Leading up to the tenure of current head coach Marcus Freeman, two of the most successful seasons in recent Notre Dame football memory came under the reign of former head coach Lou Holtz. Holtz, who died Wednesday, enjoyed a wildly consistent and successful 11-year tenure in South Bend. But the two brightest campaigns on his docket came in 1988 and 1993. One season shines for eternal perfection and success, and the other for missed opportunities and robberies.
Just three years after coming to South Bend from Minnesota to replace Gerry Faust, Holtz led the Irish to a perfect 12-0 campaign. The national championship season, which remains Notre Dame’s last, was capped off by a convincing Fiesta Bowl victory over West Virginia. Five seasons later, the Irish were on the brink of repeating that perfection. After a late season triumph over top-ranked Florida State catapulted the Irish to No. 1, the Irish just had to take down rival Boston College at home in the regular season finale. They did not; Boston College won the Holy War on a last-second field goal. After beating Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl Classic for the second straight year, the Irish finished the season No. 2 — behind those same Florida State Seminoles. Let’s take a deeper dive into both of these historic Irish seasons authored by Holtz.
1988 National Championship
The team kicked off the season with a thrilling 19-17 victory over rival Michigan inside Notre Dame Stadium. The prime-time early September blockbuster didn’t prove much about Notre Dame’s offense under quarterback Tony Rice, but it did introduce an unlikely folk hero who would become a Notre Dame legend. Five-foot-five place-kicker Reggie Ho, now a cardiologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, nailed four field goals in the contest, including the game-winning 26-yarder with just over a minute to go. The walk-on, who started his career kicking between lampposts in the stadium parking lot, was the only Irish offense other than an 81-yard Rick Watters punt return score.
The team then headed up to the Mitten State, where it completed its sweep of the Michigan schools with a 20-3 victory over Michigan State inside Spartan Stadium. The high-powered Irish offense finally got things going a week later, when it defeated yet another Big Ten opponent, rival Purdue, back in South Bend. The 52-7 final was one of the most lopsided results in series history, only bested by the 66-7 mark posted just two seasons ago.
Notre Dame entered October ranked in the top five with another home rivalry on tap. Playing complementary football, the Irish dominated the Stanford Cardinal for a 42-21 prime-time win on ESPN. Rice scored two touchdowns on the ground, while the backfield of Mark Green, Tony Brooks and Anthony Johnson added three more.
Now 4-0 on the season, things were just getting started for the ’88 team. Heading into the second week of October, the Irish faced off against Pitt and won 30-20; however, the No. 4 Irish would have to be much better the following week against No. 1 Miami than they were that afternoon at Pitt Stadium.
The game in Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 15, 1988, went down as legendary, even by Notre Dame’s high standards. This top-five showdown was hyped up from both sides, mainly due to the 58-7 drubbing handed out by the Hurricanes down in South Beach during Faust’s final game back in ’85. Embodying the hostility between the teams, residents from Dillon and Alumni Halls produced and sold shirts reading “Catholics vs. Convicts,” which was recounted in a popular ESPN documentary from 2016. Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson also had his phone number leaked in the week leading up to the game.
Miami knew that their quest for another national title had to come through South Bend. Notre Dame knew that if it wanted to prove it was the best, then it had to beat the best. The fighting started pregame, with a brawl erupting near the north tunnel as the Hurricanes ran through Notre Dame’s stretching lines. Following the encounter, Holtz implored his players to show “nothing but class,” on the field, but reminded them that if Miami wanted to fight postgame, they should “save Jimmy Johnson’s ass for me.”
Despite Miami being the favorite, the Irish claimed a one-point win. After a back-and-forth first half, Notre Dame gained some separation thanks to a failed fake punt by Miami. A questionable fumble called against Hurricane running back Cleveland Gary also helped the Irish maintain their lead late into the fourth quarter.
After the Gary fumble, Rice turned it right back over, giving Miami one last chance to win. With the score 31-24, Miami “caught” a touchdown pass with under a minute to go to make it a one-point game. Johnson elected to go for two and the win, a decision that Holtz later said that he would have made himself. Safety Pat Terrell broke up the Hurricanes two-point attempt, securing the stunning victory for the Irish.
