Devine's 1977 team was a preseason pick of many to win the national championship, but all seemed lost when the Irish lost at Mississippi 20-13. Things appeared to be on their way from bad to worse as N.D. trailed Purdue 24-14 on the road, but Devine then inserted Montana at quarterback and he proceeded to rally the Irish to a 31-24 victory.
With Montana installed as the starter, the Irish reeled off eight more victories in a row, capped off by a 38-10 demolition of then-#1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The Irish captured both wire services, which proved to be mildly controversial, as there were other major teams with only one loss. In retrospect, however, the Irish were quite a deserving national champion.
Statistically, N.D. played the hardest schedule of any major contender, and they were also playing the best at the end of the season. Alabama finished 11-1 that year, but the Tide's schedule did not grade out to be as difficult as N.D.'s, nor was Alabama as impressive in total point differential. Alabama's 35-6 win over Ohio St. in the Sugar Bowl was impressive, but the Buckeyes finished the year with three losses, and whipping the Big 10 runner-up just wasn't as impressive as whipping the SWC champion and the then-#1 team.
Penn St., another major one-loss team, played the schedule that was statistically closest to N.D's, but Paterno's team was not as impressive as the Irish. P.S.U.'s home loss to Kentucky was a worse loss than N.D.'s road loss to Mississippi. Penn St. also had several fairly close calls: 16-7 with Utah St., 31-24 with Syracuse, 21-17 with N.C. St. and 15-13 with Pittsburgh. Penn St.'s 42-30 shootout win with Arizona St. in the Fiesta Bowl (when ASU was a WAC member and the Fiesta Bowl was not a major bowl) was also not in the same league as either N.D.'s or Alabama's bowl wins.
The shocker of the bowl season was when 18-point underdog Arkansas (with three of its best players suspended), coached by a skinny, floppy-haired, lisping coach named Lou Holtz, destroyed Switzer's highly regarded Sooners 31-6 in the Orange Bowl. It was a great story, but the Razorbacks hadn't won their conference and their schedule difficulty was not even in the same league. Holtz would get his national championship 11 years later.
Comparing the 1977 team with other N.D. national championship teams since Ara shows that the 1977 team was very much the peer of great N.D. teams, and played the hardest schedule of any of them. Moreover, the 1977 team had the best balance of any of the bunch, gaining over 200 yards per game both by air and by ground. Moreover, once Montana was firmly installed as the QB, N.D. was nothing short of devastating. In those 8 games after the Purdue game, the Irish outscored the opposition by an average of 44.7 to 10.7, including the famous 49-19 "Green Jersey" demolition of U.S.C.
Here's how the 1977 team stacks up in some important categories with the 1966, 1973 and 1988 teams:
1977
Points per game:
N.D. 35.0
Opp. 11.6
Diff + 23.4
Yards per game:
N.D. 440.0
Opp. 237.0
Diff + 203.0
Yards per play:
N.D. 5.3
Opp. 3.5
Diff +1.8
Rushing per game:
N.D. 231.9
Opp. 89.2
Diff +142.7
Rushing per play:
N.D. 4.1
Opp. 2.2
Diff +1.9
Passing per game:
N.D. 208.1
Opp. 147.8
Diff + 60.3
Yards per pass:
N.D. 7.7
Opp. 5.6
Diff + 1.9
Turnover Margin
N.D. + 13
Strength of Schedule:
.874
1966
Points per game:
N.D. 36.2
Opp. 3.8
Diff + 32.4
Yards per game:
N.D. 392.5
Opp. 197.6
Diff + 194.9
Yards per play:
N.D. 5.6
Opp. 2.9
Diff +2.7
Rushing per game:
N.D. 211.6
Opp. 79.3
Diff +132.3
Rushing per play:
N.D. 4.5
Opp. 2.1
Diff +2.4
Passing per game:
N.D. 180.9
Opp. 108.3
Diff + 72.6
Yards per pass:
N.D. 7.8
Opp. 4.3
Diff + 3.5
Turnover Margin
N.D. + 8
Strength of Schedule:
.741
1973
Points per game:
N.D. 34.7
Opp. 8.1
Diff + 26.6
Yards per game:
N.D. 461.4
Opp. 201.2
Diff + 260.2
Yards per play:
N.D. 5.7
Opp. 3.3
Diff +2.4
Rushing per game:
N.D. 350.2
Opp. 82.4
Diff + 267.7
Rushing per play:
N.D. 5.2
Opp. 2.1
Diff + 3.1
Passing per game:
N.D. 111.2
Opp. 118.8
Diff - 7.6
Yards per pass:
N.D. 7.8
Opp. 5.3
Diff + 2.5
Turnover Margin
N.D. + 9
Strength of Schedule:
.669
1988
Points per game:
N.D. 32.8
Opp. 13.0
Diff + 19.8
Yards per game:
N.D. 388.0
Opp. 280.3
Diff + 107.7
Yards per play:
N.D. 5.6
Opp. 4.3
Diff +1.3
Rushing per game:
N.D. 258.0
Opp. 112.4
Diff + 145.6
Rushing per play:
N.D. 4.8
Opp. 3.1
Diff +1.7
Passing per game:
N.D. 130.0
Opp. 167.9
Diff - 37.9
Yards per pass:
N.D. 8.4
Opp. 5.8
Diff + 2.6
Turnover Margin
N.D. + 14
Strength of Schedule:
.725
As sort of a sick joke, let's look at Davie's best team, his 2000 squad. Note that while national championship caliber teams require a minimum 20 ppg. scoring margin or thereabouts, the 2000 team only had a touchdown per game margin. The defense gave up almost 10 ppg. game more than the 1988 team, which was the weakest team defensively of the national championship bunch. Note as well that while all the national championship teams ran up impressive yardage per play and per game margins, the 2000 figures were essentially a standoff. Moreover, the 2000 schedule was easier than any of the national championship years except for 1973 (to which it was essentially identical in difficulty). The 2000 team resembled the great teams in only one respect: turnover margin. As I've argued elsewhere, the 2000 squad was really a 7-4ish team posing as a major bowl team because the large turnover margin allowed N.D. to escape with a couple of game that the Irish probably would've lost otherwise (Purdue, Stanford and Air Force being top candidates). Compare, for example, the 2000 team's 7-game winning streak with the 8-game streak in 1977. Recall that during that streak, the 1977 squad outscored tough opposition 44.7 to 10.7. The 2000 squad, however, outscored mostly losing teams (Stanford, Navy, W.V., A.F., B.C., Rutgers and U.S.C) 36.0 to 20.1, before getting demolished in the Fiesta Bowl.
Here are the 2000 figures:
2000
Points per game:
N.D. 29.4
Opp. 22.3
Diff + 7.1
Yards per game:
N.D. 345.7
Opp. 353.8
Diff - 8.1
Yards per play:
N.D. 5.2
Opp. 5.2
Diff +0.0
Rushing per game:
N.D. 213.5
Opp. 147.6
Diff + 65.9
Rushing per play:
N.D. 4.3
Opp. 3.7
Diff +0.6
Passing per game:
N.D. 132.2
Opp. 206.2
Diff - 74.2
Yards per pass:
N.D. 7.3
Opp. 7.3
Diff + 0.0
Turnover Margin
N.D. + 14
Strength of Schedule:
.671
All of this should've made clear that N.D. had not turned any meaningful corner in 2000.
But let's finish with Devine. The 1977 team was a terrific team, one of N.D.'s best ever, and a deserving national champion. Rest in peace coach.