and yet technically defensible. 1973 was the final season in which the final coaches' poll (then done by UPI) was taken before the bowl games. Alabama was 11-0 and No. 1 at that time, so they got a trophy. AP, which had abandoned that outdated practice five years earlier, awarded ND the national championship, as did every other organization.

Alabama's claim to the 1973 championship is like Frank Burns getting the Purple Heart because he was wounded by shell fragments in a combat zone -- i.e., egg shell fragments in the mess tent. Where is Hawkeye to take away Alabama's trophy?

I had always wanted to use the 2012 analogy ...

"ND: 2012 UPI National Champions"

But, despite how logically parallel the claim is ,I have this strange minor degree of dignity and honesty. While each claim is similar in a technical sense, their one-point loss in the Sugar Bowl is a thousand times easier to distort than our being thoroughly curb-stomped in Miami Gardens six years ago.

I understand that it's all based upon poll results from that era, but I've long found it fascinating that they don't claim an 11-0 season while they do claim, respectively, 10-1, 9-1-1, and 11-1 seasons.

I've occasionally wondered what might've happened had ND lifted its self-imposed bowl ban 3 years earlier. 10-0 AL in the Sugar would've clearly been the most attractive matchup for the Irish. I have no idea whether Hanratty would've been sufficiently healthy by then, but ND did just fine at USC w/ O'Brien.

they lost to Texas to seal the 1964 National Championship.

Due to ticket availability, we could not get in the stadium to watch the 1996 ND/Texas game in Austin, so we watched it from the Copper Tank on 6th Street instead. The game-winning field goal was one of those "check please!" moments in my life, as we were outnumbered in the bar about 200 to 6.

On the way out, I asked a lady in Alabama garb who she was rooting for. She said that she was rooting for Texas because she hated Notre Dame. I told her that she was rooting for the wrong team, because "while it may seem like Notre Dame owns Alabama, the fact of the matter is that we just rent them from Texas." (ETA: At the time, ND's record against Alabama was 5-1, while Texas was 7-0-1 against the Tide. Both ND and Texas have since lost one game to the Tide.)

We left pretty quickly after that.

best of all...it's true! why anyone with the slightest amount of common sense would claim 1973 is beyond my ability to comprehend. then again, i learned long ago that the emotions unleashed by college football fans when defending their teams frequently don't pass the common sense sniff test either.