CFB Most Influential Programs
#6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
School: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
First Game: November 23rd, 1887
Winning Percentage: .730 (4th)
Appearances in AP/Rank: 873 (4th)
Average AP Ranking: 8.4
National Titles: 11
Claim to Fame: Knute Rockne, The Four Horsemen, Touchdown Jesus, Rudy… (I jest, kind of). Notre Dame is the epitome of college football lore and also some fantasy.
Why I have them in my Collection: Fun random fact. My high school’s fight song was Notre Dame’s fight song! We were much, MUCH worse at football though.
Let’s talk about religion. Sorry, but we have to. Notre Dame is a loudly Catholic school and damn proud of it. Of the football playing Catholic schools, Notre Dame is not only by far the most successful, but also one that puts more of an emphasis on football as opposed to their Jesuit counterparts who tend to have a more basketball focused mindset in sports.
Many believe the Catholic roots of Notre Dame are why they were initially shunned by the Big Ten for admission, and it’s just funny to see how sentiments have reversed themselves because the Big 10 would love to have them now. As a result, Notre Dame became a beacon of sectarian pride as the Catholic school in Indiana of all places was seen as fighting off “Protestant Elites”, namely Yale, Princeton, Harvard, and Army as their football team gained prowess. It also makes them one of the most popular schools in the country not only leaning into sectarian primal feelings, but because they were a darn good football team able to play a truly national schedule because of independence.
And I’d like to be clear about something. Notre Dame is a pillar of college football and while I have my “gripes” with them from time to time, mainly their inability to discern fact from fiction (Knute Rockne did not invent the forward pass…), there is no denying their importance to the sport. Between 1888 and 1955 Notre Dame had one losing season. ONE! That’s insane. This is also the time where they racked up the bulk of their national championships, 7. Their two most famous coaches, Knute Rockne and Frank Healy helped lead them to these titles.
Notre Dame also has the 2nd most Heisman Trophy winners with 7, the most NFL draft picks with 532, and is 4th for first rounders with 71. Their uniforms and stadium are timeless, and they have more rivalries than one can count on their hands. Notre Dame being famously independent, even if it was due to sectarianism, also made it so the school could become a national brand and have so many national rivals. Literally from sea to shining sea. Believe it or not, they were also among the first major brands in college football to integrate their team as well.
They are also the most famous team to not only ink an independent TV deal, but still maintain it to this day.
With all of this praise and their obvious history, you may be wondering why I have them so “low” in my list. I think the best way to describe it is the fact that the teams above them have had more success at a higher level over a more extended period of time, and a couple of them just did more for the totality of college football than Notre Dame. They haven’t won a national title in over 3 decades and every single team above them has at least done that.
With the new 12 team playoff Notre Dame basically just has to clear 10 wins a year and not completely fall flat on its face to find itself likely hosting a playoff game. This, along with their lucrative NBC TV deal is all the more reason for them to stay independent. And as an independent, they are still a beacon from the college football days of old.
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