1953 College Football National Championship

Notre Dame 1953

As I count them, this was Notre Dame's 8th MNC, following mythical titles in 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, and 1949. It need hardly be said that that is the most of any school 1901-1953. During that time period, I have 4 schools behind Notre Dame with 6 MNC each: Harvard, Yale, Michigan, and Minnesota. I covered Notre Dame's 1953 coach, Hall of Famer Frank Leahy, in the linked 1943 article. This was his 5th MNC in 11 seasons at Notre Dame, and I recognize his 1940 Boston College team as an MNC as well, giving him 6 MNCs in 13 years for his career. 

Notre Dame's Season

1953's game of the year ended up being the season opener for both teams, #1 Notre Dame visiting #6 Oklahoma. Notre Dame had given Oklahoma their only loss the previous season, and looking for revenge, the Sooners instead got more of the same this year. Oklahoma opened the scoring, putting over a touchdown that was set up by a Notre Dame fumble on their own 23 yard line. The Sooners returned the favor with a fumble at their own 15, and Notre Dame quarterback Ralph Guglielmi threw a touchdown pass to halfback Joe Heap to tie the game up at 7. Oklahoma set up another touchdown in the 2nd quarter with a 62 yard pass, then gave the Irish another gift later in the half. Notre Dame tackle Frank Varrichione blocked a quick kick, and end Don Penza recovered the ball at the Sooner 9 yard line. Guglielmi scored a touchdown soon after, and it was 14-14 at the half.

Notre Dame jumped out to a big lead in the 3rd quarter. Joe Heap scored on a 36 yard catch and fullback Neil Worden tallied on a 9 yard run, and Notre Dame led 28-14. Oklahoma scored on a 60 yard punt return touchdown with 5 minutes left in the game, making the final score 28-21. This was Oklahoma's first home loss in 25 games, and it would be their last loss of any kind until 1957, as they would tie Pittsburgh the next week, then launch an NCAA-record 47 game winning streak. The team that would snap that streak? Notre Dame, of course. Oklahoma finished this season 9-1-1 with a huge win over 10-1 Maryland in the Orange Bowl, and I have the Sooners ranked #2 for 1953.



Notre Dame next won 37-7 at 2-7 Purdue, then they had to rally from a 14-0 deficit to beat 3-5-1 Pittsburgh 23-14 at home (Johnny Lattner pictured carrying the ball in that game above). The next game was a big one, as they were facing 4-0-1 Georgia Tech, who had not lost a game since 1950, a 31 game unbeaten streak. Notre Dame was ranked #1, Georgia Tech #4. The game was supposed to have been played in Atlanta, but Notre Dame had some black players, and they would not have been allowed to play in Atlanta. Georgia Tech either had to give up their home game or cancel the series entirely, and they chose to play in South Bend.

With his team leading 7-0 at halftime, Frank Leahy suddenly collapsed in the locker room, and was taken to the hospital. The team feared it was a heart attack, and legend says a priest delivered the last rites. It was a pancreatic attack, which may have seemed like good news at first, but at the end of the season, Leahy would retire, citing health concerns and his doctor's orders. Notre Dame came out of the locker room in a bit of shock, and Georgia Tech marched to a tying touchdown. But Notre Dame came roaring back in the same quarter, quarterback Ralph Guglielmi hitting halfback Joe Heap for a touchdown pass, and tackle Art Hunter recovering a bad snap in Georgia Tech's end zone, giving the Irish a commanding 21-7 lead. Both teams scored in the 4th quarter, making the final score 27-14. Georgia Tech went on to finish 9-2-1, and I have them ranked #6 for 1953.

Notre Dame next cruised 38-7 over 4-3-2 Navy, staggered to a 28-20 win at 3-5-1 Penn in their worst performance of the season, and won 34-14 at 4-6 North Carolina. Then they hosted Iowa, coming in at 5-3 and ranked #20, for what would end up being the most talked about game of 1953.

