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1966 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Consensus national champion
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 1
APNo. 1
1966 record9–0–1
Head coachAra Parseghian (3rd season)
Base defense4–4
CaptainJim Lynch
Home stadiumNotre Dame Stadium (c. 59,075, grass)
Seasons
← 1965
1967 →
1966 NCAA University Division independents football records
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
No. 1 Notre Dame           9 0 1
Colgate           8 1 1
No. 8 Georgia Tech           9 2 0
Army           8 2 0
Dayton           8 2 0
Houston           8 2 0
Memphis           7 2 0
No. 9 Miami (FL)           8 2 1
VPI           8 2 1
Syracuse           8 3 0
Colorado State           7 3 0
New Mexico State           7 3 0
West Texas State           7 3 0
Villanova           6 3 0
Holy Cross           6 3 1
Southern Miss           6 4 0
Texas Western           6 4 0
Rutgers           5 4 0
Tulane           5 4 1
Florida State           6 5 0
Buffalo           5 5 0
Penn State           5 5 0
Air Force           4 6 0
Boston College           4 6 0
Navy           4 6 0
Utah State           4 6 0
Xavier           4 6 0
Pacific           4 7 0
San Jose State           3 7 0
Pittsburgh           1 9 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1966 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. The Irish, coached by Ara Parseghian, ended the season undefeated with nine wins and one tie, winning a national championship. The Fighting Irish earned a consensus title after beating No. 10 Oklahoma 38–0 in Norman, tying unbeaten and No. 2 Michigan State 10–10, and ending the season defeating No. 10 USC, 51–0, in the Coliseum[1] The 1966 squad became the eighth Irish team to win the national title and the first under Parseghian. The Irish outscored its opponents 362–38.[1] The 10–10 tie between The Spartans and the Irish remains one of the controversial games of college football, and is considered today to be one of the great "games of the century".[2]

Season[]

Schedule[]

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendance
September 24No. 8 PurdueNo. 6W 26-1459,075
October 1at NorthwesternNo. 4W 35-755,356
October 8ArmyNo. 3
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
W 35-059,075
October 15North CarolinaNo. 2
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
W 32-059,075
October 22at No. 10 OklahomaNo. 1W 38-063,439
October 29vs. NavyNo. 1W 31-770,101
November 5PittsburghNo. 1
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)
W 40-059,075
November 12DukeNo. 1
  • Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame, IN
W 64-059,075
November 19at No. 2 Michigan StateNo. 1T 10-1080,011
November 26at No. 10 USCNo. 1W 51-088,520
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster[]

