Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/81334
Title Options Debates about the most national championships continue By Lou Somogyi When commemorating Notre Dame’s 125 years of football (1887-2012), immense pride is taken in several data. Among them are annually maintaining top-of-the line graduation rates, producing the most consensus All-Americans (96), College Football Hall of Fame members (45) and Heisman Trophy winners (seven, tied with USC and Ohio State, although Reggie Bush had to vacate his with the Trojans). While those numbers are more tangible, the data for national titles is murkier. When Alabama won the national title for the second time over the past three seasons this January, it was advertised as the school’s 14th — the “most” among major colleges. This evokes a negative reaction among Notre Dame followers who claim the Fighting Irish have “the most.” Nevertheless, the records show that Notre Dame has what is referred to as 11 “consensus” national titles: 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973, 1977 and 1988. There was an initial reluctance on our part to run with this feature on who has more national titles, Alabama or Notre Dame. That’s because right now it feels like Notre Dame is the 75-year-old former beauty queen fraught with wrinkles and a sagging ego (among other things) boasting that “in my time” she was better looking than the present contestants. Alabama remains one of those present contestants and is the hottest team in the college pageant. It pulled off an amazing “Triple Crown” with the national title in January, a No. 1 recruiting ranking in February and the most NFL draft picks this April with eight (four in the first round). This year it will attempt to join Notre Dame from 1946-49 and Nebraska from 1994-97 as the only schools to capture three national titles in four years since the end of World War II. Thus, while Alabama remains the top draw on the runway, Notre Dame comes across as the model whose glamour is only in the past. Still, it’s not an unfair question: Who actually has won the most national titles? The answer is if you use every poll system ever used since the birth of football in 1869 —wire services, historical research documents, mathematical rating systems — Princeton has 28 and Yale 27. Princeton was awarded 20 titles from 1869-99, and Yale had 19 prior to 1900. The last one for Princeton was 1950 (Boand and Poling), and the last for Yale was 1927 (a poll simply called Football Research). As for 1900 through 2011, there are three different ways one can count national titles: System No. 1: Every Poll Ever Used/Recognized There have been approximately 30 different rating systems charted in the NCAA record book. This cheapens titles — including some for Notre Dame and Alabama. Here are two examples, one for each school: In 1967, the Dunkel System awarded the national title to Notre Dame over consensus champion USC — even though the Trojans finished 10-1 while the Irish were 8-2. Moreover, the Trojans won in Notre Dame Stadium, 24-7. It defies explanation how Dunkel (begun in 1929 as a power index rating system) could reach its conclusion while omitting common sense. In 1941, there were 15 different services that awarded a national title, and Minnesota was recognized as the “consensus” champion because 12 different organizations (including the Associated Press) voted the 8-0 Golden Gophers No. 1. Two gave the nod to 8-1-1 Texas (No. 4 in the AP) and one gave it to 9-2 Alabama — an organization named Houlgate (1927‑58), a mathematical rating system developed by Deke Houlgate of Los Angeles and syndicated to newspapers. Alabama finished No. 20 in the AP poll with a 9-2 record and shutout losses to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt — yet it still claims it as “a national title year.” There have been several years where five or six teams were identified as “national champions” by one unrecognized poll or another. The University of Miami won the Berryman and Sagarin poll in 1988 over Notre Dame, despite losing to the 12-0 Irish. Meanwhile, Notre Dame earned No. 1 recognition in 1993 from Matthews Grid Rating over consensus champion Florida State, which had lost in November to the Irish. Schools will sometimes publicize these “national titles” in their media guide to highlight what most would deem a bogus title. Although Notre Dame received some national title notice in 1919 and 1920, its first consensus title was with Knute Rockne in 1924. That was the season the “Four Horsemen and Seven Mules” defeated Stanford in the Rose Bowl and were rated No. 1 in 10 of the 11 polls used back then. (Penn topped the Parke Davis poll that season.) For the