Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/699309
BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 143 No. 2 Michigan State had a 20.4 differential and No. 3 Alabama was at 23.0 during the regular season. Such data can sometimes be misleading due to strength of schedules — but Notre Dame was the lone team in the final AP top 10 in 1966 that during the regular season played four teams ranked in the top 10 (Purdue, at Okla- homa, at Michigan State and at USC). Michigan State played two, and Alabama none. Whereas the Fighting Irish had five games at home and five on the road (three ranked), Michigan State had six at home and four on the road, while Alabama left its state only twice during the 10-game regular season. Notre Dame's regular-season foes finished 54-46-2, while Michigan State's (48-49-3) and Alabama's (42-59-1) were under .500. 2. Not Bowled Over A popular inquiry is, "How did a 9-0-1 Notre Dame team that didn't even play in a bowl game get the nod over an Alabama team that finished 11-0 and won the Sugar Bowl, 34-7, over Nebraska?" First, other than in 1965, national titles were awarded at the end of the regular season until 1968, the year the AP made the decision to vote on the champion after bowl games were played. Thus, Alabama's Sugar Bowl win was irrel- evant — the same way its 21-17 Orange Bowl loss in 1964 to Texas was. Despite that setback, Alabama was still awarded the national title by the AP and UPI in 1964. That is part of why Notre Dame had a policy to not attend bowls until 1969. Alabama de- feating a Nebraska team ranked below it and ANNIVERSARY Notre Dame's 1966 team, led by third-year head coach Ara Parseghian (above), won the school's first consensus national title in 17 years. PHOTOS COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS