Notre Dame is back in the National Championship Game for the first time since 2012, a 42-12 loss at the hands of Alabama that Fighting Irish fans wish they could forget. However, it’s been much longer since the Notre Dame football program has won it all. The most recent of Notre Dame’s 13 claimed national titles came in 1988 when Lou Holtz led the Irish to a perfect 12-0 season and a 34-21 win over West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
The title came in Lou Holtz’s third season leading the program, after posting a 5-6 record in 1986, and winning eight games with a Cotton Bowl loss in 1987. Holtz ultimately coached the Irish for 11 seasons, from 1986-1996, and never reached the mountaintop again, coming closest in 1989, finishing at No. 2 in the country at 12-1 after an Orange Bowl win over No. 1 Colorado. Marcus Freeman is now in his third year replacing Brian Kelly at the helm in South Bend and posted nine and 10 wins respectively in his first two campaigns.
In Holtz’s 1988 title season, as in 2024, the Irish were led by a mobile quarterback and a dynamic run game. Tony Rice completed just over 50% of his passes and only threw for 1,176 yards and eight touchdowns, but the second-year starter averaged 5.8 yards per carry and ran for 700 yards and nine scores. Rice led a three-headed rushing attack that also featured running backs Tony Brooks and Mark Green, who both eclipsed 600 yards on the ground.
While transfer QB Riley Leonard didn’t lead this year’s Irish on the ground, and was a much more prolific passer, he was also one of three players on Freeman’s team to cross the 700-yard threshold. Running back Jeremiyah Love led the way with 1,122 yards on 159 carries, Leonard added 866 on 167 attempts, and Jadarian Price ran for 733 yards on his 117 touches.
While both the 1988 Irish and the 2024 teams notched wins over Purdue, Stanford, Navy, USC, and Penn State, the difficulty of the two schedules greatly differed. In 1988, Holtz beat four top-10 ranked teams, something the 2024 iteration has still yet to accomplish despite playing three additional games and three in the College Football Playoff. However, if the Irish beat Ohio State on Monday night, it will be their fourth win against a top-10 team.
There are plenty of parallels between Notre Dame’s last national title and this year’s attempt, and a Lou Holtz appearance in Atlanta could take the good vibes over the top for the Fighting Irish.