1979 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1979 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Irish finished unranked in both major polls for the first time since 1963.

1979 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
ConferenceIndependent
1979 record74
Head coachDan Devine (5th season)
Captains
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium
1979 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 6 Florida State        11 1 0
No. 7 Pittsburgh        11 1 0
UNLV        9 1 2
No. 17 Temple        10 2 0
Tulane        9 3 0
Rutgers        8 3 0
East Carolina        7 3 1
No. 20 Penn State        8 4 0
South Carolina        8 4 0
Navy        7 4 0
Notre Dame        7 4 0
Southern Miss        6 4 1
Syracuse        7 5 0
Colgate        5 4 1
Boston College        5 6 0
Holy Cross        5 6 0
Memphis        5 6 0
Miami        5 6 0
North Texas State        5 6 0
Villanova        5 6 0
Virginia Tech        5 6 0
West Virginia        5 6 0
Georgia Tech        4 6 1
Louisville        4 6 1
William & Mary        4 7 0
Illinois State        3 8 0
Northeast Louisiana        3 8 0
Army        2 8 1
Air Force        2 9 0
Cincinnati        2 9 0
Richmond        0 11 0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 153:20 p.m.at No. 6 MichiganNo. 9
ABCW 12–10105,111
September 222:30 p.m.at No. 17 PurdueNo. 5
L 22–2870,567
September 292:30 p.m.No. 7 Michigan StateNo. 15
W 27–359,075
October 62:30 p.m.Georgia TechNo. 10
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
W 21–1359,075
October 133:30 p.m.at Air ForceNo. 10
W 38–1334,881
October 2012:50 p.m.No. 4 USCNo. 9
ABCL 23–4259,075
October 272:30 p.m.South CarolinaNo. 14
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
W 18–1759,075
November 31:30 p.m.NavyNo. 13
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN (rivalry)
W 14–059,075
November 101:30 p.m.at TennesseeNo. 13
L 18–4086,489
November 171:30 p.m.No. 14 Clemson
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • South Bend, IN
L 10–1659,075
November 2411:00 p.m.vs. Miami (FL)
  • National Olympic Stadium
  • Tokyo, Japan (Mirage Bowl)
W 40–1562,574

[1]

Roster

1979 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
G 65 Bob Burger Jr
SE 80 Dave Condeni So
QB 2 Mike Courey Jr
C 53 Jeff Crippin Sr
WR 1 Ty Dickerson Jr
RB 32 Vagas Ferguson Sr
T 73 Tim Foley Sr
WR 31 Pete Holohan Jr
G 78 Tim Huffman Jr
QB 13 Greg Knafelc Jr
QB 6 Rusty Lisch Sr
T 75 Rob Martinovich Sr
TE 86 Dean Masztak So
T 71 Phil Pozderac So
C 57 John Scully Jr
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DT 94 Tom Bock So
LB 43 Bob Crable So
S 22 Dave Duerson Fr
CB 27 Tom Gibbons Jr
CB 19 John Krimm So
LB 61 Bobby Leopold Sr
DB 34 Dave Waymer Sr
LB 54 Mike Whittington Sr
DE 70 Scott Zettek Jr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

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

Game summaries

Michigan

1 234Total
Notre Dame 3 360 12
Michigan 3 700 10

[2]

Air Force

1 234Total
Notre Dame 10 2107 38
Air Force 0 760 13

[3]

South Carolina

A football gifted by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team to President Gerald Ford, commemorating their 18-17 victory over South Carolina on October 27.
1 234Total
Navy 0 000 0
Notre Dame 7 007 14
  • Date: November 3
  • Location: Notre Dame Stadium
  • Game attendance: 59,075
  • ND: Ferguson 34 Rush, 155 Yds (first player in school history with 3,000 career rushing yards)

[4]

Team players in the NFL

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Vagas FergusonRunning back125New England Patriots
Dave WaymerConerback241New Orleans Saints
Tim FoleyTackle251Baltimore Colts
Rusty LischQuarterback489St. Louis Cardinals
Bobby LeopoldLinebacker8210San Francisco 49ers
Rob MartinovichTackle10261Kansas City Chiefs

References

  1. 2011 Notre Dame football media guide.
  2. "Irish Topple Michigan On Walk-on's Field Goals." Palm Beach Post. 1979 September 16.
  3. Palm Beach Post. 1979 October 14.
  4. Eugene Register-Guard. 1979 November 4. Retrieved 2018-December-22.


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