1976 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

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1976 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Gator Bowl champion
Gator Bowl, W 20–9 vs. Penn State
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 12
APNo. 12
Record9–3
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMerv Johnson (2nd season)
Captains
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium
Seasons
← 1975
1977 →
1976 NCAA Division I independents football records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 1 Pittsburgh     12 0 0
No. 17 Rutgers     11 0 0
San Diego State     10 1 0
No. 12 Notre Dame     9 3 0
Colgate     8 2 0
Boston College     8 3 0
Cincinnati     8 3 0
Memphis State     7 4 0
North Texas State *     7 4 0
Southern Illinois     7 4 0
Penn State     7 5 0
Villanova     6 4 1
South Carolina     6 5 0
Virginia Tech     6 5 0
Army     5 6 0
Florida State     5 6 0
Illinois State     5 6 0
Richmond     5 6 0
West Virginia     5 6 0
Georgia Tech     4 6 1
Temple     4 6 0
Air Force     4 7 0
Dayton     4 7 0
Louisville     4 7 0
Marshall     4 7 0
Navy     4 7 0
Indiana State     3 7 0
Hawaii     3 8 0
Holy Cross     3 8 0
Miami (FL)     3 8 0
Syracuse     3 8 0
Utah State     3 8 0
Northeast Louisiana     2 9 0
Southern Miss     2 9 0
Tulane     2 9 0
  • North Texas State (originally 6–5) was awarded a forfeit win after Mississippi State was found to be using an ineligible player.[1]
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season.

Schedule[edit]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 114:20 p.m.No. 9 PittsburghNo. 11ABCL 10–3159,075
September 182:30 p.m.Purdue
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
W 23–059,075
September 252:30 p.m.at NorthwesternW 48–044,396
October 21:30 p.m.at Michigan StateNo. 18W 24–677,081
October 162:30 p.m.OregonNo. 14
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
W 41–059,075
October 231:10 p.m.at No. 19 South CarolinaNo. 12W 13–656,721[2]
October 301:00 p.m.vs. NavyNo. 11W 27–2161,172
November 61:30 p.m.at Georgia TechNo. 11L 14–2350,079[3]
November 1312:50 p.m.No. 10 AlabamaNo. 18
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
ABCW 21–1859,075[4][5]
November 201:30 p.m.Miami (FL)No. 13
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
W 40–2759,075
November 274:00 p.m.at No. 3 USCNo. 13ABCL 13–1776,561
December 279:00 p.m.vs. No. 20 Penn StateNo. 15ABCW 20–967,827

[6]

Personnel[edit]

1976 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
RB Willard Browner
TE 83 Doug Buth Sr
OL Mike Carney
RB Tom Domin
TE 87 John Driscoll Jr
RB 40 Terry Eurick Jr
RB Vagas Ferguson
QB Gary Forystek
WR 82 Kris Haines So
WR Speedy Hart
RB 30 Jerome Heavens So
OL Ted Horansky
RB 25 Al Hunter Jr
OT 62 Dave Huffman So
G 65 Ernie Hughes Jr
WR 80 Dan Kelleher Sr
RB 21 Dan Knott Jr
QB Rusty Lisch  Fr
TE 81 Ken MacAfee Jr
OT 71 Steve McDaniel Jr
RB Mark McLane (C)
G 60 Howard Meyer So
QB 3 Joe Montana So
G 57 Elton Moore Sr
RB 14 Steve Orsini Jr
RB Steve Schmitz
QB 11 Rick Slager
OT 50 Bob Tull Jr
OL Harry Woebkenberg
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB Doug Becker
S 20 Luther Bradley Jr
S 33 Jim Browner So
DE 89 Ross Browner Jr
DB Ted Burgmeier
DL Mike Calhoun
S 28 Ross Christensen Jr
LB 24 Nick DeCicco Jr
DT 72 Ken Dike Jr
S 41 John Dubenetzky Sr
LB 42 Tom Eastman Sr
DE 94 Willie Fry (C) Jr
LB 55 Bob Golic So
S 10 Randy Harrison Jr
LB 58 Steve Heimkreiter So
LB 51 Pete Johnson Jr
LB 54 Marv Russell Sr
DB Dave Waymer Fr
DT 74 Jeff Weston Jr
  Tony Zappala
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K Dave Reeve
P 7 Joe Restic So
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2021-Jan-07

Game summaries[edit]

Pittsburgh[edit]

Purdue[edit]

Purdue Boilermakers (1–0) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Purdue 0 0 000
Notre Dame 3 7 7623

at Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana

  • Date: September 18
  • Game attendance: 59,075
  • Recap/Box
Game information

[7]

At Northwestern[edit]

At Michigan State[edit]

Oregon[edit]

At South Carolina[edit]

Vs. Navy[edit]

Navy Midshipmen (1–6) vs. #11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Notre Dame 3 21 0327
Navy 0 14 0721

at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

Game information

[8]

At Georgia Tech[edit]

Alabama[edit]

Miami (FL)[edit]

At USC[edit]

#13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8–2) at #3 USC Trojans (9–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Notre Dame 0 0 01313
USC 0 7 7317

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Game information

Rick Slager started the game but was replaced by Rusty Lisch after Slagler injured his shoulder.[9]

Gator Bowl (vs Penn State)[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/1976-standings.html
  2. ^ "3 brothers, Irish stop Gamecocks". The Charlotte Observer. October 24, 1976. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Georgia Tech stuns Irish". The Lynchburg News. November 7, 1976. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Martin, Steve (November 13, 1976). "Tide rally falls short, Irish win". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1A. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  5. ^ "Notre Dame air attack too much for Alabama". The Ledger. Associated Press. November 13, 1976. p. 5C. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  6. ^ "1976 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results".
  7. ^ Eugene Register-Guard. 1976 Sept 19. Pg. 14B. Retrieved 2021-Jan-11.
  8. ^ Eugene Register-Guard. 1976 Oct 31.
  9. ^ Notre Dame Football Review - USC. Retrieved 2021-Jan-07.