2008 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team The 2008 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2008 college football season . The team ' s head football coach is Charlie Weis . The Irish play their home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame , Indiana . This was Weis ' s fourth season as Notre Dame ' s head coach , who entered the season with a 22 - 15 record , coming off a 3 - 9 season after posting back - to - back BCS seasons . The Irish started 4 - 1 , but completed the regular season with a 6 - 6 record , including a 24 - 23 loss to Syracuse , the first time that Notre Dame had fallen to an eight - loss team . The combined 15 losses from 2007 - 08 marks the most losses for any two - year span . Despite speculation the university might fire Weis , it was announced shortly after the conclusion of the regular season that he would remain head coach in 2009 . Notre Dame ended the season on a positive note , finally ending their NCAA record nine - game bowl losing streak by beating Hawai ' i 49 - 21 . In the process , Notre Dame scored its highest point total of the season , its highest point total ever in a bowl game , and broke 8 other bowl records . The bowl win also helped Notre Dame to a 7 - 6 final record , its 102nd winning season in 120 years of football . Pre - season . Coaching changes . Despite the turmoil of the previous football season , head coach Charlie Weis did not make many changes to the coaching staff . The one major change to the staff was the addition of Jon Tenuta , former defensive coordinator of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets , as the new linebackers coach and assistant head coach . Tetuna became responsible for the day - to - day operations of the team with Weis retaining responsibility only for recruiting . Tenuta ' s addition followed the retirement of Bill Lewis from active coaching . Other changes included reassignment of football duties . Weis announced that he would be turning over control of the offense , including game day play calling , to offensive coordinator Michael Haywood . On defense , Corwin Brown switched from coaching linebackers to coaching defensive backs following Lewis ' retirement . Tenuta assumed coaching the linebackers . Finally , citing the poor play on special teams , Weis made Brian Polian the sole special teams coach and announced that he would be helping Polian when needed . The previous year , all coaches had a hand in helping with special teams . Roster changes . Graduating players . Seniors tight end John Carlson , defensive end Trevor Laws , safety Tom Zibikowski and center John Sullivan were all drafted by NFL teams . Three players that were not drafted quickly signed with NFL teams as free agents following the NFL Draft : linebacker Joe Brockington , long snapper J . J . Jansen and running back Travis Thomas . Quarterbacks Darrin Bragg and Justin Gillete , defensive end Dwight Stephenson Jr . , cornerback Ambrose Wooden and punter Geoff Price also graduated and exhausted their remaining eligibility . Notre Dame also had several players who graduated and decided not to apply for a fifth year of eligibility : running back Junior Jabbie , cornerback Leo Ferine and linebacker Anthony Vernaglia . Transfers . After the end of the spring practice session , sophomore - to - be linebacker Aaron Nagel transferred from Notre Dame to the Northwestern Wildcats . In July , wide receiver D . J . Hord announced he was transferring from Notre Dame to a yet unnamed Division I Football Championship Subdivision school , where he would have two years eligibility remaining . Once a highly touted recruit , injuries had hampered his progress and he left with 2 catches for 7 yards in his Notre Dame career . It was also announced the same day that starting cornerback Darin Walls would not enroll and play football this season for undisclosed personal reasons , but would return the following spring . On August , 15 , several days into fall practice , reserve wide receiver Richard Jackson announced he would be leaving Notre Dame for a school closer to his home in Florida . Recruiting . The Irish added 23 players to its roster with high school recruits . Included in the class were five - star wide receiver recruit Michael Floyd , five - star quarterback recruit Dayne Crist , and five - star defensive lineman Ethan Johnson . Five - star tight end Kyle Rudolph also bolstered a class that included six four star recruits on offense , and nine four star recruits on defense . The class was named No . 2 by both Rivals and Scout . Rivals revised Notre Dame ' s ranking to No . 