HERE YA GO...The quote about the priests at Notre Dame cracks me up.
The Greatest College Football Dynasties of All-Time
by Todd Helmick
February 18, 2013
FOR THE CUMBERLAND-TIMES NEWS
FOR THE DES MOINES REGISTER
The Alabama Crimson Tide under sixth year head coach Nick Saban just won their third football national championship in four years. Where does this Alabama team rank in the history of great college football dynasties?
Before continuing any further it became apparent that to understand some of the great college football dynasty teams from many decades gone by that one check with an experienced witness who has traveled that historic road. The first person that came to mind through my personal sports travels was Jim Zabel, a radio and television broadcaster best known for serving as the play-by-play announcer for Iowa Hawkeye football for 50 years on WHO Radio. Jim Zabel was named the sports director at WHO in 1944 succeeding would you believe, future president Ronald Reagan. At the current age of 91 years young and after covering more than 6,100 sporting events Jim still remains employed by the station as a talk-show host and continues to be smart as a whip.
I have been lucky enough to cover college football as a living for 14 years now. After realizing long ago mine is a face that was absolutely perfect for radio (eh, hem) the radio show trail through the years took me from tons of small towns and big cities across America. Despite the fact they all seemingly run together there are always times when it's easy to tell the guy on the other end of the phone line is someone special. That is where Jim Zabel comes in. It was time to give Zabel a call for this research.
A widely accepted notion among serious college football dynasty discussions is that the 1953-58 Oklahoma Sooners and the 1946-49 Notre Dame Fighting Irish were two of the top dynasties in the history of the sport. Jim Zabel covered many of those games starting with the Notre Dame Frank Leahy coached teams.
The Conversations With Jim Zabel
Jim, how do those teams of long ago stack up with great teams of today?
"The 1946-49 Notre Dame dynasty with Heisman quarterback John Lujack and all those guys, they would each play in a lot of different positions. They weren't as big as they are today. For instance, the 1956 Iowa team that went to the Rose Bowl...the guards were 172 and 169 pounds respectively. So they are just bigger today and just as fast so that's the major difference. But some of those great Frank Leahy Notre Dame teams, some of the great Oklahoma teams under Bud Wilkinson that won 47 straight games, yea, I think they could compete. But it would be difficult to do it because some of those were single platoon teams. And they both went offensive and defensive (played on both sides of the ball) and the guys today don't do that they are so specialized."
"The Irish had everything back then. My favorite example of this was from a reporter with the Chicago Tribune. He asked Leon Hart the Irish All-American end...he said Mr. Hart you've won 37 straight games. What's the secret to success here at Notre Dame?" Leon said, "Well, we got great players, we got great coaches and we got the spirit of Notre Dame." The reporter says, "I also understand you have a priest that helps you pray before every game. I'd like to meet him and interview him." Leon replies, "Which one, offensive or defensive?
World War II
During this stretch of American football history many of the nation's young men headed off to war. It was at this time of 1944-46 that Army drafted legendary players like Heisman Trophy winners Doc Blanchard (1945) and Glenn Davis (1946) who were coached by the legendary Red Blaik. They ruled the gridiron.
Zabel says, "World War II back then had a tremendous effect on college football and Iowa where I was at. You have to remember that Navy had their Pre-Flight school in Iowa City and they had their own football team the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks (1942-44). What is not generally known (or forgotten)...because of the war they had the greatest collection of head coaches the nation has ever seen even to this day. Four of them were Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, Bernie Bierman of Minnesota, Jim Tatum of Maryland and Don Faurot of Missouri." Wilkinson coached the greatest dynasty of all time, Bierman won national titles in 1934, '35, '36, '40 and '41. Tatum coached two of the best Maryland teams of all time (1951 and 1953) while winning the school's only national championship and Faurot is credited with inventing the split-T formation and has the University of Missouri Stadium named after him.
Would you put this current Alabama team in your all-time dynasty list?
"Oh yes absolutely. One thing you have to remember, the population shift has had a major effect on football. Population is moving to the south and to the west so a lot of the great players have moved there. It used to be that Ohio with all of the steel mills and Pennsylvania, they turned out those big tough football players and now those kind of jobs are no longer there and so the population has moved to the south. So when you talk about Florida and Alabama there's a lot of great athletes down there and Nick Saban knows how to recruit them. Where they beat you though is at guard and tackle. Back in Frank Leahy's day he had great guards and tackles too. On top of that they said Frank Leahy only had eight plays. And I interviewed him and he said yea we've only got eight plays but they all work and we don't need any more than that."
It's doubtful that Alabama's 2012 title team had only eight plays. Apparently some things have changed, some things have not. Jim continues to make comparisons, "I'll say this in addition. There is more parity today. I mean there's more talent around. Texas A&M you know they beat Alabama last year. Back then there was no limit to how many football players a team could have. I think Nebraska at one time had 185 football recruits. There was no limit. And that made a lot of difference. And those great Oklahoma teams corralled all that talent down there and half of Texas."
