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
Conference	Independent
Record	7–4
Head coach	Dan Devine (5th season)
Captains	Vagas Ferguson Tim Foley Dave Waymer
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ← 1978 1980 →

1979 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		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 State		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		–				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

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 15	3:20 p.m.	at No. 6 Michigan	No. 9	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	ABC	W 12–10	105,111
September 22	2:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Purdue	No. 5	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)		L 22–28	70,567
September 29	2:30 p.m.	No. 7 Michigan State	No. 15	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Megaphone Trophy)		W 27–3	59,075
October 6	2:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech	No. 10	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		W 21–13	59,075
October 13	3:30 p.m.	at Air Force	No. 10	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		W 38–13	34,881
October 20	12:50 p.m.	No. 4 USC	No. 9	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	L 23–42	59,075
October 27	2:30 p.m.	South Carolina	No. 14	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		W 18–17	59,075
November 3	1:30 p.m.	Navy	No. 13	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)		W 14–0	59,075
November 10	1:30 p.m.	at Tennessee	No. 13	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN		L 18–40	86,489
November 17	1:30 p.m.	No. 14 Clemson		Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		L 10–16	59,075
November 24	11:00 p.m.	vs. Miami (FL)		National Olympic Stadium Tokyo, Japan (Mirage Bowl)		W 40–15	62,574
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[1]

Roster

1979 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class G 65 Bob Burger Jr WR 80 Dave Condeni So QB 2 Mike Courey Jr C 53 Jeff Crippin Sr WR 1 Ty Dickerson Jr RB 32 Vagas Ferguson Sr OT 73 Tim Foley Sr WR 31 Pete Holohan Jr G 78 Tim Huffman Jr QB 13 Greg Knafelc Jr QB 6 Rusty Lisch Sr OT 75 Rob Martinovich Sr TE 86 Dean Masztak So OT 71 Phil Pozderac So C 57 John Scully Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 94 Tom Bock So LB 43 Bob Crable So DL Mark Czaja S 22 Dave Duerson Fr CB 27 Tom Gibbons Jr DE Joe Gramke DT Kevin Griffith DE John Hankerd DT Don Kidd DT Pat Kramer 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. # Name Class P Dick Boushka K Chuck Male Sr	Head coach Dan Devine Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt

Game summaries

at Michigan

See also: 1979 Michigan Wolverines football team

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0–0) at Michigan Wolverines (1–0)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	3	3	6	0	12
Michigan	3	7	0	0	10

at Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Date: September 15
• Game weather: 65 °F (18 °C)
• Game attendance: 105,111
• TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles
• Recap

Game information

First quarter MICH – Bryan Virgil 30-yard field goal, 7:31. Michigan 3–0. Drive: 10 plays, 84 yards. ND – Chuck Male 40-yard field goal. Tie 3–3. Drive: Second quarter MICH – Stan Edwards 1-yard run (Bryan Virgil kick), 10:48. Michigan 10–3. Drive: 13 plays, 80 yards, 6:39. ND – Chuck Male 40-yard field goal, 4:48. Michigan 10–6. Drive: Third quarter ND – Chuck Male 22–yard field goal. Michigan 10–9. Drive: ND – Chuck Male 39-yard field goal. Notre Dame 12–10. Drive: Top passers ND – Rusty Lisch – 5/10, 65 yards MICH – B. J. Dickey – 9/18, 106 yards Top rushers ND – Vagas Ferguson – 35 rushes, 118 yards MICH Top receivers ND MICH

Bob Crable (10 tackles) leaped to block the potential-game winning field in the final seconds.

^[2]

at Purdue

Michigan State

Georgia Tech

at Air Force

See also: 1979 Air Force Falcons football team

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 10 21 0 7 38 Air Force 0 7 6 0 13 Date: October 13 Location: Falcon Stadium, Colorado Springs, Colorado Game attendance: 34,881

Scoring summary Q1 ND Ferguson 5 yard run (Male kick) ND 7–0 Q1 ND Male 43 yard field goal ND 10–0 Q2 ND Lisch 1 yard run (Male kick) ND 17–0 Q2 AFA James 1 yard run (Sturch kick) ND 17–7 Q2 ND Vehr 2 yard pass from Lisch (Male kick) ND 24–7 Q2 ND Ferguson 23 yard run (Male kick) ND 31–7 Q3 AFA Schafer 2 yard pass from Ziebart (run failed) ND 31–13 Q4 ND Hunter 75 yard pass from Lisch (Male kick) ND 38–13

^[3]

USC

See also: 1979 USC Trojans football team

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.

Navy

1 2 3 4 Total Navy 0 0 0 0 0 • Notre Dame 7 0 0 7 14 Date: November 3 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary Q1 ND Lisch 1 yard run (Male kick) ND 7–0 Q4 ND Ferguson 3 yard run (Male kick) ND 14–0

• ND: Ferguson 34 Rush, 155 Yds (first player in school history with 3,000 career rushing yards)

^[4]

at Tennessee

Clemson

vs. Miami (FL)

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Vagas Ferguson	Running back	1	25	New England Patriots
Dave Waymer	Conerback	2	41	New Orleans Saints
Tim Foley	Tackle	2	51	Baltimore Colts
Rusty Lisch	Quarterback	4	89	St. Louis Cardinals
Bobby Leopold	Linebacker	8	210	San Francisco 49ers
Rob Martinovich	Tackle	10	261	Kansas 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.