1 after factoring in players recruited by other schools that did not enroll with their classmates . Award candidates . The following players were announced to award watch lists prior to the start of the 2008 season : Game notes . Michigan . Turnovers were the name of the game , as Notre Dame jumped out to a 21 point lead off of 2 early Michigan turnovers and went on to beat Michigan 35 – 17 . Despite Michigan out - gaining the Irish 387 yards to 260 yards , Notre Dame won the turnover battle 6 to 2 . Jimmy Clausen connected on touchdown passes of 10 yards and 48 yards to wide receivers Duval Kamara and Golden Tate , respectively . Michigan came to life after the 21 points , when Sam McGuffie turned a short pass from quarterback Steven Threet into a 40 yard touchdown . Michigan kicker K . C . Lopata ' s 23 yard field goal cut the lead to 21 – 10 . The Irish then answered with an 87 yard touchdown drive , highlighted by a 60 yard pass from Clausen to Tate , who broke three tackles before being caught at the 25 yard line . Robert Hughes scored his second rushing touchdown of the day , a 1 yard run to make it 28 – 10 . Irish linebacker Brian Smith also returned a fumble 35 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game away . Notre Dame didn ' t come away completely unscathed , however , as coach Charlie Weis was knocked over on the sideline by defensive end John Ryan , who was being run out of bounds . Weis spent the remainder of the game on crutches with his left leg wrapped . It was determined during halftime that Weis had torn his ACL and his MCL . Coach Lou Holtz and the 1988 National Title team were also honored , with a statue of Coach Holtz unveiled outside of the stadium before the game . Purdue . Notre Dame improved to 3 - 1 , matching its win total from a year ago with a 38 - 21 victory over Purdue . The Irish , who hadn ' t scored in the third quarter in their first three games , scored on their first two possessions of the second half to open a 28 - 14 lead . The Boilermakers cut the lead to 28 - 21 four plays later when Painter threw a pass that Desmond Tardy caught at the Notre Dame 30 and raced up the left sideline for a touchdown . The Irish answered immediately , however , when Clausen threw a 30 - yard TD pass to captain David Grimes on a fourth - and - 7 . Freshman wide receiver Michael Floyd added six catches for 100 yards and freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph also had a touchdown catch . The Boilermakers fell to 1 - 15 at Notre Dame Stadium since 1976 . The loss also left Purdue coach Joe Tiller , who is retiring after the season , with a 5 - 7 record against the Irish . Stanford . Notre Dame got off to a quick start against Stanford , scoring 3 touchdowns in the first half to hold on to beat Stanford 28 - 21 . Jimmy Clausen threw for a career - high 347 yards , completing 73 % of his passes and three touchdown passes and leading Notre Dame to its seventh straight win over the Cardinal . Stanford , however , made a game of it , scoring twice in the fourth quarter to cut Notre Dame ' s lead to 7 . Cardinal quarterback Tavita Pritchard threw a 1 - yard pass to Jim Dray and a 10 - yard TD pass to Doug Baldwin with 6 minutes left in the game . The Cardinal got the ball back on their own 2 yard line with 3 : 34 left , but could not mount a drive . They had one last chance with 8 seconds left , but fumbled the ball and defensive end Pat Kuntz recovered to end the game . Kuntz also had an interception and two sacks in the game . Freshman and Sophomores again accounted for all of Notre Dame ' s scoring , highlighted by a second straight 100 - yard game by Michael Floyd , who had 5 catches for 115 yards and a 48 - yard touchdown catch . Sophomore running back Armando Allen amassed 153 total yards , including scoring a 3 - yard rushing touchdown and a 21 - yard touchdown pass from Clausen . Freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph also had 5 catches for 70 yards and a touchdown . Running back Toby Gerhart had a great day running the ball for the Cardinal , compiling 104 yards on 13 carries . Tavita Pritchard , however , turned the ball over 3 times , throwing interceptions to Notre Dame safeties David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy in addition to Kuntz . Before the game , Stanford offensive lineman Chris Marinelli made some controversial comments about Notre Dame ( which he later apologized for ) , saying that " I hate it , playing [ Notre Dame ] up there . The field , excuse my language , the field sucks . The stadium sucks . I think the area sucks . " Stanford has not won at Notre Dame stadium since 1992 . North Carolina . Washington . James Aldridge ran for 84 yards and a career high 2 touchdowns to help the Irish defeat Ty Willingham ' s winless Huskies 33 - 7 . The Irish , coming off a bye week , scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game . On the third play from scrimmage , Jimmy Clausen connected with Michael Floyd for a 51 - yard touchdown . On Notre Dame ' s next series , Golden Tate capped off a 9 play drive with a 21 - yard rushing touchdown , the first of his career . Clausen completed 14 of 26 passes for 201 yards and interception in addition to his touchdown to Floyd . Clausen missed on 10 of his first 16 passes against a team ranked last in the nation in pass efficiency defense . Notre Dame had no problem creating offense , though , outgaining UW 238 yards to 38 yards in the first half and leading 17 - 0 . On the first offensive series of the third quarter , the