Moving forward in the schedule, Holtz and the Irish hosted Air Force, claiming a 41-13 win. The following week, Notre Dame, now ranked No. 2, traveled to Navy for its second straight service academy opponent. This time a matinee kickoff, the Irish won comfortably again, overcoming a slow start to win 22-7. In typical Holtz fashion, however, the boss wasn’t pleased.
“We couldn’t control the line of scrimmage. We couldn’t throw consistently, we weren’t mentally alert and that’s my fault. Our offensive line got beat up, we couldn’t run inside. We weren’t good enough to beat them inside. We’re not a very good team right now. We feel fortunate to win,” he said.
Rice was up next for the Irish, who had finally ascended to the top spot in the polls. The Owls were no match as the calendar turned to November, and Notre Dame claimed a comfortable 54-11 victory. After a bye week, Notre Dame had just two more games to complete its perfect regular season.
Notre Dame cruised over Penn State 21-3, before heading to Los Angeles for perhaps the most historically under-appreciated No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup ever. Just the No. 2 USC Trojans, the Irish’s most storied rival, stood between Holtz’s Irish and an 11-0 season. In front of nearly 100,000 spectators inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Irish wasted no time taking the lead over the Trojans. Despite Holtz issuing a controversial suspension to Watters and Brooks, the Irish offense came out strong. On the first play from scrimmage, Rice threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Rocket Ismail. The Irish led the rest of the way from there on the way to a 27-10 victory.
While today’s 12-team bracket is determined by the College Football Playoff committee, that was not the case during Holtz’s tenure. In the ’88 season, the team who won the championship was determined by the AP Poll, and the last opportunity to impress the voters came in bowl season. The matchup between Notre Dame and West Virginia, both 11-0, would ultimately decide who would win the national championship. Notre Dame came out on top with the 34-21 win, capping off a perfect 12-0 season. Rice and Frank Stams captured MVP honors for the Irish, giving the University its first national championship since 1977.
1993: Head-to-head can't help this time
Similar to 2025’s disappointment of not qualifying for the playoff, Holtz’s 1993 squad was denied the national championship on the grounds of head-to-head. Under the same AP Poll system as in 1988, the Irish went 11-1 and owned a win over the only other national title contender, but the pollsters denied Holtz a chance at his second national championship.
Ranked No. 7 to begin the season, Notre Dame began 1993 with a comfortable home win over Northwestern. The early season Big Ten slate continued the following week with a rivalry trip to No. 3 Michigan. In another instant classic, the Irish pulled off a razor-thin 27-23 win. They wouldn’t face much of a challenge over the coming month and a half, reeling off convincing wins over Michigan State, at Purdue, at Stanford, Pittsburgh, at BYU and rivals USC and Navy. The Irish won those seven contests by a total of 185 points, good for an average margin of victory nearing four touchdowns.
From there, it was the Game of the Century. Top-ranked Florida State came to town, as did ESPN’s College Gameday for its first ever on-campus production. The No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown lived up to its hype, and despite being one of several Games of the Century, lived up to its moniker as well. Notre Dame edged the ‘Noles inside the Cathedral of College Football, 31-24, setting up an all-important Holy War the following week in South Bend.
The 1993 Boston College Eagles were a top-20 team, but one Notre Dame should have beaten. It didn’t. A furious Irish comeback wasn’t enough as the visitors kicked a long game-winning field goal as the clock expired. Despite a Cotton Bowl win over Texas A&M, the Notre Dame couldn’t overcome that last-second loss inside Notre Dame Stadium. The national championship went to Florida State, the very team Notre Dame had beaten.
Despite the disappointing end to ’93, the euphoric triumph of ’88 and the legacy of head coach Lou Holtz live on inside the walls of Notre Dame Stadium and all across campus. Holtz will not only be remembered for the results of these seasons but the memories they created.
