When is the last time Notre Dame won a national championship in football?
By Scott Rogust
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are just one win away from competing for a national championship. On Thursday, Notre Dame takes on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl, which is serving as one of the semifinals for the College Football Playoff. The winner of this game will take on whoever emerges between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Notre Dame will look to do something they haven't done in quite some time, and that's win a national title in football. Here's the last time the Fighting Irish did so.
When is the last time Notre Dame won a national title?
The last time Notre Dame claimed a national championship in football was in 1988.
That year, Notre Dame was a perfect 11-0 in their third season with Lou Holtz as head coach. Some of their more prominent wins came against No. 9 Michigan, No. 1 Miami, and No. 2 USC. That set the stage for Notre Dame to take on then-fellow independent school, West Virginia, in the Fiesta Bowl for the national title.
Notre Dame picked up the 34-21 win over West Virginia to win the title. Quarterback Tony Rice threw for 213 yards and two touchdowns, earning him co-MVP honors with linebacker Frank Stams.
Every Notre Dame national championship in program history
Notre Dame has 11 claimed national titles to their credit, and they are as follows:
National Title # | Year | Record |
|---|---|---|
1 | 1924 | 10-0 |
2 | 1929 | 9-0 |
3 | 1930 | 10-0 |
4 | 1943 | 9-1 |
5 | 1946 | 8-0-1 |
6 | 1947 | 9-0 |
7 | 1949 | 10-0 |
8 | 1966 | 9-0-1 |
9 | 1973 | 11-0 |
10 | 1977 | 11-1 |
11 | 1988 | 12-0 |
Notre Dame's first national title arrived in 1924, where they went a perfect 10-0, culminating in a 27-10 win over the Stanford Cardinal in the 1925 Rose Bowl.
Knute Rockne won Notre Dame's first three national titles, but doesn't hold the record among most national titles claimed in program history. That belongs to Frank Leahy, who won four national championships for the Fighting Irish (1943, 1946, 1947, and 1949).
Notre Dame does have 1 unclaimed national championships (1919, 1920, 1927, 1938, 1953, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1989, 1993, 2012)
Every College Football Playoff trip and result for Notre Dame
Notre Dame has only made it into the College Football Playoff three total times, including this year's run.
Their first appearance was in 2018 where they earned the No. 3 seed in the College Football Playoff. Despite going 12-0 in the season, Notre Dame was no match for the No. 2 Clemson Tigers, who steamrolled them to a 30-3 win in the Cotton Bowl Classic. That Clemson team went on to handily defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide 44-16 for the CFP national championship.
Notre Dame's second trip in the College Football Playoff was a short one as well. In 2020, Notre Dame went 10-1 but clinched the No. 4 seed despite losing in the ACC Championship Game. Facing off in the Rose Bowl in Arlington, Texas (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Fighting Irish lost 31-14 to Alabama, a team led by running back Najee Harris, wide receiver DeVonta Smith, and quarterback Mac Jones. That Alabama team went on to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes 52-24 to win the national title.
We'll see if the Fighting Irish can continue to go on a run in this year's College Football Playoff. So far, they defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 27-17 in the first round and the Georgia Bulldogs 23-13 in the Sugar Bowl.
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