1975 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1975 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. It was Dan Devine's first year as head coach, taking over for the retired Ara Parseghian.

1975 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
Record	8–3
Head coach	Dan Devine (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Merv Johnson (1st season)
Captains	Ed Bauer Jim Stock
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium

1975 NCAA Division I independents football records

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Rutgers			–					9	–	2	–	0
No. 10 Penn State			–					9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 West Virginia			–					9	–	3	–	0
Notre Dame			–					8	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					8	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Pittsburgh			–					8	–	4	–	0
Boston College			–					7	–	4	–	0
Georgia Tech			–					7	–	4	–	0
Memphis State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Navy			–					7	–	4	–	0
North Texas State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss			–					7	–	4	–	0
South Carolina			–					7	–	5	–	0
Colgate			–					6	–	4	–	0
Cincinnati			–					6	–	5	–	0
Hawaii			–					6	–	5	–	0
Syracuse			–					6	–	5	–	0
Temple			–					6	–	5	–	0
Utah State			–					6	–	5	–	0
Indiana State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana			–					4	–	6	–	1
Tulane			–					4	–	7	–	0
Villanova			–					4	–	7	–	0
Florida State			–					3	–	8	–	0
Air Force			–					2	–	8	–	1
Houston			–					2	–	8	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					2	–	8	–	0
Army			–					2	–	9	–	0
Marshall			–					2	–	9	–	0
Southern Illinois			–					1	–	9	–	1
Holy Cross			–					1	–	10	–	0
Louisville			–					1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The team's victory over Georgia Tech is featured in the 1993 film Rudy.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 15	9:00 p.m.	vs. Boston College	No. 9	Schaefer Stadium Foxboro, MA (Holy War)	ABC	W 17–3	61,501
September 20	2:30 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 9	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)		W 17–0	69,795
September 27	2:30 p.m.	Northwestern	No. 7	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 31–7	59,075
October 4	2:30 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		L 3–10	59,075
October 11	1:30 p.m.	at North Carolina	No. 15	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)		W 21–14	49,500
October 18	3:05 p.m.	at Air Force	No. 15	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (rivalry)		W 31–30	43,204
October 25	1:50 p.m.	No. 3 USC	No. 14	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ABC	L 17–24	59,075
November 1	1:30 p.m.	Navy	No. 15	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 31–10	59,075
November 8	1:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech	No. 12	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 24–3	59,075
November 15	1:30 p.m.	at Pittsburgh	No. 9	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)		L 20–34	56,480
November 22	7:30 p.m.	at Miami (FL)		Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)		W 32–9	24,944
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Personnel

Roster

1975 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Frank Allocco Sr OT 68 Ed Bauer Sr TE 83 Doug Buth Jr TE 87 John Driscoll So RB 40 Terry Eurick So WR 82 Kris Haines Fr RB 30 Jerome Heavens Fr RB 25 Al Hunter So OT 62 Dave Huffman Fr G 65 Ernie Hughes So WR 80 Dan Kelleher Jr RB 21 Dan Knott So TE 81 Ken MacAfee So OT 71 Steve McDaniels So G 60 Howard Meyer Fr QB 3 Joe Montana Fr G 57 Elton Moore Jr RB 14 Steve Orsini So FB 36 Tom Parise Sr C 77 Steve Quehl Sr OT 50 Bob Tull So G 66 Al Wujciak Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 79 Jay Achterhoff Sr SS 20 Luther Bradley So SS 33 Jim Browner Fr DE 89 Ross Browner So SS 28 Ross Christensen So LB 24 Nick DeCicco So DT 72 Ken Dike So FS 41 John Dubenetzky Jr LB 42 Tom Eastman Jr DE 94 Willie Fry So LB 55 Bob Golic Fr FS 10 Randy Harrison So LB 58 Steve Heimkreiter Fr LB 51 Pete Johnson So CB 26 Tom Lopienski Sr DT 70 Steve Niehaus Sr LB 38 Tony Novakov Sr LB 54 Marv Russell Jr DE 45 Rudy Ruettiger Sr CB 29 Pat Sarb Sr LB 48 Jim Stock Sr DT 74 Jeff Weston So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 4 Tony Brantley Sr K 99 Pat McLaughlin Sr P/QB 7 Joe Restic Fr	Head coach Dan Devine Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Coaching staff

• Head coach: Dan Devine
• Assistants: Greg Blache (JV), Brian Boulac (OL), Ed Chlebek (ST), Merv Johnson (OC), George Kelly (LB), Hank Kuhlmann (OB/ST), Johnny Roland (Receivers), Paul Shoults (DB), Ross Stephenson (Scouting/Volunteer Ast), Joe Yonto (DL)

Game summaries

Boston College

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 0 3 7 7 17 Boston College 0 3 0 0 3 Date: September 15 Location: Schaefer Stadium, Foxboro, MA Game attendance: 61,501 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Bud Wilkinson

Scoring summary 2 6:52 ND Dave Reeve 30-yard field goal ND 3-0 2 0:11 BC Fred Steinfort 45-yard field goal Tied 3-3 3 1:48 ND Jim Browner 10-yard run (kick good) ND 10-3 4 ND Touchdown ND 17-3

Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 3 0 0 14 17 Purdue 0 0 0 0 0 Date: September 20 Location: Ross–Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, Indiana

Scoring summary 1 ND Reeve 29-yard field goal Notre Dame 3-0 4 ND Bradley 99-yard interception return (Reeve kick) Notre Dame 10-0 4 ND Hunter 1-yard run (Reeve kick) Notre Dame 17-0

North Carolina

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 0 0 0 21 21 North Carolina 0 0 14 0 14 Date: October 11 Location: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, NC Game attendance: 49,500

Scoring summary 3 UNC Voight 12-yard run (Biddle kick) UNC 7-0 3 UNC Collins 38-yard pass from Paschall (Biddle kick) UNC 14-0 4 ND Hunter 2-yard run (pass failed) UNC 14-6 4 ND Hunter 2-yard run (Montana to Bush pass) Tied 14-14 4 1:03 ND Burgmeier 80-yard pass from Montana (McLaughlin kick) ND 21-14

Georgia Tech

This was the famous game in which Rudy Ruettiger, a 5'6", 165-lb, walk-on, was inserted late in the game and recorded a quarterback sack. His story was the inspiration for the movie Rudy.

1 2 3 4 Total Georgia Tech 0 0 0 3 3 • Notre Dame 7 7 3 7 24 Date: November 8 Location: South Bend, IN

Scoring summary 1 ND Heavens 16-yard run (Reeve kick) ND 7-0 2 ND FG Reeve 29 ND 10-0 3 ND Heavens 73-yard run (Reeve kick) ND 17-0 4 GT FG Mealier 40 17-3 4 ND Knotter 3-yard run (Reeve kick) ND 24-3