Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/998819
BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 147 ass! I'm gonna kill someone!" Such was the attitude of the 1988 Notre Dame team that supposedly was in the midst of reconstruction. Prior to 1988, the Irish had already lost more games in the 1980s (38) than any other decade (34 in the 1960s), with 5-6 finishes in 1981, 1985 and 1986. When Holtz took the reins in 1986, Notre Dame improved, but still finished under .500 against a gauntlet slate (five losses were by a total of 14 points, including 24-19 to national champ Penn State, 21-19 at SEC champion LSU and 24-23 to Big Ten champion Michi- gan). In Holtz's second season (1987), progress was made with an 8-4 finish — the school's first eight-win campaign since 1980 — and a No. 17 final ranking in the AP poll. Notre Dame's influx of talent was grow- ing appreciably under Holtz and recruiting coordinator Vinny Cerrato, the ringleader behind Notre Dame's No. 1-ranked classes signed in 1987 and 1988. Yet prior to the 1988 campaign, the Irish were still deemed "a year away" from bona fide national title contention for at least 10 reasons: 1. Notre Dame finished 1987 with consecu- tive losses at Penn State (21-20), at national champ Miami (24-0) and versus Texas A&M (35-10) in the Cotton Bowl. In those three setbacks, the Irish yielded a whopping 256.6 rushing yards per contest. 2. Flanker Tim Brown, the 1987 Heisman Trophy recipient, had graduated. 3. The heart and soul of the 1987 unit was the offensive line, which featured four fifth- year senior starters. They all graduated, while the fifth starter, sophomore Jeff Pearson, was dismissed from school. 4. The 1988 defensive line had zero career starts on its top unit, plus prized 1986 recruit John Foley, USA Today's National Defensive Player of the Year, incurred a career-ending injury during the Cotton Bowl defeat. 5. Star rush end Cedric Figaro was drafted by the NFL. His replacement was fifth-year senior Frank Stams, a former fullback who had never started on defense and totaled 14 career tackles. 6. Junior quarterback Tony Rice was an op- tion specialist who completed a dismal 42.7 percent of his 82 attempts in 1987, tossing only one touchdown pass. The "people's choice" … AND GOLD The 1988 Fighting Irish compiled a 12-0 mark against a schedule that included Sporting News' preseason No. 1 pick Michigan, 1987 Big Ten and Rose Bowl champion Michigan State, Penn State, defending Pac-10 champion USC and defending national champion Miami. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH DIGITAL MEDIA