Two former Notre Dame teams crack ESPN all-time defenses rankings
One of the better defenses in recent history was on display in 2021, as Georgia went all the way to win the national title. In a world where offenses are getting a lot of the buzz — just look at 2019 LSU or 2020 Alabama — the Bulldogs showed that defenses can still win championships.
As a result of the outcome of the 2021 college football season, ESPN’s Bill Connelly did a deep dive to find the top-50 defenses in college football history.
Notre Dame football has prided itself on stout defense in recent seasons. The numbers tell a part of that story — on average, the last four Irish defenses have surrendered fewer than 20 points per game since the 2018 season — as does the interest in Notre Dame defensive coordinators; Marcus Freeman is now the head coach for the Irish, Clark Lea is now the head coach at Vanderbilt, and Mike Elko is now the head coach at Duke, albeit with an intermediate stop at Texas A&M.
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While stout, none of those defenses cracked Connelly’s rankings. However, there were two former Irish teams that did make the list, checking in at the No. 35 and No. 20 spots.
No. 35: 1929 Notre Dame
The 35th team on Connelly’s list is Irish legend Knute Rockne’s 1929 group that allowed 4.2 points per game and posted a 9-0 record en route to the program’s second national title.
“Rockne missed much of the season with blood clot and infection issues in his right leg, and the team played its ‘home’ games at Chicago’s Soldier Field because of the construction of a new home stadium,” Connelly said. “But what could have been a season of adversity was instead a perfect one. The Fighting Irish scored a 13-12 win over emerging power USC and swept eight other games by a combined 132-26.”
Notre Dame shut out four opponents in 1929. Ironically, the two consensus All-Americans that season were on the offensive side of the ball: quarterback Frank Carideo and guard Jack Cannon. The performance was a far cry from the 5-4 record posted a year earlier.
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No. 20: 1946 Notre Dame
Frank Leahy returned to Notre Dame for his second head coaching stint in 1946 after serving in the Navy during World War II. With him he brought several dozen former military members, and they posted staggering defensive numbers; the 1946 Irish team allowed just 2.7 points per game.
“Here’s all you need to know about the 1946 Fighting Irish: Army went into its battle with the defending Heisman winner (Doc Blanchard) and the impending Heisman winner (Glenn Davis) and had averaged 45 points per game during a 25-game winning streak,” Connelly said. “It had scored 48 on Notre Dame the year before.
“George Connor, Johnny Lujack and the Irish defense held Army scoreless.”
In addition to Army, Notre Dame did not surrender a point to Pittsburgh, Navy, Northwestern or Tulane that season. Not one team posted more than six points against the Irish in 1946. Notre Dame finished 8-0-1 and won the program’s fifth national title. It was Leahy’s second as a head coach.
Connelly’s top-10 defensive units
10. 1986 Oklahoma
9. 1972 Michigan
8. 2011 LSU
7. 2011 Alabama
6. 1939 Tennessee
5. 1965 Michigan State
4. 1959 LSU
3. 1959 Ole Miss
2. 2016 Alabama
1. 2017 Alabama
