11/23/2016 football Edit

What ‘Vacated’ Wins Mean To The NCAA And Notre Dame

Notre Dame and Brian Kelly's all-time/career records take the hit with the current NCAA ruling (Bill Panzica)

Lou Somogyi • InsideNDSports

Senior Editor

Entering the 2016 college football season, Notre Dame was clinging to its No. 1 spot on the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision all-time winning percentage chart. Its .73215 winning percentage (892-313-42) was slightly ahead of second place Michigan’s .72987 (925-331-36).

By the start of October, after Notre Dame opened 1-3 and Michigan 4-0, the Wolverines nudged ahead to the top spot.

By the end of this November, the NCAA’s ruling recommending that Notre Dame vacate its 21 total victories from 2012 (12-1) and 2013 (9-4) because of self-reported academic fraud would make the Fighting Irish hard pressed to ever reach the top again in the winning percentage category, unless they win the impending appeal in court.

Notre Dame could fall to the sixth spot in win percentage, behind Michigan, Boise State, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Alabama. In total wins, it would drop to fifth, behind Michigan, Texas, Nebraska and Ohio State.

In NCAA parlance, “vacating” a victory is not quite the same as forfeiting one. When USC was stripped of the 2004 national title, it merely gave it zero wins instead of 13. Notre Dame remained 6-6 that year even though it lost 41-10 at USC. It counted neither as a win nor a “non-loss” for the Irish. The losing team retains the defeat. Unbeaten Auburn was not named the national champion even though USC no longer was recognized as the champion. Neither was Oklahoma, which lost to the Trojans in the title game. Hence, the word “vacated.”

A vacated win affects only the penalized team’s season records, all-time records and the head coach’s record. A team that was 9-4 during a season in which it fielded ineligible players would have its record revised to 0-4. Instead of 59-30, Brian Kelly’s record at Notre Dame now would be 38-30.

Among top 10 all-time programs, Ohio State had 12 victories vacated by the NCAA during the 2010 season, Alabama had eight victories and one tie forfeited by the NCAA during the 1993 season, plus 21 victories vacated by the NCAA between the 2005-07 seasons, and USC had 14 victories vacated by the NCAA during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

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