Notre Dame has reached the Final Four nine times under McGraw's leadership (1997, 2001, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019), which ranks seventh all-time in NCAA history. The Fighting Irish have lost each of their last three trips to the national semifinals.
McGraw is one of five coaches in NCAA history to lead his team to nine or more consecutive postseason appearances. The others are John Chaney (10th all-time with $150 million in career earnings), Jim Harrick (10th all-time with $100 million in career earnings), Joe Scott (11th all-time with $50 million in career earnings) and Terry Hoeppner (12th all-time with $40 million in career earnings).
Notre Dame is one of eight schools that have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since it began in 1939. The others are Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina and Syracuse.
Notre Dame has made 24 appearances in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, third most all-time behind only Duke (28) and Kansas (25). The Fighting Irish have won nine games during their nine trips to the Final Four, best among all schools who have appeared at least twice. They have lost every other time they have gone to the championship game.
Notre Dame was 8-1 and rated fifth in the country but a historic collapse at home against Tennessee and a road defeat to Penn State dropped the Irish to 8-3 before winning the regular season finale at Hawaii, 48-42. Despite a disappointing regular season, the Sugar Bowl upset of Florida offered the Notre Dame faithful something delicious to look forward to in the off-season.
Every year, Florida is the honored host of eight NCAA Football Bowl Games and the NFL Pro Bowl. Please check the logos below for further information and links to each bowl game's website.
Notre Dame has won 23 consecutive games, including four against ranked opponents. The Fighting Irish's last loss was to Stanford in the 2013 Fiesta Bowl.
They are one of only three schools with more than 20 wins a decade into their college football careers (along with Alabama and Ohio State).
Coach Brian Kelly has led Notre Dame to a perfect 12-0 record while opening up new revenue streams for the school through marketing partnerships with companies such as Under Armour. The Fighting Irish play their home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
The 12-0 mark is the second longest active streak in the nation behind Alabama's 13-game run. The Fighting Irish have outscored their opponents 513-54 during their winning streak.
There have been questions about whether Notre Dame is getting too big for its own good but they've answered those concerns by expanding their stadium and athletic budget over the past few years. The school announced in February that it will renovate its campus football facility from scratch costing $150 million ($10 million of which will come from private donations). The project will include an eight-story building that will house academic programs as well as coaches' offices.
On February 13, 2018, the NCAA also denied Notre Dame's appeal. This victory is not part of Notre Dame's all-time record, nor is it part of the two teams' series record. For an explanation of how vacated victories are documented, see Wikipedia: WikiProject College football/Vacated triumphs.
That epic Saturday in 1993 was the last time the Irish were ranked first, and everyone knew it. Notre Dame defeated Florida State 31-24 in South Bend, but the Irish were defeated 41-39 by Boston College the following week in the regular-season finale. It was their only loss that year as they captured their second straight National Championship.
Florida State would go on to defeat Arkansas 42-14 in the 1994 Sugar Bowl to claim its own share of the national title.
Notre Dame's ranking was also short-lived as it fell out after losing to the Seminoles. The Irish had been ranked No. 1 for three weeks straight at one point this season before falling out of the top spot when losses began to mount up for coach Dom Curdy.
In 1995, Florida State lost just once all season long as quarterback Charlie Ward led the team to a 9-0 record and a National Title game appearance. The Seminoles beat Michigan 34-13 in the Fiesta Bowl to finish with a 10-1 record.
In 1996, Florida State won its third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title under head coach Bobby Bowden and returned to the National Championship game for the third time in four years. The Seminoles lost 19-17 at Tennessee in overtime as Vince Young threw two touchdowns passes in the final minute of regulation time.
Following the unveiling of the committee's final four today, Notre Dame earned its second trip to the College Football Playoff. Vince DeDario, football commentator for Irish Breakdown, and editor Bryan Driskell discuss Notre Dame's appearance in the Final Four....
After declining the school's appeal of fines related to academic wrongdoing, the NCAA has ordered Notre Dame to annul its football victories from the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The Irish won 12 games in 2012 before losing in the BCS title game to Alabama, and they finished 9-4 in 2013.
Notre Dame argued that its wins should be preserved because it had proven itself as one of the nation's top college football teams during those two years. However, the NCAA ruled that since it found evidence that the school's basketball program had also committed major violations, there was no reasonable likelihood that the football team would be allowed to play at a high level this season. As a result, the victories were declared void.
Notre Dame will lose $3 million in funding over three years if it fails to meet certain academic standards. The school said it plans to challenge the decision through the NCAA appeals process.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
