became the first team in college football to defeat four teams that finished in the Associated Press top 10 — Miami (2). Michigan (4), West Virginia (5) and USC (7) — since the 1945 Army juggernaut. Every excuse imaginable was there for Notre Dame to struggle: too much youth (usually eight sophomore starters, plus freshman wideout Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, tight end Derek Brown and outside linebacker Arnold Ale), treacherous schedule, a supposedly one-dimensional offense, new lines on both sides of the ball, new defensive staff, three-game losing streak entering the season … They represent a reason for still wanting to believe 25 years later that Notre Dame some day can return to the summit again. "There will be better talented teams and better coached teams that will come along at Notre Dame," Holtz said at the end of the 1988 campaign. "But no team better typifies the Notre Dame Spirit than this one." Blame it on them then for still keeping hope alive now. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com