2008 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team
| 2008 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football | |
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Hawaii Bowl champion
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Hawaii Bowl, W 49–21 vs. Hawaii
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| Conference | Independent |
| 2008 record | 7–6 |
| Head coach | Charlie Weis (4th year) |
| Offensive coordinator | Michael Haywood (4th year) |
| Offensive scheme | Pro-style |
| Defensive coordinator | Corwin Brown (2nd year) |
| Base defense | 3–4 |
| Captain | Maurice Crum Jr. |
| Captain | David Grimes |
| Captain | David Bruton |
| Home stadium | Notre Dame Stadium (c. 80,795, grass) |
| 2008 Division I FBS independents football records | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Navy | – | 8 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notre Dame | – | 7 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Army | – | 3 | – | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WKU | – | 2 | – | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Scoring summary | ||||
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| 2 |
5:32
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SDSU | Ryan Lindley 1-yard run (Lane Yoshida kick) | San Diego St 7–0 |
| 2 |
1:14
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ND | Michael Floyd 22-yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Brandon Walker kick) | Tie 7–7 |
| 3 |
8:31
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SDSU | Darren Mougey 15-yard pass from Ryan Lindley (kick failed) | San Diego St 13–7 |
| 4 |
9:43
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ND | Golden Tate 38-yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 14–13 |
| 4 |
2:08
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ND | David Grimes 6-yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 21–13 |
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| Scoring summary | ||||
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| 1 |
10:27
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ND | Golden Tate 19-yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 7–0 |
| 1 |
2:49
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UNC | Casey Barth 41-yard field goal | Notre Dame 7–3 |
| 2 |
12:53
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ND | Brandon Walker 42-yard field goal | Notre Dame 10–3 |
| 2 |
5:22
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UNC | Casey Barth 34-yard field goal | Notre Dame 10–6 |
| 2 |
0:52
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ND | Michael Floyd 7-yard pass from Jimmy Clausen (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 17–6 |
| 2 |
0:09
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UNC | Casey Barth 42-yard field goal | Notre Dame 17–9 |
| 3 |
14:48
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UNC | Quan Sturdivant 32-yard interception return (Casey Barth kick) | Notre Dame 17–16 |
| 3 |
10:43
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ND | James Aldridge 2-yard run (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 24–16 |
| 3 |
5:14
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UNC | Ryan Houston 1-yard run (pass failed) | Notre Dame 24–22 |
| 4 |
14:55
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UNC | Cam Sexton 4-yard run (Casey Barth kick) | North Carolina 29–24 |
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| Scoring summary | ||||
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| 1 |
6:03
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ND | Toryan Smith 14-yard blocked punt return (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 7–0 |
| 2 |
2:39
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NAVY | Cory Finnerty 22-yard run (Matt Harmon kick) | Tie 7–7 |
| 2 |
:00
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ND | Brandon Walker 28-yard field goal | Notre Dame 10–7 |
| 3 |
9:31
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ND | Armando Allen 11-yard run (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 17–7 |
| 3 |
3:29
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ND | Robert Hughes 7-yard run (Brandon Walker kick) | Notre Dame 24–7 |
| 4 |
11:17
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ND | Brandon Walker 36-yard field goal | Notre Dame 27–7 |
| 4 |
1:39
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NAVY | Shun White 24-yard run (Matt Harmon kick) | Notre Dame 27–14 |
| 4 |
1:21
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NAVY | Ricky Dobbs 1-yard run (Matt Harmon kick) | Notre Dame 27–21 |
The 2008 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Charlie Weis and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. This was Weis's fourth season as Notre Dame's head coach, who entered the season with a 22–15 record, coming off a 3–9 season after posting back-to-back BCS seasons.
The Irish started 4–1, but completed the regular season with a 6–6 record, including a 24–23 loss to Syracuse, the first time that Notre Dame had fallen to an eight-loss team. The combined 15 losses from 2007–08 marks the most losses for any two-year span. Despite speculation the university might fire Weis, it was announced shortly after the conclusion of the regular season that he would remain head coach in 2009. Notre Dame ended the season on a positive note, finally ending their NCAA record nine-game bowl losing streak by beating Hawaii 49–21. In the process, Notre Dame scored its highest point total of the season, its highest point total ever in a bowl game, and broke 8 other bowl records. The bowl win also helped Notre Dame to a 7–6 final record, its 102nd winning season in 120 years of football.
Despite the turmoil of the previous football season, head coach Charlie Weis did not make many changes to the coaching staff. The one major change to the staff was the addition of Jon Tenuta, former defensive coordinator of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, as the new linebackers coach and assistant head coach. Tetuna became responsible for the day-to-day operations of the team with Weis retaining responsibility only for recruiting. Tenuta's addition followed the retirement of Bill Lewis from active coaching. Other changes included reassignment of football duties. Weis announced that he would be turning over control of the offense, including game day play calling, to offensive coordinator Michael Haywood. On defense, Corwin Brown switched from coaching linebackers to coaching defensive backs following Lewis' retirement. Tenuta assumed coaching the linebackers. Finally, citing the poor play on special teams, Weis made Brian Polian the sole special teams coach and announced that he would be helping Polian when needed. The previous year, all coaches had a hand in helping with special teams.
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