Notre Dame Football: Ranking All 12 Irish National Championship Seasons

Out of the 12 Notre Dame football national championship seasons, which one was the best and how do they all rank?

Nov 19, 2022; South Bend, Indiana, USA; A Notre Dame pennant flies in front of the Word of Life Mural, commonly known as Touchdown Jesus, before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Boston College Eagles at Notre Dame Stadium. / Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Just how good were all 12 of Notre Dame's college football national championships?

Yeah, 11 national titles are officially recognized, but unlike other schools that claim EVERYTHING - (cough) Alabama (cough) - we think Notre Dame is shortchanging itself and should count 1919. More on that in a moment.

How good and how talented were each of the national championship teams? That's all for debate and discussion, but really, how do you possibly compare a team in the 1940s to a squad that played in the late 1980s? The backups on the 1988 national champion would steamroll over the 1930 team.

To try figuring this out, decades ago we at College Football News created a Historical Season Formula that compared and contrasted the seasons rather than the teams, and did this for all the national champions.

It's all simple. How hard and how easy were the paths to win the national title? Did you play one really nasty team and a bunch of lightweights, or did you have to deal with a brutal slate of killers? Think of it this way - how worthy were each of the national champs?

Scroll down to the very bottom for the criteria, all of the categories, and how this works. The bigger key is the national championship organization.

There might be major flaws in the various polls over the eras, but we only go by what was the top services and most consistent outlets at the time. These are the ones you - and the schools - should recognize by era, including the retroactive ones.

College Football National Championship Major Organizations By Era

1869 to 1882
National Championship Foundation (NCF)
1883 to 1935
NCF & Helms Athletic Foundation
1936 to 1949
Associated Press (AP)
1950 to 1981
AP & United Press International (UPI)
1982 to 1997
AP & USA Today (Coaches Poll)
1998 to 2013
Bowl Championship System, AP, Coaches
2014 to 2023
College Football Playoff

Notre Dame Football All-Time National Championship Ranking

12. 1919 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 11.82

National Championship Organization: NCF

Wins: 9
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 1
Elite Wins: 1
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 8
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 229
Points Against: 47
Point Differential: 1.82
Win %: 1.000

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 12, Army 9

11. 1947 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 14.89

National Championship Organization: AP

Wins: 9
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 3
Elite Wins: 1
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 6
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 291
Points Against: 52
Point Differential: 2.39
Win %: 1.000

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 38, USC 7

10. 1946 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 15.4144

National Championship Organization: AP

Wins: 8
Losses: 0
Ties: 1
Quality Wins: 3
Elite Wins: 1.5
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 4
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 271
Points Against: 24
Point Differential: 2.47
Win %: 0.944

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 26, Illinois 6. (Note: the 0-0 tie with Army was arguably the big moment for the 1946 Irish)

9. 1949 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 18.88

National Championship Organization: AP

Wins: 10
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 5
Elite Wins: 1
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 3
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 360
Points Against: 86
Point Differential: 2.74
Win %: 1.000

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 46, Tulane 7

8. 1966 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 18.94

National Championship Organization: AP, Coaches

Wins: 9
Losses: 0
Ties: 1
Quality Wins: 4
Elite Wins: 2
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 3
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 362
Points Against: 38
Point Differential: 3.24
Win %: 0.950

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 35, Army 0 (Note: The 10-10 tie with Michigan State was one of the biggest moments of the season)

7. 1929 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 19.57

National Championship Organization: NCF, HAF

Wins: 9
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 6
Elite Wins: 3
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 2
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 145
Points Against: 38
Point Differential: 1.07
Win %: 1.000

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 13, USC 12

6. 1973 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 19.68

National Championship Organization: AP

Wins: 11
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 4
Elite Wins: 1
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 1
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 382
Points Against: 89
Point Differential: 2.93
Win %: 1.000 

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 24, Alabama 23 (Sugar Bowl)

5. 1924 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 21.56

National Championship Organization: NCF, HAF 

Wins: 10
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 6
Elite Wins: 3
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 3
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 285
Points Against: 54
Point Differential: 2.31
Win %: 1.000 

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 27, Stanford 10 (Rose Bowl)

4. 1977 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 22.23

National Championship Organization: AP, Coaches 

Wins: 11
Losses: 1
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 7
Elite Wins: 2
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 2
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 420
Points Against: 139
Point Differential: 2.81
Win %: 0.917 

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 38, Texas 10 (Cotton Bowl)

3. 1943 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 23.11

National Championship Organization: AP 

Wins: 9
Losses: 1
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 6
Elite Wins: 6
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 3
Elite Losses: 1
Points Scored: 340
Points Against: 69
Point Differential: 2.71
Win %: 0.900 

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 35, Michigan 12 (Note: Notre Dame was the only loss for three teams, Michigan, Navy, and Iowa Pre-Flight)

2. 1988 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 24.12

National Championship Organization: AP, Coaches 

Wins: 12
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 6
Elite Wins: 3.5
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 3
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 393
Points Against: 156
Point Differential: 2.37
Win %: 1.000 

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 34, West Virginia 21 (Fiesta Bowl) ... (Note: Yeah, Notre Dame 31, Miami 30 was really it)

1. 1930 Notre Dame

National Championship Season Score: 25.66

National Championship Organization: NCF, HAF

Wins: 10
Losses: 0
Ties: 0
Quality Wins: 9
Elite Wins: 4
Bad Losses: 0
Bad Wins: 1
Elite Losses: 0
Points Scored: 265
Points Against: 74
Point Differential: 1.91
Win %: 1.000 

Key Win That Won Notre Dame the National Championship: Notre Dame 7, Army 6

CFN Season Historical Formula

1. Wins. Obviously, winning matters. Just win lots of games, and all is fine. 1 point per win.

2. Losses. Don't lose. -1 point per loss

3. Ties. Yeah, there used to be those. 0.5 points per tie.

4. Quality Wins. The wins over the good teams. 1 point per win over a team that finished with a winning record.

5. Elite Wins. The wins over the great teams. 1 point per home win over a team that finished with two losses, or a road, bowl, or neutral site win over a team that finished with three losses. An extra 0.5 added to a road win over a team that finished with two losses.

6. Bad Losses. The soul-crushers. -1 point per loss to a non-FBS/D-I team, or a team that finished with three wins or fewer. An extra 0.5 is added to a home loss to a “bad” team.

7. Bad Wins. The layups. -0.25 for a win over a team that finished with three wins or fewer.

8. Elite Losses. The forgivable defeats. 0.25 added for a loss to a team that finished with two losses of fewer.

9. Point Differential. They keep score for a reason. Points scored minus points against divided by 100.

10. Winning Percentage. A sort of tie-breaker, taking into account how good the season was beyond the raw wins and loss.