3/28/2016 football Edit

Football & Men’s Basketball Combo Success Returns To Notre Dame

Despite its reputation as a “football school,” Notre Dame’s two top-10 finishes since 1994 are as many as the men’s basketball team during that time. (BGI/Andrew Ivins)

Lou Somogyi • InsideNDSports

Senior Editor

For the first time since the 1978-79 school year, the Notre Dame football team played in a major bowl game while its men’s basketball program advanced into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

We bring this up because of generalizations in NCAA athletic competition that universities are demarcated as either “football schools” — Notre Dame, USC, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. — or as “basketball schools” — Kentucky, UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, Louisville, Syracuse, etc.

There are special years where both have thrived at a school. This year, Oklahoma made the four-team College Football Playoff and the Final Four in men’s basketball. However, it’s notable that only Notre Dame ranks among the top 15 in all-time victories in both football (No. 2 at 892) and men’s basketball (No. 8 at 1,819, one behind UCLA).

Last year, Notre Dame men’s basketball finished No. 5 in the final coaches poll — but the football team was unranked with an 8-5 ledger. During the 2012-13 school year, the football team advanced to the BCS National Championship Game and finished No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, but basketball fell to No. 40 in the final coaches poll after a blowout loss to Iowa State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Having both in the top 25, never mind top 10, is rare.

Since the 1980-81 academic calendar, the only time Notre Dame has finished in the top 20 in both sports (so far) was in 2002-03. With first-year football coach Tyrone Willingham, the 10-3 Fighting Irish came in at No. 17 in the AP poll after losing handily in their last two outings to USC (44-13) and North Carolina State (28-6) in the Gator Bowl. Meanwhile, under third-year basketball coach Mike Brey, Notre Dame finished No. 15 in the coaches poll (24-10) after advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years, before falling to No. 5 Arizona.

However, it appears the 2015-16-school year will be remembered as the best combination at Notre Dame in the two marquee sports since 1980-81. This year’s football team earned a Big Six invitation to the Fiesta Bowl and finished 10-3 after losing its final two games. The AP placed it No. 11 in the final rankings, while the coaches poll made it No. 12. We won’t know what the final rankings the coaches poll will have in basketball until next Tuesday, but a run to the Elite Eight for the second straight year should surely place Notre Dame in the top 20.

Since the advent of the AP basketball poll during the 1948-49 season, Notre Dame finished in the top 10 in both football and basketball eight times:

1952-53 — The football team defeated conference champions in the Big Ten (co-champ Purdue), Big 8 (Oklahoma), Southwest (Texas) and Pac-8 (USC) to finish No. 3, while the basketball team concluded the regular season No. 10 — and then reached the Elite Eight.

1953-54 — Heisman Trophy winner John Lattner led the Fighting Irish to a 9-0-1 ledger and No. 2 placement. In basketball, center Dick Rosenthal steered a school-record 18-game winning streak for the No. 6 Irish, including an upset of No. 1 Indiana in the Sweet 16, before losing to Penn State.

1957-58 — The 7-3 football team ended No. 10, highlighted by ending Oklahoma’s NCAA-record 47-game winning streak. In basketball, All-American Tom Hawkins propelled the Irish to a No. 8 final ranking, and then lost to eventual national champ Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

1969-70 — Football finished No. 5 despite after losing late to No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl, while future No. 1 NBA pick Austin Carr led the resurrected basketball operation to a No. 9 placement, losing to No. 1 Kentucky in the Sweet 16.

1973-74 — Football won the national title under Ara Parseghian, while the 26-3 basketball team under Digger Phelps came in at No. 5 despite getting upset by Michigan in the second round of the 25-team NCAA Basketball Tournament.

1977-78 — For the first time in NCAA history, a football team won the national title, while the basketball team advanced to the Final Four. (Florida would become the second, and actually won it all in both football and basketball in 2006-07.)

1978-79 — With Joe Montana at quarterback, an unbelievable 35-34 comeback win over Houston in the Cotton Bowl enabled the 9-3 football team to finish No. 7 in the AP (No. 6 in the coaches poll). The basketball program, led by Kelly Tripucka, placed No. 4 at the end of the regular season before losing to eventual national champ Michigan State in the Elite Eight.

1980-81 — In Dan Devine’s final season as Notre Dame’s head coach, the 9-2-1 Irish finished No. 9 after falling to No. 1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl (17-10). Brigham Young stunned the No. 7 basketball team at the horn in the round of 16.

Would you believe that since the 1993-94 school year, Notre Dame has had as many AP top-10 finishes in football (2005 and 2012) as it has in men’s basketball (2011 and 2015)?