Notre Dame Football: Who was the Best of The Four Horsemen?

Taking a look at a legendary group of players in Notre Dame football lore.

The Book of Revelations tells of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. These four horsemen are metaphorical, referring to conquest, war, famine, and disease. Less metaphorical than the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are the four horsemen of Notre Dame. Together, the four horsemen dominated college football, and led Notre Dame football to the 1924 Rose Bowl and eventually the National Championship.

In terms of Notre Dame lore, the Four Horsemen have done more for the Irish than just about any other players. Joe Montana, Joe Theisman, Alan Page, Tim Brown, Leon Hart, or the countless other stars don’t compare to the mystique surrounding the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.

That said, tons of Notre Dame fans do not really know who the Four Horsemen were, or what they did.

The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame were the backfield of Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden. They played together for three seasons, only losing two games, and winning a National Championship under coach Knute Rockne.

Through their individual excellence, they each forced defenses to respect them and put extra resources towards stopping them. They gave defenses too many viable options to cover, forcing the defense to pick its poison. Notre Dame ran what was known as the ‘Notre Dame Box’ during this time. It was similar to the single-wing. Both formations have two tight ends, and are good for running the triple option out of.

The difference in the Notre Dame Box was that the quarterback would line up behind the guard. The tailback would line up over the center. The halfback and fullback would line up just off the strong side tackle. In the Single wing formation, the backfield lines up in more of a line, rather than a box. The wing back lines up outside the end, and the fullback and tailback line up next to one another.

This formation, and the backfield that ran it, are a huge part of why Notre Dame is the prestigious program that it is today. With that impact, all of the Four Horsemen make any all-time Notre Dame roster. It leaves the question, though: Who was the best of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame?

A triple option offense only works if everyone, especially the offensive line, is working together. Still, let’s look at each player individually.

Harry Stuhldreher was the quarterback. He was the second of the Four Horsemen to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In the 1924 season, Stuhldreher completed 76 percent of passes for 4 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He was also in charge of distributing the football to all of the Notre Dame backs in the option run game. Stuhldreher rarely called his own number on the ground — only 20 times for 19 yards and two touchdowns in 1924. This was by far Stuhldreher’s best year throwing, as he had a career completion percentage of 64 percent, and 1924 was the only season he threw more touchdowns than interceptions. He was a consensus All-American.

Elmer Layden was the fullback of the Irish backfield. He was also the first to make the College Football Hall of Fame. Layden was an All-American in 1924. He spent his life in football, eventually becoming commissioner of the NFL. Layden got 120 touches in nine recorded games. He scored six touchdown and averaged 3.7 yards per touch, which adds up to a first down if you gave Layden four touches in a row. That was his worst year for average yards per attempt. Layden averaged 4.4 yards per attempt for his career at Notre Dame. He scored three touchdowns in Notre Dame’s Rose Bowl win over Stanford.

Jim Crowley played halfback, and was the third horseman to make the College football Hall of Fame. In the 1924 season, he was an All-American and averaged 5.6 yards per attempt. Crowley had 133 attempts. He had eight total touchdowns, six on the ground, and two through the air.  Crowley also threw the ball at nearly a 60 percent completion rate and for an additional two touchdowns. He ran for 1841 yards in three seasons

Don Miller was the tailback of the four horsemen of Notre Dame, and the final member of the group to be elected into the College Football Hall of Fame. Miller, a two time All-American, ran for 22 touchdowns over the course of three seasons. He averaged 7.1 yards per carry in 1924. Miller did this on only 107 carries in the 1924 season. He ran for 1933 yards over the course of his career.

Miller is also the best of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame. For his performance in the Rose Bowl, Elmer Layden is probably the most important, but Miller had the best overall career. He was consistently the strongest player. It took him less carries to score more, and gain more yards than the other members of the backfield. According to the stats, Don Miller was the most talented Horseman of Notre Dame.