Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/98978
Crimson & Clover Alabama and Notre Dame share amazing football parallels O By Lou Somogyi ver the past nine decades, Notre Dame and Alabama have had football programs that practically mirrored each other in their rise, fall and return to prominence. In Alabama head coach Nick Saban���s third season in 2009, Alabama won its eighth Associated Press national title ��� tying Notre Dame for the most in the annals of the AP ��� with a 37-21 victory against Texas. That may have signaled a positive sign for Notre Dame that its football fortunes were on the threshold of better days. Back then, Brian Kelly was in his first month on the job with the Fighting Irish and in the embryonic stages of his program���s development. Sure enough, in Kelly���s third season, just like with Saban and the Crimson Tide in 2009, Notre Dame will play for the national title Jan.�� 7 in Miami. Author Keith Dunnavant wrote in his book The Missing Ring ��� with the subject matter pertaining to 1966 when 11-0 Alabama finished No.�� 3 to 9-0-1 national champ Notre Dame ��� about how the Crimson Tide and Fighting Irish shared the common bond in the 1920s, and beyond, of having to overcome external prejudices. For Notre Dame, it was Catholicism; for Alabama, it was its location in the heart of the deep South. The two traditional superpowers have seen their football tapestries woven with remarkable symmetry over the past 90 years. In addition to the eight national titles apiece since the inception of the Associated Press poll in 1936 (Oklahoma is next with seven), here are numerous other examples of their eerie parallels: 1920s: Rise To Power Notre Dame: Under Knute Rockne, captures its first national title in 1924 by winning the Rose Bowl against western rep Stanford (27-10). Alabama: Under Wallace Wade, wins consecutive national titles in 1925-26, the first coming in the Rose Bowl ��� the year after Notre Dame���s triumph in Pasadena ��� against western rep Washington (20-19).