Notre Dame Ranked No. 3 In All-Time Associated Press Poll

On Oct, 19, 1936, the Associated Press began the first official weekly poll during a college football season.

Notre Dame debuted at No. 7 with its 3-0 start — and then was trounced 26-0 five days later at No. 9 Pitt. Consequently, it promptly fell out of the then Top 20 rankings, but rebounded to finish No. 8 with a 6-2-1 final record.

To commemorate its 80th year in the polling business, the AP released this Tuesday its best all-time teams from its 1,103 total polls taken. It was based on three factors:

1. One point is awarded for each appearance in the poll (be it No. 1 or No. 25). The AP had a Top 20 from 1936-61, only a Top 10 from 1962-67, went back to a Top 20 in 1968 (the first year it permanently went to deciding national titles after bowl games were played), and then in 1989 expanded to a Top 25. A total of 165 different teams have been ranked.

2. A program receives two points for each week it was ranked No. 1. Forty-four different schools have advanced at one point to the summit.

3. Finally, 10 points were earned for an AP national title, of which 25 different teams have won.

The Fighting Irish finished third through the first 80 years with 1,042 points. The point breakdown in the three categories is as follows:

Of the 1,103 polls released, Notre Dame was in 766 of them (69.45 percent) for 766 points.

The Fighting Irish have been ranked No. 1 in 98 weeks, thus earning 196 points. Since 1994, the only time it was at the top were the final two weeks of the 2012 regular season.

With eight AP national titles — 1943-46-47-49-66-73-77-88 — Notre Dame added 80 more points. Only Alabama has more AP national championship with 10, four of them in the past seven years.

The Top 10 was as follows:

1. Ohio State (1,112 points)

2. Oklahoma (1,055)

3. Notre Dame (1,042)

4. Alabama (993)

5. USC (974)

6. Nebraska (901)

7. Michigan (844)

8. Texas (822)

9. Florida State (714)

10. Florida (674)

In addition to USC and Texas, other teams on Notre Dame's 2016 schedule, plus past traditional rivals that are in the top 100, include: Miami (13), Michigan State (19), Pitt (22), Virginia Tech (31), Stanford (32), Purdue (36), Syracuse (41), Army (42), North Carolina State (56), Navy (60) and Nevada (tied at 99).

Quick Notes

• Unofficially, Notre Dame’s longest streak through the regular season without being ranked in the AP was 29 straight weeks from 1961-64.

On Oct. 28, 1961, the No. 8 Irish were upset 12-10 by Ara Parseghian’s Northwestern team to fall out of the Top 20 for good that year. The Irish were not ranked in 1962 and 1963 (when there was only a Top 10) while finishing 5-5 and 2-7 respectively, and began 1964 under new coach Parseghian unranked — until an opening game 31-7 win at Wisconsin vaulted them to No. 9. In the ensuing 11 seasons under Parseghian, Notre Dame would never finish the year lower than No. 14 (1972) in the AP poll.

• In Parseghian’s final seven years from 1968-1974, Notre Dame was No. 1 in only three weekly polls. The first was in 1970 after a 7-0 start, but it fell to No. 2 the next week after squeaking by Georgia Tech by only a 10-7 score at home. The second was the final poll in 1973, after defeating No. 1 Alabama (24-23) in the Sugar Bowl. Then in his final year in 1974, the Irish were at No. 1 for one week before getting upset in the home opener by Purdue (31-20).

• In the six seasons with head coach Dan Devine (1975-80), Notre Dame spent only two weeks at the top. The first was the final poll of 1977 — after thumping No. 1 Texas (38-10) in the Cotton Bowl (similar to 1973). The other was after a 7-0 start in 1980, just like in 1970. And like in 1970, Georgia Tech then knocked the Irish off the following week from the top perch in 1980 with a 3-3 tie.

• Head coach Gerry Faust (1981-85) was No. 1 in the regular season as many times in his five years as Parseghian from

• Notre Dame’s worst decade-long stretch was 2000-09, when it was in only 45.2 percent of the AP polls.

• In seven of Frank Leahy's 11 seasons, Notre Dame spent time at No. 1 — as it did with Parseghian from 1964-74. Lou Holtz did it four times in 11 years (1988-90 and 1993).

• During Brian Kelly’s first two seasons in 2010-11, Notre Dame was never ranked his first year, and then started at No. 16 in 2011. But it dropped out for 10 weeks after a 23-20 loss to South Florida in the opener (followed by a 35-31 loss at Michigan).

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