The Fainting Irish

Notre Dame outgained Iowa 358 yards to 198, but turnovers and mistakes (such as dropping an easy touchdown pass) were costly for the Irish, and they had to resort to faking injuries to stop the clock on both of their touchdown drives to eke out a 14-14 tie. Iowa intercepted a 1st quarter pass and then marched 72 yards to lead 7-0. Halfback Johnny Lattner returned a punt 41 yards very late in the first half, but the play appeared to be for naught when quarterback Ralph Guglielmi was sacked at the Iowa 12 yard line, the clock draining away and Notre Dame out of time-outs. But tackle "Fainting" Frank Varrichione came to the rescue, collapsing to the turf on his way back to the huddle and screaming in "pain" to get an injury time-out (pictured below). Guglielmi hit a tying touchdown pass to end Dan Shannon on the next play.



Iowa launched their next touchdown drive following another interception, scoring with just 2 minutes left in the game to go up 14-7. Back came the Irish, Johnny Lattner catching 3 passes to help them move down the field. Notre Dame had no time-outs, so various players took turns faking injuries again to stop the clock throughout the drive. After the last of the injury shenanigans, with 6 seconds left on the clock, Guglielmi hit Shannon again for a 9 yard touchdown pass, salvaging a 14-14 tie.

Although faking injuries was not uncommon gamesmanship at the time, Notre Dame was excoriated by writers and editors in newspapers coast to coast the rest of the season, derided as the "Fainting Irish." Legendary writer Grantland Rice was quoted nationwide as saying at a football writers' luncheon the next Monday, "I consider it a complete violation of the spirit and ethics of the game, and was sorry to see Notre Dame, of all teams, using this method." The NCAA responded to the outcry by altering its injury rules in the off-season.

Maryland moved up to #1 in the next AP poll, Notre Dame was dropped to #2, and Iowa was moved all the way up from #20 to #9 despite being 5-3-1. All 3 teams would finish the season ranked at those positions as well. And while that may seem like an overrating for Iowa, it's logically viable. Their only losses came to 9-1 Michigan State (#4), 6-2-1 Wisconsin (#7), and 6-3 Michigan (#11). Their straight record may have been worse than Michigan's, but Michigan lost 22-0 at Minnesota (4-4-1, #22), a team Iowa beat 27-0, and of course Iowa tied 9-0-1 Notre Dame (#1), so Iowa actually had the better relevant record despite the head-to-head loss.

Frank Leahy stayed at home for Notre Dame's trip to Southern Cal the next week, citing health concerns, though speculation in later years has been that he was staying out of sight following the storm of negative publicity over the injury-faking. Similarly, speculation has been that his retirement at season's end had more to do with trouble he was having with the Notre Dame administration over the negative publicity, along with the overbearing power of Notre Dame football compared to academics, than with his health.



In any case, Notre Dame fared well enough without him, drilling 6-3-1 Southern Cal (just outside the top 25 at #26) 48-14, the biggest margin of victory in the series to that date. 98,000 fans watched Johnny Lattner score 4 touchdowns (he's pictured carrying the ball in this game above). Notre Dame then finished the season with a 40-14 home whipping of 5-5 Southern Methodist (also not far outside the top 25 for 1953). Lattner, Heisman Trophy already in hand by the time this December 5th game was played, scored another couple of touchdowns.

The final AP poll had also already been conducted prior to Notre Dame's final game, but that result would not have changed anything anyway. 9-0-1 Notre Dame was #2, and since they did not play in bowl games at this time, their only hope for being considered a national champion for the 1953 season rested on 8-1-1 and #4 Oklahoma beating 10-0 and #1 Maryland in the Orange Bowl. So the Orange Bowl game was almost as important to Notre Dame's season as their opener at Oklahoma, as Oklahoma's 7-0 win over Maryland cleared the way for a post-bowl MNC for the Irish.

Awards Ceremony

Grading the Selectors