Can Alabama continue to dominate like they are?
"This dynasty story under Saban is not done being written yet. No it's not done and it won't be done until Ohio State with Urban Meyer or Michigan with (coach) Hoke up there can start recruiting on equal terms. Saban is a master at getting those big guards and tackles. Yeah he has good running backs but everybody has good running backs. Where he beats you is guard and tackle. Big, fast, mobile guards and tackles that's what he has on the team. And they're the hardest to recruit."
Alabama has won more national championships than any team in the history college football. So it's no wonder that three Alabama teams from different decades make the following Top Ten College Football All-Time Dynasty List.
TOP TEN COLLEGE FOOTBALL DYNASTY LIST
1. Oklahoma (1948-1958) - 3 national championships
Record: 107-8-2
This is the dynasty measuring stick. No program epitomized dominance like Oklahoma under legendary coach Bud Wilkinson. Highlighted by an NCAA record 47-game winning streak that has never truly been threatened OU won three national titles in that span and had two other undefeated seasons. The 1955 Sooners, who beat an undefeated Maryland in the Orange Bowl that season, are considered by many experts to be among the single greatest teams of all time.
2. Notre Dame (1946-1949) - 3 national championships
Record: 36-0-2
Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen are what many people think of as the glorious early days of Notre Dame football. But it was really head coach Frank Leahy's teams of the 1940s and the installation of the T Formation that defined the Irish. Leahy won three national championships and did not lose a single game in his first four seasons. Only a 14-14 tie with archrival USC in the 1948 finale prevented the Irish from winning an unprecedented four consecutive national championships.
3. Nebraska (1993-1997) - 3 national championships
Record: 60-3
In Tom Osborne's final five seasons as the head coach Nebraska only lost three games, won three national titles and was only a missed Orange Bowl field goal away from winning a fourth title. Not only did the Cornhuskers win, they won in dominant fashion. The ground breaking 1995 offense led by quarterback Tommie Frazier averaged 52.4 points a game.
4. Miami FL (1983-92) - 4 national championships
Record: 107-14
Despite having three different head coaches leading the program - Howard Schnellenberger (1983), Jimmy Johnson (1984–1988) and Dennis Erickson (1989–1992) - Miami's stretch through the 1980s was the envy of college football. Using a pro-style offense, which was rare at the time, the Hurricanes spent eight seasons with an end-of-year ranking of No. 3 or higher, won four national titles in six title appearances and conducted an NCAA record 58-game home win streak.
5. Alabama (2008-Present) - 3 national championships
Record: 61-7
Three national championships in the last four years is quite an accomplishment given the parity in college football today. Head coach Nick Saban has undoubtedly built an Alabama team worthy of mention on any dynasty list. The good news for Crimson Tide fans, with gigantic recruits continuing to pour into Tuscaloosa this dynasty run appears far from over.
6. Army (1944-1946) - 2 national championships
Record: 27-0-1
Three seasons, no losses. Legendary coach Earl "Red" Blaik put together a 29-game undefeated streak that produced some major blowouts. Army outscored opponents 916 to 81 in back-to-back national titles and the defense shut out 32 of those teams. Heisman winners Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis (Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside) sliced through defenses with virtual ease.
7. Alabama (1971-1980) - 3 national championships
Record: 107-13
Paul "Bear" Bryant built two solid dynasties in the 1960s and 1970s. While the first established Alabama as a national power, it was the second less than a decade later that carved Bryant's name into the book of football gods. Switching from a power offense to the wishbone, seven of the nine seasons of this dynasty featured no less than 11 wins (at a time when Division I football teams played no more than 12 games).
8. Southern California (2002-2008) - 2 national championships
Record: 82-9
Head coach Pete Carroll's Trojans produced two national titles and three Heisman winners. USC dominated opponents in the BCS bowl games going 6-1 by a winning average score of 40-18. The school held the No. 1 slot in the AP poll for a stunning 32 consecutive weeks and fell just three points shy against Texas of becoming college football's only three-peat champion. That loss snapped a 34-game winning streak.
9. Florida State (1987-2000) - 2 national championships
Record: 152-19-1
This dynasty goes the greatest distance. Beginning in 1987, head coach Bobby Bowden started a stunning streak of 14 consecutive 10-win campaigns in which the Seminoles never finished lower than 4th in the AP poll. In ten of those seasons FSU won 11 or more games and appeared in five national title games helping to make Bobby Bowden the winningest coach in Division I-A college football history.
10. Alabama (1961-1966) - 3 national championships
Record: 68-6-3
Bear Bryant's Alabama teams of the 1960s were considered the first dynasty of the "modern era". The Crimson Tide captured national titles in 1964 and 1965 and finished third in 1966 despite a perfect record while enjoying separate winning streaks of 19 and 17 games. While the biggest name from this era of Alabama football was QB Joe Namath, it was the Tide defense that really powered the program shutting out 22 teams during this stretch.
