1943 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1943 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
1943 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Consensus national champion
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 1
Record	9–1
Head coach	Frank Leahy (3rd season);
Offensive scheme	T formation
Captain	Pat Filley
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
	Seasons ← 1942 1944 →

Last updated September 19, 2025

1943 Midwestern college football independents records
v t e	Conf.			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
Michigan State Normal		–		2	–	0	–	0
DePauw		–		5	–	0	–	1
No. 1 Notre Dame		–		9	–	1	–	0
Miami (OH)		–		7	–	2	–	1
Western Michigan		–		4	–	2	–	0
Bowling Green		–		5	–	3	–	1
Marquette		–		3	–	4	–	1
Central Michigan		–		2	–	3	–	0
Ohio Wesleyan		–		4	–	6	–	0
Xavier		–		1	–	6	–	0
Wayne		–		0	–	3	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1943 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1943 college football season. The Irish, coached by Frank Leahy, ended the season with 9 wins and 1 loss, winning the national championship.^[1] The 1943 team became the fourth Irish team to win the national title and the first for Frank Leahy. Led by Notre Dame's first Heisman Trophy winner, Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame beat seven teams ranked in the top 13 and played seven of its ten games on the road.^[2] Despite a season ending loss to Great Lakes, Notre Dame was awarded its first national title by the Associated Press.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 25	at Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	W 41–0	43,437
October 2	Georgia Tech		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 55–13	26,497–30,000	^[4]
October 9	at No. 2 Michigan	No. 1	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	W 35–12	86,408
October 16	at Wisconsin	No. 1	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	W 51–0	16,235
October 23	Illinois	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 47–0	24,676
October 30	vs. No. 3 Navy	No. 1	Cleveland Stadium Cleveland, OH (rivalry)	W 33–6	77,900
November 6	vs. No. 3 Army	No. 1	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY (rivalry)	W 26–0	75,121
November 13	at No. 8 Northwestern	No. 1	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	W 25–6	49,124
November 20	No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 14–13	39,446
November 27	at Great Lakes Navy	No. 1	Ross Field Great Lakes, IL	L 14–19	23,000
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Rankings

Notre Dame was the wire-to-wire No. 1 in the season's AP poll and won the Dr. Henry L. Williams Trophy.

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
AP	1 (53)	1 (86)	1 (98)	1 (97)	1 (97)	1 (91)	1 (87)	1 (97)	1 (86)

Awards and honors

Angelo Bertelli: Heisman Trophy ^[5]

All-Americans

Name	AP	UP	INS	COL	AA	SN	L
Angelo Bertelli, QB	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Creighton Miller, HB	1	1	1	1	1
John Yonakor, E		1	1		1	1
† Jim White, T	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Pat Filley, G	2	1				1
Herb Coleman, C		2
† denotes consensus selection

Source:^[1]

References

1 2 "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: History and Records (pages 131-175)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
↑ "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: 2007 Supplement (page 163)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
↑ "Past Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I FBS) National Champions (formerly called Division I-A)". ncaa.org. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
↑ "Bertelli dazzles Tech for Irish, 53 to 13". The Chattanooga Times. October 3, 1943. Retrieved October 1, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
↑ "Heisman Voting". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.

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[2007_ND_Guide_History-1] 1 2 "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: History and Records (pages 131-175)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.

[2007_ND_Guide_Supplement-2] "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: 2007 Supplement (page 163)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved December 31, 2008.

[FBS_Past_National_Champions-3] "Past Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I FBS) National Champions (formerly called Division I-A)". ncaa.org. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.

[4] "Bertelli dazzles Tech for Irish, 53 to 13". The Chattanooga Times. October 3, 1943. Retrieved October 1, 2023– via Newspapers.com.

[Heisman_Vote-5] "Heisman Voting". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.

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v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Venues	Brownson Hall field (1892?–1899) Cartier Field (1899–1928) Soldier Field (1929) Notre Dame Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Emerald Isle Classic Army Boston College Michigan Michigan State Navy Northwestern Pittsburgh Purdue Stanford USC
Culture and lore	History Band of the Fighting Irish Irish Guard Notre Dame Box Notre Dame Leprechaun "Notre Dame, Our Mother" "Notre Dame Victory March" Play Like a Champion Today Subway Alumni T formation Tall Grass Game 1946 "Game of the Century" 1966 "Game of the Century" Catholics vs. Convicts 30 for 30 film 1993 "Game of the Century" Bush Push Navy ends the drought Death of Lizzy Seeberg 2020 ACC Championship Game The Spirit of Notre Dame Knute Rockne, All American Notre Dame Football on NBC Rudy
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Four Horsemen NFL draftees Statistical leaders Team captains
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold

v t e College football national champions (poll era)
1936–1949	1936: Minnesota (AP) 1937: Pittsburgh 1938: TCU 1939: Texas A&M 1940: Minnesota 1941: Minnesota 1942: Ohio State 1943: Notre Dame 1944: Army 1945: Army (AP) / Oklahoma A&M (AFCA) 1946: Notre Dame 1947: Notre Dame 1948: Michigan 1949: Notre Dame
1950s	1950: Oklahoma (AP, Coaches) 1951: Tennessee 1952: Michigan State 1953: Maryland 1954: Ohio State (AP) / UCLA (FWAA, Coaches) 1955: Oklahoma 1956: Oklahoma 1957: Auburn (AP) / Ohio State (Coaches, FWAA) 1958: LSU (AP, Coaches) / Iowa (FWAA) 1959: Syracuse (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF)
1960s	1960: Minnesota (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ole Miss (FWAA) 1961: Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ohio State (FWAA) 1962: USC 1963: Texas 1964: Alabama (AP, Coaches) / Arkansas (FWAA) / Notre Dame (NFF) 1965: Alabama (AP, FWAA) / Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF) 1966: Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) / Michigan State (NFF) 1967: USC 1968: Ohio State 1969: Texas
1970s	1970: Nebraska (AP, FWAA) / Texas (NFF, Coaches) / Ohio State (NFF) 1971: Nebraska 1972: USC 1973: Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF) / Alabama (Coaches) 1974: Oklahoma (AP) / USC (FWAA, NFF, Coaches) 1975: Oklahoma 1976: Pittsburgh 1977: Notre Dame 1978: Alabama (AP, FWAA, NFF) / USC (Coaches) 1979: Alabama
1980–1991	1980: Georgia 1981: Clemson 1982: Penn State 1983: Auburn (BR, NYT) / Miami (FL) (AP, Coaches) 1984: BYU 1985: Oklahoma 1986: Penn State 1987: Miami (FL) 1988: Notre Dame 1989: Miami (FL) 1990: Colorado (AP, FWAA, NFF, USAT/CNN) / Georgia Tech (Coaches) 1991: Miami (FL) (AP) / Washington (Coaches, FWAA, UPI/NFF)