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The Sudden, Steep Fall At Notre Dame

At this year's Blue-Gold Game (above), no one could have envisioned a 4-8 season for the Irish.
At this year's Blue-Gold Game (above), no one could have envisioned a 4-8 season for the Irish. (Bill Panzica)

This season marked the 80th anniversary of the advent of the Associated Press college football poll. While the third-year College Football Playoff Committee poll has rendered the AP virtually irrelevant, it remains a staple of a college football season.

At the start of the 2016 campaign, the AP did a cumulative study of which schools had the best college football programs since that inaugural season in 1936. It was based on three factors: one point for every appearance in a weekly poll, two points for each week it was ranked No. 1, and 10 points for an AP national title.

Notre Dame’s 1,042 points ranked third on the all-time list, behind No. 1 Ohio State (1,112) and No. 2 Oklahoma (1,055). However, because No. 4 Alabama (993) this season was ranked each week and No. 1 each week, it too will surpass the Irish for third place, especially if it captures its 11th AP national title this January (the Fighting Irish are second with eight).

The 2016 preseason AP poll had Notre Dame ranked No. 10, yet head coach Brian Kelly’s Irish finished 4-8. Did this season mark the first and worst at Notre Dame in terms of going from a preseason top 10 in the AP to finishing under .500?

Not quite. Here are the Top 5 drop-offs from where the Irish were in the preseason to where they finished while finishing with a losing ledger:


1 (tie). 1956

Preseason AP Rank: No. 3

Final Record: 2-8

Summary: This unit under third-year head coach Terry Brennan was 17-3 his first two seasons, but a miniscule senior class (led by Heisman winner Paul Hornung) and recruiting restrictions under the new administration of president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh eventually caught up with the program. The preseason rating was based far more on Frank Leahy’s 87-11-9 record from 1941-43 and 1946-53, and Brennan’s 17-3 start in 1954-55, than reality about what was in the cupboard.


1 (tie). 1981

Preseason AP Rank: No. 3

Final Record: 5-6

Summary: New head coach Gerry Faust inherited a veteran roster with 17 returning starters on offense and defense from a program that lost to national champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl the year prior. And like with Brennan in 1956, the 148-33-5 (.809 winning percentage) record from 1964-80, with three consensus national titles and several other near misses, under Ara Parseghian (1964-80) and Dan Devine (1975-80) carried over.

Unfortunately, the transition for the Cincinnati Moeller High School coach from 1963-80 to major college football proved immense for Faust, and it showed immediately.


3. 2016

Preseason AP Rank: No. 10

Final Record: 4-8

Summary: From 2010 through 2015 under Kelly, Notre Dame was one of 10 college football teams that won at least eight games every season. That’s what made this year’s precipitous fall so stunning — especially when only one of the first seven teams on the schedule finished with a winning record. Yet it became the first Notre Dame team since 1960 that could not win consecutive games during the season. That’s where a case can be made that this dramatic plummet was just as stunning as the ones in 1956 and 1981.

4t. 1999

Preseason AP Rank: No. 18

Final Record: 5-7

Summary: After a solid 9-3 season in 1998, third-year head coach Bob Davie’s team was projected to follow suit in 1999. However, the 1999 season was quite similar to 2016. First, all but one loss pretty much came down to the final series, with four of them by five points or less. Second, playmaking quarterback Jarious Jackson's stats (2,753 yards passing, a new school record, and 464 rushing) were similar to DeShone Kizer’s (2,925 passing and 472 rushing).

4t. 2001

Preseason AP Rank: No. 18

Final Record: 5-6

Summary: In his fifth year with a new five-year contract extension in hand after a Fiesta Bowl bid in 2000, Davie was ousted after this season losing season because, per athletics director Kevin White, the Irish “lost credibility.” Kelly also entered this season with a new six-year contract extension after a Fiesta Bowl bid too. With Kelly, more long-term coaching equity had been accrued.

Note: The 1950 and 1994 seasons also could be included as the steepest falls ever, but the reason we didn't is they didn't finish under .500 like the aforementioned five.

Notre Dame began the 1950 season as the AP preseason No. 1 after it had been 36-0-2 with three national titles the previous four years. It ended up only 4-4-1, a six-game win different from 1949 to 1950.

In 1994, the Irish started at No. 3 in the AP because they had been 64-9-1 the previous six seasons, including 11-1 in 1993. However, they plummeted to 6-5-1 in 1994. Again, it was not included because it wasn't under .500.

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