record, here are the top 10 national champions from 1900-2011 if you used every one of these polls as a reference: Notre Dame (21); Alabama (18); Michigan, Oklahoma and USC (16); Ohio State (12); Nebraska and Pittsburgh (11); and Princeton and Yale (eight). System No. 2: Two Wire Service Polls The AP poll began in 1936, and the United Press International (UPI) — now known as the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll — sprung up in 1950. They became the mainstays of national title recognition by the NCAA. However, until 1968 with the AP and 1974 with the UPI, bowl games did not factor into the equation (except in 1965 for the AP). Notre Dame did not go to bowl games from 1925-68 in great part because bowl games had no bearing on the national title. The 1966 Notre Dame squad didn’t have to play in a bowl to be voted the consensus national champ. The year after the AP started voting after bowl games, Notre Dame returned to the bowl scene for the first time in 45 years. Consequently, Texas can claim a national title in 1970 even though it lost 24‑11 to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. That’s because the UPI, unlike the AP, awarded national titles prior to the bowl games. The Longhorns finished the 1970 regular season ranked No. 1 in the UPI. This practice by the UPI ceased in 1974. Thus, Alabama also was the 1973 UPI national champion even though it lost to Notre Dame, 24-23, in the Sugar Bowl. Because the AP did vote after bowls, Notre Dame was the AP champion. It also was awarded the Grantland Rice Award (Football Writers Association of America) and The MacArthur Bowl (National Football Foundation & Hall of Fame), both emblematic of national titles. Notre Dame’s national title was deemed “consensus.” However, Alabama still has the right to proclaim 1973 as a “national championship season” because of the UPI. The Crimson Tide also claimed the 1964 national title — both AP and UPI — even though it lost 21-17 to Texas in the Orange Bowl. Again, neither the AP nor UPI voted after bowls back then, so it’s almost like the bowl games were glorified exhibitions. The top 10 national champions in the AP and the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll (formerly UPI) are: Alabama (nine, eight with AP and the 1973 vote with UPI); Notre Dame (eight); USC and Oklahoma (seven); Miami, Nebraska and Ohio State (five); Texas and Minnesota (four); Florida and LSU (three); and Florida State, Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Army, Tennessee and Auburn (two). System No. 3: The Big Four Two other entities eventually joined the AP and the USA Today/ESPN coaches (formerly UPI) polls as the four that are officially recognized by the NCAA when it comes to awarding national titles. Since 1954, the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) has presented the Grantland Rice Award. And since 1959, the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame has awarded the MacArthur Bowl. Since 1971, both of these organizations have had the same consensus champion as the AP or coaches poll, but there were exceptions prior to that. • The FWAA in 1970 awarded the MacArthur Bowl to Ohio State — even though the Buckeyes lost 27-17 to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. • In 1964, Notre Dame was presented the MacArthur Bowl — despite the controversial season-ending loss to USC. As with Ohio State in 1970, this is not recognized as a consensus title but as a share of one. • In fact, in 1964 the AP and UPI voted Alabama No. 1, the MacArthur Bowl was earned by Notre Dame, and the FWAA awarded it to Arkansas, which unlike the Crimson Tide and Irish, finished unbeaten. However, Alabama was considered the consensus champ while Notre Dame and Arkansas could claim a share of the national title. Arkansas celebrates 1964 as a “national title year” in its football media guide, whereas Notre Dame does not because it’s not “consensus.” So when you use “The Big Four” from the NCAA, Notre Dame ties Alabama with nine apiece because of the 1964 MacArthur Bowl that was awarded to the Irish. However, Notre Dame has not recognized that as a “consensus” title, thereby only adding the ones under Knute Rockne from 1924, 1929 and 1930 to the eight others since 1943. If it wanted to, it could publicize as many as 21. Whatever system or spin doctoring one chooses, Notre Dame still has the most national titles since the start of the 20th century. The objective hereafter is to find a way to win another in the near future, lest Notre Dame be continued to be ridiculed as a program with a once stellar football tradition — like a Princeton or Yale — that is now living off the perfume of a vanished flower.