Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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on what polls you want to use). Alabama: From 1931-46, former Rockne player Frank Thomas guides the Crimson Tide to a 115-24-7 (.812) mark and two national titles (depending on what polls you want to use). 1950s: Crazy EIGHTS Notre Dame: In an eight-year period from 1956-63, the Irish are 34-45 (.430). Alabama: In an eight-year period from 1951-58, the Crimson Tide is 34- 44-8 (.442). 1964: Ara & Bear Notre Dame: In 1964, Ara Parseghian leads the Irish to a 9-0 record and No.��1 ranking before losing in the closing minute of the finale at USC (20-17). Alabama: In 1964, Bear Bryant guides the Crimson Tide to 10-0 and No.�� 1 before losing in the closing minute of the Orange Bowl finale versus Texas, 21-17. For The Record During the Dec. 2 BCS National Title teleconference, Alabama was introduced as the program striving for its ���15th national title��� while Notre Dame was referred to as competing for its ���12th.��� However, Notre Dame and Alabama have different guidelines on what define a national title Notre Dame goes strictly by ���consensus��� titles, and the NCAA records show the Fighting Irish have recorded 11: 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973, 1977 and 1988. Alabama can be recognized with 10 consensus: 1925, 1926, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009 and 2011. This was fully covered in the Sept. 10, 2012, edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated, but here���s a synopsis: ��� Since the start of football in 1869 there have been approximately 30 different rating systems charted in the NCAA record book. This cheapens titles ��� including some by Notre Dame and Alabama. 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). ��� The Associated Press poll began in 1936, and the United Press International (UPI) ��� now known as the USA Today coaches poll ��� sprung up in 1950. Until 1968 with the AP and 1974 with the UPI, bowl games did not factor into the equation (except in 1965 for the AP). Thus, Alabama also was the 1973 UPI national champion ��� even though it lost to Notre Dame, 24���23, in the Sugar Bowl. The top 10 national champions in the AP and the USA Today coaches poll (formerly UPI) are: Alabama (nine, eight with AP and the 1973 vote with UPI) Notre Dame (eight), and then USC and Oklahoma (seven). ��� The NCAA also recognizes the Football Writers Association of America (Grantland Rice Award) and National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame (MacArthur Bowl). In 1964 the AP and UPI voted Alabama No. 1, the MacArthur Bowl was earned by Notre Dame, and the FWAA awarded it to unbeaten Arkansas, which unlike the Crimson Tide and Irish, finished unbeaten. Arkansas celebrates 1964 as a ���national title year,��� 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. However, Notre Dame has not recognized that as a ���consensus��� title. ��� Lou Somogyi