1998 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

field goal for the Irish. With the Boilermakers once again moving the ball, Driver had his second interception with less than a minute remaining to preserve the win for the Irish.^[7]

NCAA record winning streak over the Midshipmen to 35 games.^[13] Once again ranked tenth, the Irish faced LSU in their final home game. Avenging their loss in the 1997 Independence Bowl, the Irish beat the Tigers on a late touchdown run.^[14] With a potential BCS berth on the line, and without Jackson, who was injured in the final play against LSU, the Irish traveled to face rivals USC in their final regular season game. Playing two backups at quarterback, including true freshman Arnaz Battle, the Irish were dominated by the tough Trojan defense that caused five turnovers. Though the Trojans, led by freshman quarterback Carson Palmer, couldn't produce much offense themselves, they only needed two scores to defeat the Irish 10–0.^[15] Missing out on a BCS bowl game, the Irish, who signed a deal early in the year that gave them a tie-in with the Big East Conference bowl games,^[16] accepted a bid to play Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl. Wearing their alternate green jerseys for the first time since the 1995 Fiesta Bowl, the Irish got behind early to the Yellow Jackets with two long touchdowns. Though closing the gap to a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Irish couldn't move the ball on their last two drives and lost their fourth straight bowl game.^[17] They finished the season with a 9–3 record and dropped to 22nd in the national rankings.^[1]

1999 National Football League (NFL) Draft. Among them were Denson, who left with multiple Notre Dame rushing records, Malcolm Johnson, who left with a Notre Dame record of six consecutive games with a touchdown catch, and most of the offensive line starters.^[18] Also, offensive coordinator, Jim Colletto, was lured away to the NFL by Baltimore.^[19]