1966 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
RB 28 Bleier, RockyRocky Bleier Jr
RB 32 Conjar, LarryLarry Conjar
RB 21 Criniti, FrankFrank Criniti
RB 38 Dushney, RonRon Dushney
RB 47 Eddy, NickNick Eddy
G 68 Fox, RogerRoger Fox
RB 20 Gladieux, BobBob Gladieux So
TE 80 Gmitter, DonDon Gmitter
C 54 Goeddeke, GeorgeGeorge Goeddeke
G 57 Gorman, TimTim Gorman
RB 22 Haley, DaveDave Haley
WR 86 Heneghan, CurtCurt Heneghan
QB 5 Hanratty, TerryTerry Hanratty So
C 58 Kelly, GeraldGerald Kelly
T 73 Konieczny, RudyRudy Konieczny
G 75 Kuechenberg, BobBob Kuechenberg So
TE 78 Kuzmicz, MikeMike Kuzmicz
G 69 Marsico, JoeJoe Marsico
RB 31 May, PaulPaul May
T 79 McKinley, TomTom McKinley
C 55 Monty, TimTim Monty
QB 3 O’Brien, ColeyColey O’Brien
G 62 Quinn, SteveSteve Quinn
WR 89 Rassas, KevinKevin Rassas
G 76 Regner, TomTom Regner
T 70 Schnurr, FredFred Schnurr
T 71 Seiler, PaulPaul Seiler
WR 85 Seymour, JimJim Seymour
WR 49 Stenger, BrianBrian Stenger
G 59 Swatland, DickDick Swatland
TE 96 Winegardner, JimJim Winegardner
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DT 77 Alexander, HarryHarry Alexander
S 33 Burgener, MikeMike Burgener
DT 64 Duranko, PetePete Duranko
DT 75 Hardy, KevinKevin Hardy
CB 34 Harshman, DanDan Harshman
LB 51 Horney, JohnJohn Horney
LB 65 Jeziorski, RonRon Jeziorski
DE 93 Lauck, ChickChick Lauck
LB 41 Lavin, JohnJohn Lavin
CB 40 O’Leary, TomTom O’Leary
LB 61 Lynch, JimJim Lynch
LB 56 Martin, DaveDave Martin
LB 60 McGill, MikeMike McGill
DT 72 Norri, EricEric Norri
DE 81 Page, AlanAlan Page Sr
LB 50 Pergine, JohnJohn Pergine
CB 19 Quinn, TomTom Quinn
DE 87 Rhoads, TomTom Rhoads
DE 88 Sack, AllenAllen Sack
S 7 Schoen, TomTom Schoen
DE 94 Skoglund, BillBill Skoglund
CB 25 Smithberger, JimJim Smithberger
LB 89 VanHuffel, AlAl VanHuffel
LB 54 Vuillemin, EdEd Vuillemin
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
P 90 Azzaro, JoeJoe Azzaro
K 11 Ryan, JimJim Ryan
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Game summaries[]

Purdue[]

Purdue at Notre Dame
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Purdue 7 0 0 7 14
Notre Dame 7 7 0 12 26

[3]

Oklahoma[]

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Notre Dame 0 17 21 0 38
Oklahoma 0 0 0 0 0

[4]

Navy[]

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Notre Dame 3 7 14 7 31
Navy 0 0 0 7 7

[5]

Michigan State[]

Notre Dame at Michigan State
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Notre Dame 0 7 0 3 10
Michigan St 0 10 0 0 10

[6]

USC[]

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Notre Dame 14 17 13 7 51
USC 0 0 0 0 0

[7]

Post-season[]

Award winners[]

Heisman Voting:

Nick Eddy, 3rd,[9]
Terry Hanratty, 6th[9]

All-Americans:

Name AP UPI NEA FC SN L T CP FN
† Nick Eddy, HB 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
† Jim Lynch, LB 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Tom Regner, G 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Alan Page, DE 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
Pete Duranko, DT 3 1 1 2
Kevin Hardy, DT 2 2 3 1 1 1
Jim Seymour, E 3 2 2 3 1
Paul Seiler, T 3 2
George Goeddeke, C 3 2 3 3
Tom Schoen, DB 3 2
Larry Conjar, FB 3 3 3 1
Terry Hanratty, QB 3 3
denotes unanimous selection
‡denotes consensus selection      Source:[1]

College Football Hall of Fame Inductees:

Name Position Year Inducted
Jim Lynch Linebacker 1992
Alan Page Defensive End 1993
Ara Parseghian Coach 1980

Notre Dame leads all universities in players inducted.[10]

1967 NFL Draft[]

Player Position Round Pick Franchise
Paul Seiler Guard 1(12) 12 New York Jets
† Alan Page Defensive End 1(15) 15 Minnesota Vikings
Thomas Regner Guard 1(23) 23 Houston Oilers
Larry Conjar Running Back 2(20) 46 Cleveland Browns
Jim Lynch Linebacker 2(21) 47 Kansas City Chiefs
George Goeddeke Center 3(6) 59 Denver Broncos
Tom Rhoads Defensive End 3(17) 70 Buffalo Bills
Allen Sack Linebacker 16(15) 408 Los Angeles Rams
Pro Football Hall of Famer      Source:[11]

References[]

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