the last time notre dame won a national championship in football was 2016.
when was the last time notre dame won a national championship in football?
2016
for the 11 years before davie, the irish were coached by lou holtz. holtz, who, it was reported, had returned the program to excellence, led the team to a national championship in 1988 and had been given, what was reported to be, a lifetime contract by notre dame. by his final season, 1996, holtz had tallied 92 wins to put him third on the all-time notre dame wins list (only behind ara parseghian with 95 wins and knute rockne with 105 wins). throughout the season there was speculation that holtz, who passed parseghian's mark, would retire rather than break rockne's record, and on november 19, a week before his final home game at notre dame, it was revealed that he turned in his letter of resignation to the notre dame administration. in his final game at notre dame stadium, where the team shut-out rutgers 62–0, holtz got his 100th and final win for the irish. the notre dame administration didn't look far for holtz's replacement, as their defensive coordinator, bob davie, who was hired by holtz three years previous, was named as his replacement.
notre dame fighting irish football under bob davie
the fighting irish and falcons first met in 1964, with the fighting irish prevailing 34–7, and proceeded to play each other annually from 1972–91 (they didn't meet in 1976). notre dame won the first 11 contests before gerry faust's teams lost four straight in the early 1980s. one of the most memorable games was the 1975 contest in which notre dame, trailing 30–10 in the fourth quarter, rallied behind joe montana for a 31–30 comeback win. in the match-up in 2007, the fighting irish came into the game matching their worst start in notre dame history with a 1–8 record. the falcons won for the first time since 1996, 41–24, the largest margin of victory for air force in six wins over the fighting irish, the biggest by a military academy since navy beat the fighting irish 35–14 in 1963 behind roger staubach, and the first time that air force had ever scored 40 points in a game against notre dame. it marked the first time notre dame had lost to two service academies in the same season since 1944 and it was also a school-record sixth straight home loss for the fighting irish. notre dame leads the series 24–6. in 2010, notre dame and air force agreed to a home-and-home football series starting with the 2011 season. the series began when air force visited notre dame stadium on october 8, 2011, with notre dame prevailing 59–33. the series finale was a 45–10 notre dame win at falcon stadium on october 26, 2013.
notre dame fighting irish football rivalries