Irish turned to Aldridge , who scored the first of his two touchdowns to put Notre Dame up 24 - 0 . Aldridge led a running back corps that gained 252 yards on the ground . Notre Dame also relied on a stout defense , which held Washington to 124 yards of offense after allowing an average of 368 yards on the season . Washington did not cross midfield until the 6 : 05 mark in the fourth quarter against ND ’ s second string defense . Huskie quarterback Ronnie Fouch connected with D ' Andre Goodwin for a 6 - yard touchdown with four minutes left in the game to avoid UW ’ s first shutout loss at Husky Stadium since 1976 ( a 7 - 0 loss against Cal ) . Notre Dame ’ s defeat dropped Willingham to 11 - 32 in three - plus seasons at Washington . It was announced the next day that UW would not be renewing Willingham ’ s contract at the end of the season . Pittsburgh . In what became the longest game in Notre Dame Stadium history , the Irish came up short against the Panthers , losing 36 - 33 in quadruple overtime . The game looked to be a defensive struggle early , with the game tied at 3 - 3 with a little over four minutes remaining before half time . Late in the second quarter on 3rd down and 12 , Golden Tate made a 47 - yard catch of a tipped ball to get the Irish offense to the Pitt 32 yard line . Jimmy Clausen hit Michael Floyd 4 plays later to put the Irish up 10 - 3 . With 1 : 27 left , Panthers quarterback Pat Bostick threw the first of his three interceptions on the day ; a 43 - yard interception return by Raeshon McNeil . Clausen hit Floyd again for an Irish touchdown with : 04 remaining , putting ND up 17 - 3 at the half . Despite the Irish ' s offensive spark in the second quarter , the Panthers held Notre Dame to a mere 7 yards in the third quarter . The Panthers also answered the call on offense scoring 14 unanswered points to tie the game at 17 - 17 . After the second Panther score , Notre Dame ' s offense came alive again , driving 75 yards in 12 plays and culminating in a third Clausen touchdown , this time to Golden Tate . The late drive by Notre Dame was for nought , however , as Pitt forced overtime when they tied the score at 24 with 2 : 22 left on a 10 - yard touchdown pass from Bostick to Jonathan Baldwin on fourth - and - 6 . The Panthers ran the same play three straight times before Bostick beat Irish cornerback McNeil for the score . Neither team could get into the end zone in overtime , and Pitt ' s Connor Lee won the kicking contest . Notre Dame ' s kicker , Brandon Walker , who started the season by making just 1 - of - 7 field goals , made his first four attempts to run his consecutive made field goal streak to seven . But his 38 - yard attempt narrowly missed wide left in the fourth overtime , giving Pitt the chance kick the winning field goal . In the defeat , Notre Dame ' s Michael Floyd broke the record for catches by a Notre Dame freshman , with 10 catches for 100 yards . Hawaii Bowl . Notre Dame beat Hawaii 49 - 21 in its first bowl victory since the Irish defeated Texas A & M in the 1994 Cotton Bowl Classic to end the 1993 season . Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen broke school bowl game records after passing for 401 yards and five touchdowns , and his 84 . 6 % completion rate was the second - best completion percentage for any player in any bowl game in NCAA history . Wide receiver Golden Tate also set Irish bowl records upon catching for 177 yards and three touchdowns . Both players were named co - MVP s of the game . In all , Notre Dame broke 9 bowl records in the victory . In addition to Clausen and Tate ' s record day , Notre Dame set bowl records in total offense ( 481 yards ) , scoring ( 49 points ) , and longest kick return ( 96 yards by Allen ) . Clausen ' s 69 - yard connection to Tate is also a new record . The defense also had a good day for the Irish , registering 8 sacks and an interception . The victory also ties the 1978 Cotton Bowl Classic for Notre Dame ' s largest margin of victory in a bowl game at 28 points . Post season . Awards . Freshman Tight End Kyle Rudolph would earn Freshman All - America First - Team honors for his play as the starting tight end from Sporting News , CollegeFootballNews . com and Phil Steele . Rudolph set freshman school records for receptions and receiving yards logging 25 receptions for 262 yards and two touchdowns . Freshman Receiver Michael Floyd also earned all - freshman second - team honors from Sporting News , CollegeFootballNews . com , Rivals . com and Phil Steele . Offensive guard Trevor Robinson was named to the All - Freshman second team by CollegeFootballNews . com , while wide receiver Golden Tate was a sophomore honorable mention selection . NFL Draft . David Bruton was the only player drafted from the team , going in the fourth round to the Denver Broncos as the 114th pick overall . Five more players would sign quickly after the draft , including David Grimes with Broncos , Pat Kuntz with the Colts , Terrail Lambert with the 49ers , and fullback Asaph Schwapp and offensive lineman Mike Turkovich with the Cowboys .