Notre Dame Voted No. 1 in Landslide

Notre Dame was proclaimed national collegiate football champion on all fronts Tuesday, less than 24 hours after beating previously undefeated West Virginia, 34-21, in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Fighting Irish (12-0), ranked No. 1 for the final 6 weeks of the regular season, received 58 1/2 first-place votes and 1,198 1/2 of a possible 1,200 points from a nationwide panel of 60 sportswriters and sportscasters in the Associated Press poll.

Miami (11-1), the 1987 national champion whose only loss was at Notre Dame, 31-30, in October, finished second with 1 1/2 first-place votes and 1,141 1/2 points, followed by Florida State (11-1), Michigan (9-2-1) and West Virginia (11-1).

UCLA (10-2) wound up sixth after downing Arkansas, 17-3, in the Cotton Bowl, while USC (10-2) was seventh after losing to Michigan, 22-14, in the Rose Bowl.

The annual Kickoff game, staged in late August or early September at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., would like to match Notre Dame with UCLA, but both schools have had lukewarm responses.

The Irish also were the unanimous choice of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame’s 12-man committee as winner of the MacArthur Bowl, emblematic of the national championship.

Additionally, Notre Dame won the Football Writers Assn. of America’s Grantland Rice National Championship Trophy. The Irish were the unanimous choice of a 5-man committee.

“Winning the national championship was never in my thoughts,” Holtz said.

“Yeah, you dream about it. But I never really thought that it would happen to me. I never thought I would coach a national championship team. It still hasn’t sunk in on me yet.”

Holtz was unhappy with only one aspect of Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl victory--the penalties the Irish received for unsportsmanlike conduct.

When Holtz came on the field to calm his players late in the game, he was also hit with a penalty.

“I think late in the game we got away from some of the things we believe in,” he said.

Notre Dame, which finished 17th a year ago, was No. 13 in the preseason AP poll. The Irish jumped to No. 8 by opening with a 19-17 victory over Michigan.

The Irish climbed to second before taking over the No. 1 spot after top-ranked UCLA lost to Washington State on Oct. 29.

Rounding out the AP Top 10 are Auburn, Clemson and Nebraska. The Second 10 consists of Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Syracuse, Oklahoma, Georgia, Washington State, Alabama, Houston, LSU and Indiana.