Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2018 97 team that lost its final regular-season game, but still won the national title. However, the overall body of work that season answers why it occurred. 1952: IRISH DEFEAT FOUR CONFERENCE CHAMPS Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 4-1 How can a team that ends up with a 7-2-1 record finish No. 3 in the country? This Leahy team did by defeating four conference champions: No. 4 Oklahoma (Big 8), No. 5 USC (Pac-8), No. 10 Texas (SWC) and No. 18 Pur- due (Big Nine co-champ, with Michi- gan State joining the next season). National champ Michigan State did defeat Notre Dame, and so did Pitt in an upset. 1977: DEVINE ACHIEVEMENT Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 4-0 Head coach Dan Devine's national champions were the lone college football team that year to topple four teams in the final top 20: No. 4 Texas in the Cotton Bowl (when the Long- horns were No. 1), No. 8 Pitt in the opener, No. 13 USC in the original Green Jersey Game, and a thrilling 21-17 comeback win at No. 19 Clem- son's Death Valley. Had there been a top 25 back then, it's likely Michigan State (third in the Big Ten with a 6-1-1 mark) would have made it as a fifth foe. The same holds true for Devine's 1978 team that defeated No. 10 Hous- ton, No. 12 Michigan State and No. 13 Purdue — and it might have also seen 9-3 Navy place in the top 25. 1980: THE LAST HURRAH Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 4-2 Devine's final Notre Dame team lost to No. 1 and national champion Georgia 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl, de- spite outgaining the Bulldogs in total yardage (328-127). During the regular season, the Irish defeated Big Ten/Rose Bowl champ and No. 4 Michigan, Cotton Bowl champ and No. 6 Alabama, No. 17 Purdue and No. 18 Miami, two more bowl victors. The Irish wound up No. 9 this year. It was 9-0-1 before losing to USC — which finished No. 11 — in the regu- lar-season finale. The tie occurred at Georgia Tech. 1988: OUT FROM NOWHERE Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 4-0 Following Devine's departure, Notre Dame was a pedestrian 43- 36-1 in the seven ensuing years from 1981-87. Then under third-year head coach Lou Holtz, the 1988 national champs became only the fourth team in col- lege football annals to conquer four teams that finished in the AP top 10 — and the second from Notre Dame, with the first in 1943. The victims were No. 2 Miami, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 West Virginia (in the Fiesta Bowl) and No. 7 USC. 1989: ENCORE PRESENTATION Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 7-1 Notre Dame finished No. 2 this season because it lost to eventual na- tional champ Miami in the regular- season finale to end a school-record 23-game winning streak. Nevertheless, no Notre Dame team, or any in college football, reg- istered seven wins against the final AP top 18: No. 4 and Big 8 champ Colorado in the Orange Bowl (when the Buffaloes were ranked No. 1), No. 7 and Big Ten champ Michigan, No. 8 and Pac-10 champ USC, No. 15 Penn State, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 17 Pitt, and No. 18 and ACC champ Vir- ginia. 1990: THREE IN A ROW Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 5-2 The reason this was the highest AP finish ever (No. 6) by a three-loss Notre Dame team (9-3) was because of a schedule that for the fifth time in six years ranked among the top three. Holtz's troops defeated the teams that finished No. 3 (Miami), No. 7 (Big Ten co-champ Michigan), No. 8 (SEC champ Tennessee), No. 16 (Michigan State, which shared the Big Ten title) and No. 20 (USC). Had Rocket Ismail's 91-yard punt return versus No. 1 Colorado in the closing minute of the Orange Bowl not been called back in the 10-9 loss, a strong argument could have been presented for Notre Dame to become the first two-loss team to be awarded a national title. 2002: BEGINNER'S GOOD FORTUNE Record Vs. Final Ranked Teams: 4-2 First-year head coach Tyrone Will- ingham received national acclaim for his 10-3 debut with the Irish after they had finished 5-6 the year prior. The victories were against No. 9 Michigan, No. 13 Maryland, No. 19 Pitt and at No. 21 Florida State. Losses in three of the final five games, including 28-6 to North Caro- lina State in the Gator Bowl, unfortu- nately dropped the Irish from No. 4 at one point to No. 17 in the final AP poll that year, the lowest placement by a Notre Dame team that defeated four teams that finished ranked. ✦ 1. Alabama (13-1) 2. Georgia (13-2) 3. Oklahoma (12-2) 4. Clemson (12-2) 5. Ohio State (12-2) 6. UCF (13-0) 7. Wisconsin (13-1) 8. Penn State (11-2) 9. TCU (11-3) 10. Auburn (10-4) 11. Notre Dame (10-3) 12. USC (11-3) 13. Miami (Fla.) (10-3) 14. Oklahoma State (10-3) 15. Michigan State (10-3) 16. Washington (10-3) 17. Northwestern (10-3) 18. LSU (9-4) 19. Mississippi State (9-4) 20. Stanford (9-5) 21. South Florida (10-2) 22. Boise State (11-3) 23. NC State (9-4) 24. Virginia Tech (9-4) 25. Memphis (10-3) Italics indicate 2017 Notre Dame opponents FINAL 2017 AP POLL Head coach Lou Holtz's 1988 national champs became only the fourth team in NCAA history to defeat four teams that finished in the AP top 10 — No. 2 Miami, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 West Virginia (in the Fiesta Bowl) and No. 7 USC. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS