European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 5, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 5,1989 the stars and stripes Page 17 Irish near unanimous no. 1 by Herschel Nissenson a football writer Lou Holtz had the dream he just never dreamed it would come True. Now notre Dame is no. 1, and Holtz is the coach of a National football Champion. The Irish by virtue of monday s 34 21 fiesta bowl Triumph Over West Vir Ginia came within 1 a votes of being a unanimous Choice As they won a record eighth National championship. Ranked no. 1 in the associated press poll for the final six weeks of the regular season the Irish received 58 /2 first place votes and a total of l,198 /2 Points put of a possible 1,200 tuesday from a nationwide panel of 60 writers and broadcasters. Miami the 1987 National Champion whose Only loss was 31-30 at notre Dame in october finished second with 1 la first place votes and 1,141 a Points. Miami a 23-3 Winner Over Nebraska in the Orange bowl also finished second in 1986. The hurricanes were followed by Flor Ida state Michigan and previously undefeated West Virginia which had been no. 3 at the end of the regular season. Winning the National championship was never in my thoughts said Holtz who became no. 1 in his third season As did previous notre Dame coaches Frank Leahy Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine. I be been asked the question did i Ever dream about winning the National championship yeah you dream about it. But i never really thought that it would Hap pen to  notre Dame which finished 17th a year ago was 13th in a s preseason poll. Florida state runner up to Miami last season and no. 1 in the 1988 preseason poll beat Auburn 13-7 in the sugar bowl and climbed from fourth place to third with 1,073 Points. Michigan made the biggest jump from 11th to fourth after beating Southern Cal 22-14 in the Rose bowl. West Virginia fell from third to fifth with 917 Points followed by Urcla with 864. The Bruins beat Arkansas 17-3 in the Cotton bowl a record seventh consecutive bowl Triumph and jumped from ninth to sixth. Southern Cal slipped from fifth to seventh with 803 Points and Auburn dropped from seventh to eighth with 801. Arkansas which had been no. 8, fell to 12th. Clemson downed Oklahoma 13-6 in the Citrus bowl and leaped from 13th to ninth with 708 Points. Nebraska no. 6 in the final regular season poll replaced Oklahoma in 10th place with 704 Points. The second 10 consists of Oklahoma state Arkansas Syracuse Oklahoma Georgia Washington state Alabama Houston leu and Indiana. 3 Are perfect in super picks the bowl games Are Over. How do you think you did so far those checking the stars and stripes foot Ball contest ballots have gone through 17,328 21 percent of the More than 80,000 ballots that were mailed in by readers hoping to win a free trip for two to see super bowl Xxiii at Miami Beach fla., Jan. 22. They have already found three readers who have picked All 12 games correctly. That Means the contest is already assured of going to the first tiebreaker the total Points scored by both teams in the Rose bowl. Michigan beat Southern Cal 22-14 in the annual Battle Between the Pacific-10 and big 10 champions for a total of 36 Points on the first tiebreaker. If you think you May have been one of the perfect three entries verified so far or have a perfect entry in the More than 60,000 ballots our staff has left to Check keep your fingers crossed. The Winner will be announced in the Friday Jan. 13, Issue of the stars and stripes. If you had an entry with one wrong pick there have been 31 verified so far four by one Reader Don t feel too bad. You still beat out the Best the stars and stripes sports staff could Muster by two games. Staff writer Bucky Fox who finished the regular season of weekly College picks in second place behind assistant sports editor Klint Johnson with a 93-47 .664 Mark went 9-3 on his bowl picks. His Only misses were Michigan state Over Georgia in the Gator bowl Oklahoma Over Clemson in the Florida Citrus bowl and Southern Cal Over Michigan in the Rose bowl. Johnson who finished on top in the weekly picks with a 96-45 .679 Mark faltered in the bowls wind ing up just 6-6. Biting into the spoils democratic sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia delivers a Box of apples to vice president elect Dan Quayle of Indiana on the Steps of the Capitol in Washington to pay off a football bet after the West Virginia mountaineers lost to the fighting Irish of notre Dame in the fiesta bowl monday. Stanford hires 49er assistant coach Green Stanford Calif. A san Francisco 49ersassistant coach Dennis Green was named head football coach at Stanford University on tuesday and quickly downplayed race As a Factor in the selection. Green just the fourth current Black head coach Amon the nation s 104 division i schools replaces Jack Elway fired last month after a lacklustre 3-6-2 season. I Don t think it was a Factor i really Don the said contending it had not helped or hindered him during his nil coaching career or with College recruiting. I think our goal is to win and to establish Success right from jump Street said Green at a morning news Confer ence to introduce him. Andy Geiger the athletic director conducted a four week search and interviewed More than a dozen Candi dates including Paul Hackett pass offence coordinator of the Dallas cowboys and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Pete Carroll. To very pleased that we were Able to lure Dennis Green Back to the College football ranks said Gieger in a Seton a upsets no. 5 Georgetown College basketball Roundup on Page 26 release distributed moments before a news conference to announce the selection. College football is the area of football that he loves the most. And of course he is no stranger to Stanford. He has been a member of our family twice  i be been at Stanford As an assistant twice under two different head coaches and i really feel it s an outstanding Job said Green 39, a few Days before the announcement. Green was an assistant at Stanford under Bill Walsh his present Boss with san Francisco in 1977 and 1978. He coached running backs in Walsh s first 49er staff in 1979 and then returned to Stanford As offensive coordinator under Paul Wiggin in 1980. He accepted the head coaching Job at Northwestern in 1981 at the age of 31. He was named big ten coach of the year in 1982. Green who said he would continue with san fran Cisco until the season ends started working monday to assemble a staff. Green a tailback at Iowa who played in the Canad an football league said he  meet with Stan Ford players when they return to Campus next week after the Christmas vacation. Stanford quarterback Jason Palumbis said he welcomed Green s appointment. If he s the receivers coach i guess Well pass a lot he said. I like that  Elway was dismissed dec. 5 amid reports of player  Cardinal had losing seasons in four of Elway s five years with the school. He was 25-29-2 Overall