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Notre Dame Football: Are vacated wins a fair punishment for the Irish?

By Shannon Sickmon

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 01: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and his team wait to head on to the field for the start of the game against the Syracuse Orange at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 01: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and his team wait to head on to the field for the start of the game against the Syracuse Orange at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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After an NCAA committee denied Notre Dame football’s appeal to vacate 21 victories, the Irish dropped to No. 6 in all-time wins.

If you were to guess which NCAA football team has the most all-time wins, would you get it right?  Hint: the school’s name does not rhyme with “mamma-jamma”.

Eternal Big Ten powerhouse Michigan holds the record for the most wins of all time. The school has an amazing 943 victories. After that, the top-five include Ohio State and Texas, each with 898 wins, Nebraska with 893 and Alabama rounds out the list with 891. Earlier this week, the NCAA  decided to deny Notre Dame’s appeal of their decision to vacate 21 victories.

If Notre Dame hadn’t gotten busted for academic misconduct, it would have been second on the list with 902 wins. As it stands right now, the Irish have 885, dropping them to No. 6. Not that sixth, is bad, mind you, but it does have to be galling for a school that prides itself on its football program.

In 2016, the NCAA ordered storied college football program Notre Dame to vacate all victories from the 2012-2013 seasons. This is a huge blow to the school, because in 2012 the school went 12-0 and took a trip to the national title game against Alabama. Notre Dame promptly got clobbered by the Crimson Tide with a 42-14 rout, but it’s still impressive.

A former trainer at Notre Dame was found guilty of academic misconduct after an investigation found that he did the bulk of the coursework for two players and helped six other players in 18 other courses. The NCAA investigation concluded that three players played while ineligible, and therefore ruled that the games in which they play should be vacated from the school’s record. Notre Dame launched an appeal to no avail; earlier this week, the NCAA denied their appeal.

Next: Grading Notre Dame's 2018 recruiting class

The president of Notre Dame released a scathing statement about the ruling, calling it unfair, but it didn’t change anything other than make him look like a whiner.

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