American Football Database
Register
Advertisement
1990 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Orange Bowl, L 9–10 vs. Colorado
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 6
APNo. 6
1990 record9–3
Head coachLou Holtz (5th season)
CaptainMike Heldt
CaptainChris Zorich
CaptainTodd Lyght
CaptainRicky Watters
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium (c. 59,075, grass)
Seasons
← 1989
1991 →
1990 Division I-A independents football records
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
No. 14 Louisville         10 1 1
No. 3 Miami         10 2 0
No. 4 Florida State         10 2 0
No. 6 Notre Dame         9 3 0
No. 11 Penn State         9 3 0
Louisiana Tech         8 3 1
Southern Miss         8 4 0
Temple         7 4 0
Syracuse         7 4 2
Army         6 5 0
Northern Illinois         6 5 0
South Carolina         6 5 0
Virginia Tech         6 5 0
East Carolina         5 6 0
Southwestern Louisiana         5 6 0
Navy         5 6 0
Memphis         4 6 1
Boston College         4 7 0
Tulane         4 7 0
West Virginia         4 7 0
Akron         3 7 1
Arkansas State         3 7 1
Pittsburgh         3 7 1
Rutgers         3 8 0
Tulsa         3 8 0
Cincinnati         1 10 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season.[1] The team was coached by Lou Holtz and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Rivalries[]

  • Notre Dame beat Michigan State to claim the Megaphone Trophy.
  • Notre Dame beat Purdue to claim the Shillelagh Trophy.
  • In the Michigan – Notre Dame rivalry, Notre Dame beat Michigan.
  • Notre Dame beat USC to claim the Jeweled Shillelagh.
  • Notre Dame lost to 1-3 Stanford to lose the Legends Trophy, and costing them a shot at the national championship.

Schedule[]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 159:00 p.m.No. 4 MichiganNo. 1CBSW 28–2459,075
September 223:30 p.m.at No. 24 Michigan StateNo. 1ABCW 20–1980,401
September 2912:00 p.m.PurdueNo. 1
W 37–1159,075
October 612:00 p.m.StanfordNo. 1
L 31–3659,075
October 1312:00 p.m.Air ForceNo. 8
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
W 57–2759,075
October 203:30 p.m.No. 2 Miami (FL)No. 6
CBSW 29–2059,075
October 277:45 p.m.at PittsburghNo. 3ESPNW 31–2256,500
November 312:00 p.m.vs. NavyNo. 2W 52–3170,382
November 102:30 p.m.at No. 9 TennesseeNo. 1CBSW 34–2997,123
November 174:00 p.m.No. 18 Penn StateNo. 1
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
ESPNL 21–2459,075
November 248:00 p.m.at No. 18 USCNo. 7ABCW 10–691,639
January 1, 19918:00 p.m.vs. No. 1 ColoradoNo. 5NBCL 9–1077,062

Roster[]

1990 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
FB 6 Bettis, JeromeJerome Bettis Fr
RB 40 Brooks, TonyTony Brooks Jr
TE 86 Brown, DerekDerek Brown Jr
RB 5 Culver, RodneyRodney Culver Jr
WR 87 Dawson, LakeLake Dawson Fr
WR 25 Ismail, RaghibRaghib Ismail Sr
WR 10 Jarrell, AdrianAdrian Jarrell So
T 65 Knapp, LindsayLindsay Knapp Jr
RB 4 Levens, DorseyDorsey Levens So
TE 80 McBride, OscarOscar McBride Fr
T 76 McGuire, GeneGene McGuire Jr
QB 3 Mirer, RickRick Mirer So
G 52 Ryan, TimTim Ryan Sr
WR 12 Watters, RickyRicky Watters Sr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
S 9 Burris, JeffJeff Burris Fr
CB 32 Clark, WillieWillie Clark Fr
CB 29 Covington, JohnJohn Covington Fr
DT 93 Dahl, BobBob Dahl Sr
LB 31 DuBose, DemetriusDemetrius DuBose So
CB 1 Lyght, ToddTodd Lyght Sr
LB 46 Ratigan, BrianBrian Ratigan So
CB 21 Smith, RodRod Smith Jr
DT 97 Young, BryantBryant Young Fr
DT 50 Zorich, ChrisChris Zorich Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
P 28 Hentrich, CraigCraig Hentrich So
P 16 Sexton, JimJim Sexton Sr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

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

Roster

Game summaries[]

Michigan[]

Michigan Wolverines (0–0) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0–0)
1 2 3 4 Total
Michigan 3 7 14 0

24

Notre Dame 14 0 0 14

28

at Notre Dame StadiumSouth Bend, Indiana

  • Date: September 15
  • Game time: night
  • Game attendance: 59,075
  • Box Score

Michigan State[]

#1 Notre Dame at #24 Michigan State
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Irish 7 0 0 14 21
Spartans 0 12 7 0 19
Overall record Last meeting Result
36–18–1 1989 W 21–13

The Immaculate Deflection - Rick Mirer's 24-yard completion to Adrian Jarrell, which bounced off hands of MSU LB Todd Murray up and into Jarrell's arms at MSU 2. Three plays later, Culver scored. "There's definitely somebody looking out for us. There's somebody on our side," said Mirer.

  • Notre Dame's 60th victory as No. 1 ranked team & 5-0-1 vs. MSU when ranked #1

Purdue[]

Overall record Last meeting Result
38–21–2 1989 W 40–7


Stanford[]

Stanford at #1 Notre Dame
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Cardinal 7 8 14 7 36
Fighting Irish 7 17 7 0 31
Overall record Last meeting Result
5–1 1989 W 27–17

Air Force[]

Overall record Last meeting Result
15–4 1989 W 41–27


Miami (FL)[]

#2 Miami (FL) at #6 Notre Dame
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Hurricanes 10 7 0 3 20
Fighting Irish 10 6 6 7 29
             
Overall record Last meeting Result
14–7–1 1989 L 10–27

[2]


Pittsburgh[]

Overall record Last meeting Result
34–16–1 1989 W 45–7


Navy[]

#2 Notre Dame vs. Navy
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Irish 7 3 21 21 52
Midshipmen 0 10 7 14 31
Overall record Last meeting Result
53–9–1 1989 W 41–0

[3]


Tennessee[]

#1 Notre Dame at #9 Tennessee
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Irish 7 3 7 17 34
Volunteers 6 0 14 9 29
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–1 1979 L 18–40

Penn State[]

Overall record Last meeting Result
7–6–1 1989 W 34–23


USC[]

Overall record Last meeting Result
34–23–4 1989 W 28–24


Colorado (Orange Bowl)[]

#5 Notre Dame vs. #1 Colorado
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Fighting Irish 0 6 3 0 9
Buffaloes 0 3 7 0 10
   
Overall record Last meeting Result
3–0 1990 W 21–6

[4] [5]


Team players drafted into the NFL[]

  • Despite being drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders, the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League signed Raghib Ismail to a four-year contract worth 18 million dollars in April 1991.[6] The Ismail signing included four million dollars upfront.[7]

Awards and honors[]

References[]

  1. "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1990-1994)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/n/notre_dame/1990-1994_yearly_results.php. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  2. Gainesville Sun. 1990 Sep 21. Retrieved 2018-Oct-06.
  3. Gainesville Sun. 1990 Nov 4. Retrieved 2018-Dec-15.
  4. "Top-Ranked Colorado Holds Off Notre Dame". New York Times. January 2, 1991. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/02/sports/top-ranked-colorado-holds-off-notre-dame.html.
  5. "FLAG WIPED THE EGG OFF MCCARTNEY". Washington Post. January 3, 1991. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1991/01/03/flag-wiped-the-egg-off-mccartney/4e1840f4-06ee-46be-9c7e-9a9207013fc2/.
  6. Drake, Stephen (2009). Weird Facts about Canadian Football: Strange, Wacky and Hilarious Stories. OverTime Books. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3.
  7. Drake, Stephen (2009). Weird Facts about Canadian Football: Strange, Wacky and Hilarious Stories. OverTime Books. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3.
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20080106231937/http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-footbl-archive.html
  9. "Walter Camp Football Foundation Awards (Page 3)". The Walter Camp Foundation. Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. https://www.webcitation.org/5nICzeqTd?url=http://waltercamp.org/index.php/teams_and_awards/awards/P200/. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
  10. "Winners & Finalists". Rotary Club of Houston. Archived from the original on 2009-01-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20090108234922/http://www.rotarylombardiaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=25&Itemid=59. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
Advertisement