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1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Cotton Bowl champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 35–34 vs. Houston
Conference Independent
Ranking
Coaches No. 6
AP No. 7
1978 record 9–3
Head coach Dan Devine (4th year)
Offensive coordinator Merv Johnson (4th year)
Captain Bob Golic
Captain Jerome Heavens
Captain Joe Montana
Home stadium Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons
← 1977
1979 →
1978 Division I-A independents football records
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#4 Penn State           11 1 0
North Texas State           9 2 0
East Carolina           9 3 0
Navy           9 3 0
#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
1 2 3 4 Total
Pittsburgh 0 10 0 7 17
Notre Dame 7 0 0 19 26

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

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.

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


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