1968 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1968 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Ara Parseghian, the Fighting Irish compiled a record of 7–2–1. In their final game of the season, they played No. 2 USC to a 21–21 tie.

1968 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 5
Record	7–2–1
Head coach	Ara Parseghian (5th season)
Captains	George Kunz Bob Olson
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium

1968 NCAA University Division independents football records

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Penn State			–					11	–	0	–	0
Rutgers			–					8	–	2	–	0
West Texas State			–					8	–	2	–	0
No. 5 Notre Dame			–					7	–	2	–	1
Florida State			–					8	–	3	–	0
Air Force			–					7	–	3	–	0
Army			–					7	–	3	–	0
Buffalo			–					7	–	3	–	0
No. 18 Houston			–					6	–	2	–	2
Utah State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Boston College			–					7	–	3	–	0
West Virginia			–					7	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					7	–	4	–	0
Pacific			–					6	–	4	–	0
Syracuse			–					6	–	4	–	0
Villanova			–					6	–	4	–	0
Xavier			–					6	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	5	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	5	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					5	–	5	–	0
New Mexico State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Georgia Tech			–					4	–	6	–	0
Southern Miss			–					4	–	6	–	0
Holy Cross			–					3	–	6	–	1
San Jose State			–					3	–	7	–	0
Navy			–					2	–	8	–	0
Tulane			–					2	–	8	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					1	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 21	2:30 p.m.	No. 5 Oklahoma	No. 3	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN		W 45–21	59,075
September 28	2:00 p.m.	No. 1 Purdue	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	ABC	L 22–37	59,075
October 5	2:30 p.m.	at Iowa	No. 5	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA		W 51–28	58,043
October 12	2:30 p.m.	Northwestern	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)		W 27–7	59,075
October 19	2:30 p.m.	Illinois	No. 6	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN		W 58–8	59,075
October 26	1:30 p.m.	at Michigan State	No. 5	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ABC	L 17–21	77,339
November 2	1:30 p.m.	vs. Navy	No. 12	John F. Kennedy Stadium Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)		W 45–14	63,738
November 9	2:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh	No. 12	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 56–7	59,075
November 16	2:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech	No. 9	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 34–6	59,075
November 30	4:30 p.m.	at No. 2 USC	No. 9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	ABC	T 21–21	82,659
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Oklahoma

1 2 3 4 Total Oklahoma 14 0 0 7 21 • Notre Dame 7 14 14 10 45 Date: September 21 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary 1 ND Bob Gladieux 1-yard run (Scott Hempel kick) ND 7-0 1 OU Eddie Hinton 72-yard pass from Bob Warmack (Bruce Derr kick) Tied 7-7 1 OU Steve Zabel 16-yard pass from Bob Warmack (Bruce Derr kick) OU 14-7 2 ND Jim Seymour 10-yard pass from Terry Hanratty (Scott Hempel kick) Tied 14-14 2 ND Jim Seymour 7-yard pass from Terry Hanratty (Scott Hempel kick) ND 21-14 3 ND Bob Gladieux 1-yard run (Scott Hempel kick) ND 28-14 3 ND Bob Gladieux 1-yard run (Scott Hempel kick) ND 35-14 4 ND Scott Hempel 31-yard field goal ND 38-14 4 OU Steve Zabel 11-yard pass from Bob Warmack (Bruce Derr kick) ND 38-21 4 ND Chuck Landolfi 5-yard run (Scott Hempel kick) ND 45-21

See also: 1968 Oklahoma Sooners football team

Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total • Purdue 3 20 0 14 37 Notre Dame 0 14 0 8 22 Date: September 28 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:00 p.m. CDT Game attendance: 59,075 Referee: Gene Calhoun TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson

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Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 21 10 6 14 51 Iowa 14 0 7 7 28 Date: October 5 Location: Iowa Stadium, Iowa City, IA Game start: 1:30 pm CDT

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Northwestern

1 2 3 4 Total Northwestern 0 0 0 7 7 • Notre Dame 7 0 6 14 27 Date: October 12 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 pm CDT Game attendance: 59,075

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Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total Illinois 0 0 8 0 8 • Notre Dame 14 10 27 7 58 Date: October 19 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 p.m. CDT Game attendance: 59,075

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Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 7 3 7 0 17 • Michigan St. 7 7 7 0 21 Date: October 26 Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson

Navy

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 17 7 7 14 45 Navy 6 8 0 0 14 Date: November 2 Location: JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST

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Pittsburgh

1 2 3 4 Total Pittsburgh 0 0 7 0 7 • Notre Dame 23 26 0 7 56 Date: November 9 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 pm CST

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Georgia Tech

1 2 3 4 Total Georgia Tech 0 0 0 6 6 • Notre Dame 7 7 6 14 34 Date: November 16 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, Game start: 1:30 p.m. CST

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USC

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 14 7 0 0 21 USC 7 0 7 7 21 Date: November 30 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Game start: 1:30 p.m. PST TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson

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See also: 1968 USC Trojans football team and Notre Dame–USC football rivalry

Roster

1968 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 2 Bob Belden Sr OT 64 Terry Brennan Jr RB 20 Bob Gladieux Sr QB 5 Terry Hanratty Sr G 75 Bob Kuechenberg Sr OT 78 George Kunz Sr C 54 Mike Oriard Jr WR 85 Jim Seymour Sr QB 7 Joe Theismann So	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 47 John Lavin Sr DT 77 Mike McCoy Jr LB 36 Bob Olson Sr LB 49 Brian Stenger Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Scott Hempel	Head coach Ara Parseghian Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt