Notre Dame has to vacate all wins in 2012-13 for academic fraud
By John Buhler
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have to vacate all their football wins from the 2012 and 2013 college football seasons for serious academic fraud.
It has been an absolute miserable 2016 for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The football team lost its seventh game of the season to the Virginia Tech Hokies of the ACC. This most recent loss knocks them out of being bowl eligible.
Now it seems that the Fighting Irish are in a whole heap of trouble because of an academic fraud scandal. The NCAA has placed several sanctions on the football program for finding that a student athletic trainer had committed academic misconduct. Notre Dame will be fined $5,000, be on a year’s probation, and will have to vacate all football wins in the 2012 and 2013 college football seasons.
The student athletic trainer completed course work for two Notre Dame football players on the 2012 and 2013 teams, as well as provided improper academic benefits to six other players. Notre Dame will have to vacate all the wins from its 12-1 2012 season and 9-4 2013 season.
Notre Dame played for the 2012 National Championship against the Alabama Crimson Tide, only to get boat raced 42-14 after a perfect 12-0 regular season. 2012 was Notre Dame’s best season on the gridiron in over two decades.
Notre Dame plans to appeal the sanctions, but will probably be unsuccessful in that endeavor. Head coach Charlie Strong is quoted as saying on the matter, “It was student-on-student cheating. The NCAA agreed with that finding. It was clearly excessive. It’s never been done before in the history of the NCAA, the penalty has never been issued in this fashion before….so we’re gonna appeal this…we believe we have obvious grounds there.”
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Notre Dame is known for its intense academic rigor. Not playing in a Power 5 conference doesn’t help the Fighting Irish and neither does having to vacate 21 wins and a National Championship appearance.