Slap the Sign
Fansided

AP names Notre Dame football third best college program all-time

By Greg Hadley

Oct 11, 2014; South Bend, IN, USA; Neckties were added to the statue in honor of former coach Lou Holtz before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2014; South Bend, IN, USA; Neckties were added to the statue in honor of former coach Lou Holtz before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Associated Press rates Notre Dame football as the third best college football program ever based on poll rankings, behind Ohio State and Oklahoma.

For 80 years, the Associated Press has produced a top 25 poll ranking the best college football teams in the country. We’re still about three weeks away from when the AP will release its preseason top 25, but they’ve given us something to debate anyway, ranking the top 100 college football schools of all-time based on its rankings.

The #APTop100 dropped Tuesday, and Notre Dame came in third.

Beating out the Irish for the top spots were No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Oklahoma. For this all-time poll, the AP awarded one point for every week ranked in the top 25, another for every week ranked No. 1 and one more for each national championship as determined by the year-end poll.

More from Notre Dame Football

Right off the bat, this ranking system is flawed. Under these rules, a team ranked 25th nationally is equal to a team ranked No. 2. Also, by counting every single week ever, the AP claims that week one’s poll is as meaningful as week 10’s, but that’s clearly not the case. So many times teams enter a season with hype and high expectations, only to crash and burn, while relative unknowns come out of nowhere.

Because of this, the Buckeyes and Sooners, who both have fewer AP national championships, came out ahead of Notre Dame. While it is true that both teams have had more weeks ranked overall and at No. 1, Notre Dame and Ohio State have the same number of final polls in the top 10 (36), while Oklahoma lags far behind, not cracking 30.

So take these rankings with a grain of salt. They’re certainly not the end-all-be-all, and they definitely don’t count most wins all-time.

That being said, there are some interesting nuggets about the Irish.

  • Notre Dame has spent 98 weeks at No. 1 in the poll, third most all-time.
  • The Irish have appeared in the poll 69.45 percent of the time, one of 12 programs above 50 percent.
  • From the poll’s inception in 1936 to 1961, Notre Dame never went a full season without being ranked.
  • In the 1940s, the Irish appeared in the poll 96.59 percent of the time, one of the most dominant decades on record.
  • Unsurprisingly, the 2000s were the worst decade for the Irish, as they made just 45.18 percent of the polls. Still, among the top 10 programs that’s still the third strongest weak decade.

Next: Five most heartbreaking games of the Brian Kelly era

Another bright spot from the poll for Notre Dame fans: USC came in fifth, and Michigan came in seventh.

Home/Notre Dame Football