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1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Cotton Bowl champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 35–34 vs. Houston
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 6
APNo. 7
1978 record9–3
Head coachDan Devine (4th season)
Offensive coordinatorMerv Johnson (4th season)
CaptainBob Golic
CaptainJerome Heavens
CaptainJoe Montana
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium
Seasons
← 1977
1979 →
1978 Division I-A independents football records
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
No. 4 Penn State           11 1 0
North Texas State           9 2 0
East Carolina           9 3 0
Navy           9 3 0
No. 7 Notre Dame           9 3 0
Rutgers           9 3 0
Florida State           8 3 0
Temple           7 3 1
Pittsburgh           8 4 0
Holy Cross           7 4 0
Louisville           7 4 0
UNLV           7 4 0
Southern Miss           7 4 0
Northeast Louisiana           6 4 1
Georgia Tech           7 5 0
Hawaii           6 5 0
Miami           6 5 0
South Carolina           5 5 1
William & Mary           5 5 1
Cincinnati           5 6 0
Villanova           5 6 0
Army           4 6 1
Memphis State           4 7 0
Tulane           4 7 0
Virginia Tech           4 7 0
Air Force           3 8 0
Colgate           3 8 0
Richmond           3 8 0
Syracuse           3 8 0
Illinois State           2 9 0
West Virginia           2 9 0
Boston College           0 11 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule[]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 92:30 p.m.MissouriNo. 5L 0–359,075
September 2312:50 p.m.No. 5 MichiganNo. 14
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN (rivalry)
ABCL 14–2859,075
September 302:30 p.m.Purdue
W 10–659,075
October 71:30 p.m.at Michigan StateW 29–2577,087
October 1412:40 p.m.No. 9 Pittsburgh
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN (rivalry)
ABCW 26–1759,075
October 213:30 p.m.at Air ForceNo. 20
W 38–1535,425
October 282:30 p.m.MiamiNo. 19
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
W 20–059,075
November 41:50 p.m.vs. No. 11 NavyNo. 15
W 27–763,780
November 111:30 p.m.TennesseeNo. 14
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
W 31–1459,075
November 181:30 p.m.at No. 20 Georgia TechNo. 10W 38–2154,526
November 254:10 p.m.at No. 3 USCNo. 8ABCL 25–2784,256
January 1, 19792:00 p.m.vs. No. 9 HoustonNo. 10CBSW 35–3432,500

Personnel[]

1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
HB 2 Barber, TyroneTyrone Barber Fr
FB Belden, TonyTony Belden
FL Boushka, MikeMike Boushka
FB 35 Buchanan, PetePete Buchanan
C Burger, BobBob Burger
SE 80 Condeni, DaveDave Condeni Fr
FL 2 Courey, MikeMike Courey So
C 53 Crippin, JeffJeff Crippin Jr
TE Detmer, MartyMarty Detmer
RB Dover, SteveSteve Dover
HB 32 Ferguson, VagasVagas Ferguson Jr
OT 73 Foley, TimTim Foley Jr
TE Grindinger, DennisDennis Grindinger
SE 83 Haines, KrisKris Haines
TE Hart, KevinKevin Hart
OG Hautman, JimJim Hautman
FB Heavens, JeromeJerome Heavens (C)
FL 31 Holohan, PetePete Holohan So
OG Horansky, TedTed Horansky Injured
OG Hufford, LarryLarry Hufford
C 56 Huffman, DaveDave Huffman Sr
OG 78 Huffman, TimTim Huffman So
QB 13 Knaflec, GregGreg Knaflec So
QB Koegel, TimTim Koegel
OG Leon, JohnJohn Leon
OT Martinovich, RobRob Martinovich Jr
TE 86 Masztak, DeanDean Masztak Fr
OT McCormick, KeithKeith McCormick
OG Meyer, HowardHoward Meyer
OG Mishler, RonRon Mishler
FB Mitchell, DaveDave Mitchell
QB 3 Montana, JoeJoe Montana (C) Sr
E Pagley, LouLou Pagley
FB Pallas, PetePete Pallas
OT 71 Pozderac, PhilPhil Pozderac Jr
T 57 Scully, JohnJohn Scully So
HB 42 Stone, JimJim Stone So
E Tripp, TimTim Tripp
TE 95 Vehr, NickNick Vehr So
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DT 94 Bock, TomTom Bock Fr
CB Boushka, DickDick Boushka
S 33 Browner, JimJim Browner Sr
CB Buehner, RickRick Buehner
DT 77 Calhoun, MikeMike Calhoun Sr
DE Case, JayJay Case
S 40 Cichy, SteveSteve Cichy Fr
LB 43 Crable, BobBob Crable Fr
DB 20 Fasano, AngeloAngelo Fasano So
CB 25 Flynn, TomTom Flynn Sr
CB 27 Gibbons, TomTom Gibbons So
LB 55 Golic, BobBob Golic (C) Sr
DE 92 Gramke, JoeJoe Gramke Fr
DE Hankred, JohnJohn Hankred
S 10 Harrison, RandyRandy Harrison
LB Hartwig, SteveSteve Hartwig
LB 58 Heimkreiter, SteveSteve Heimkreiter
LB Johnson, PetePete Johnson
S Johnson, PhilPhil Johnson
CB 19 Krimm, JohnJohn Krimm Fr
LB 61 Leopold, BobbyBobby Leopold Jr
DE 98 Kramer, PatPat Kramer Fr
LB Moynihan, BrendanBrendan Moynihan
DE Rayam, HardyHardy Rayam
S, P Restic, JoeJoe Restic
DT Thomas, JohnJohn Thomas
CB 34 Waymer, DaveDave Waymer Jr
DT 74 Weston, JeffJeff Weston
OLB 54 Whittington, MikeMike Whittington Jr
DT Wroblewski, TomTom Wroblewski
DE 70 Zettek, ScottScott Zettek So
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
PK Male, ChuckChuck Male
PK Unis, JoeJoe Unis
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2015-12-20

Game summaries[]

Pittsburgh[]

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Pittsburgh 0 10 0 7 17
Notre Dame 7 0 0 19 26

Notre Dame handed Pittsburgh is first loss of the season. Jerome Heavens, who had never seen Knute Rockne, All American, surpassed George Gipp on the school's all-time rushing list. Heavens passed Gipp on his 24th carry but lost yardage on his 25th before moving pass him for good on his 26th attempt. "I think the Gipper tackled me on that," Heavens said.

[1]


Cotton Bowl[]

The Cotton Bowl win was Notre Dame's 600th victory in school history. [2]


References[]

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