The 50 greatest college football teams throughout history

7. Best college football teams of all-time: 1943 Notre Dame

Yet another team regarded as one of the top teams of all time, you can add the Fighting Irish’s 1943 installment to the list of top teams of all time to step onto a football field. According to several schedule analysis systems and sports historians, the 1943 season for Notre Dame is the toughest schedule in college football history.

This fact explains, easily, their spot on this list despite the fact that they didn’t even finish undefeated in their own season. They managed to pull off a 9-1 record not only in one of the toughest seasons in college football history but against one of the toughest scheduled slates in history as well.

Angelo Bertelli rose to stardom that year for winning the Heisman Trophy for the Fighting Irish, despite having to leave partway through the year to fight in World War II. Head coach Frank Leahy had his team ready for the tough schedule though, in the end defeating No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight, No. 9 Northwestern, No. 4 Navy, and No. 3 Michigan. The only game they lost in the season was to No. 6 Great Lakes Navy.

Can you see why the schedule was so tough? In the era of almost strong military academy programs and top-tier schools, the Fighting Irish found a way to finish with a massive nine wins, despite losing star-quarterback Bertelli for the last four games (he was busy fighting and winning, quite the other impressive battle including one at Iwo Jima).

This edition of the Notre Dame program was at the top of the country even before the famous reign of the Fighting Irish in the post-WWII years and may have been even higher on this list if it weren’t for that one loss.