Conference Independent AP No. 1 Head coach Lou Holtz (3rd year) | Coaches No. 1 1988 record 12–0 Offensive coordinator Jim Strong (1st year) | |
The 1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Irish, coached by Lou Holtz, ended the season with 12 wins and no losses, winning the national championship. The Fighting Irish won the title by defeating the previously unbeaten and No. 3 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, by a score of a 34–21. The 1988 squad, one of 11 national title squads for the Irish, is considered to be one of the best undefeated teams in the history of college football. The Irish beat the teams which finished the season ranked #2, #4, #5, and #7 in the AP Poll. They also won 10 of 12 games by double digits. The 1988 squad is best remembered for its 31-30 upset of No. 1 ranked Miami, ending their 36-game regular season winning streak. The game is remembered to this day as one of the most memorable games in all of college football.
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Aftermath
The 1988 Irish squad won their 11th consensus national title in Lou Holtz's third year as an Irish head coach, equaling the trend of Irish coaches winning the title in their third year. Irish head coaches Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine also won titles in their third years as head coach. Holtz was named national coach of the year for taking the Irish squad from an 8-4 record the previous year to national title winners the following year. His 1989 and 1993 squads narrowly missed repeating the feat.
As of 2016, the 1988 Irish squad is also the most recent to win the national title. This title drought looms large as Notre Dame is currently in its 26th year going without winning a title, the longest such streak since they won their first in 1924.
Awards and honors
All-Americans
Paul "Bear" Bryant Award Coach of the Year
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Notre Dame leads all universities in players inducted.
Future NFL Players
The following is a list of Notre Dame players that would go on to play or be drafted to play in the National Football League over the next four years. All players listed played for the 1988 team.
| George Streeter | 1989 | Chicago Bears
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