John Lujack had to laugh. Talk of national championships and dynasties weren`t foremost on the priority list back in the 1940s.
”(Coach) Frank Leahy had us so scared to death about the next game, that was all we thought about,” said the former Notre Dame quarterback.
Leahy`s tactic worked: He put together one of the great runs of all time. From 1946 through 1950, the Irish compiled a 39-game unbeaten streak, including the famous 0-0 tie with Army in 1946.
Lujack, the 1947 Heisman Trophy winner, was on the 1943, 1946 and 1947 teams that won the national title, and the Irish added another in 1949 led by Heisman winner Leon Hart.
Hindsight, though, has made those accomplishments look bigger now than they did back then.
”I may appear to sound naive, but we were never conscious of trying to win the national title,” said Lujack, 68. ”I don`t recall anyone ever saying, `If we win this game, we`ll win the national title.` We just tried to win every game, and if we won the championship, well then, that was icing.”
The times have changed.
”Today, if you win one in a row, they say, `If you keep it going for 40 games, you`ll have a dynasty,` ” Lujack said.
Indeed, the lust for No. 1 is paramount in college football these days, and no school is doing it better than Miami. The Hurricanes already rank with the great dynasties of all time.
And Miami could take the ultimate step. If the Hurricanes beat Alabama on Friday in the Sugar Bowl, they will go down as perhaps the greatest dynasty ever, a program for the ages.
The Hurricanes are on the threshold of history. A victory over the Crimson Tide will enable Miami to become the first team to win five national titles in 10 years; it won in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991.
Since the Associated Press media poll began in 1936, Leahy`s Notre Dame teams hold the current benchmark, winning four titles in seven years. Miami, though, could even beat that, winning four in six years. The Hurricanes also would be the first team to post back-to-back perfect title seasons since Oklahoma in 1955-56.
Unlike Lujack`s days, the Hurricanes are aware of what they can accomplish.
”We`re playing to make history,” said Miami coach Dennis Erickson, who signed a new seven-year contract Wednesday to coach the Hurricanes. ”We`re aware of what`s out there. It`s keeping with our goal of competing for the national championship.”
Miami`s dominance has been complete:
– Since 1983, it is 107-13 (.892), and in the last six years, it is 18-3 against top-10 teams.
– Miami has appeared in the AP`s top 10 for 119 consecutive polls, dating back to 1985. Another top-three finish would be Miami`s seventh straight. Only Oklahoma (1971-75) finished that high for five straight years.
– The Hurricanes carry a 29-game winning streak and have won 51 of their last 54. They have won 51 straight home games.
The numbers present a convincing argument.
”I`m not that old, and I can`t recite all those great teams,” Erickson said. ”But in modern times, we have as great a dynasty as there has ever been.”
Erickson has two coaches who will second that motion. During a period in the 1980s, Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer had a streak where he went 33-0
”against the world,” and 0-3 against Miami.
”They`re right up there with me,” Switzer said.
This story might be about Florida State, if not for Miami. When the Seminoles beat Florida, Bobby Bowden became the first coach to post six straight 10-victory seasons. However, during that time, Bowden is 1-5 against Miami.
”I can`t say enough great things about Miami,” Bowden said. ”I`d put their dynasty up with any in college football. It`s just unfortunate that we came around when they did. We`re No. 2, but nobody talks about us.”
Any talk of dynasties has to include Knute Rockne`s Notre Dame teams. However, it`s hard to quantify the Irish`s accomplishments of the 1920s because they took place before the AP poll, which, along with the coaches`
poll, has been used to determine the national title. Still, historians generally consider that with perfect seasons in 1924, 1929 and 1930, the Irish were consensus national champions three times in seven years.
To go back further, Washington had a 63-game unbeaten streak from 1907-17, and Michigan went 55-0-1 from 1901-05. The greatest streak, though, belongs to Oklahoma under Bud Wilkinson, which won an NCAA-record 47 in a row from 1953 to 1957.
Wilkinson could have had an unprecedented three straight national titles with a 10-0 season in 1954, but the voters snubbed the Sooners for Ohio State. ”You always would like to be No. 1, but we had no control over who was voting,” Wilkinson said. ”We were undefeated, and that`s the best we could do.”
Wilkinson, 72, has great appreciation for what Miami has done. However, he wouldn`t speculate if the conditions made it easier to compile his records during the 1950s than over the last 10 years.
”I don`t know the different eras,” Wilkinson said. ”We just played the way the rules said.”
The current coaches maintain the present rules make Miami`s run even more impressive. Back in the days when Wilkinson and Paul ”Bear” Bryant were kings in the `50s and `60s, there were no scholarship limitations. As a result, programs such as those at Oklahoma and Alabama used to hoard players. ”They`d sign kids to keep you from getting them,” Bowden said.
But scholarship limitations came in during the 1970s, with caps eventually coming down to 85 players a team. The result has been increased parity.
Miami, though, seems to have been immune. In the games-you`re-supposed-to-w in department, the Hurricanes have won 58 straight against unranked teams.
”It`s much harder to accomplish a dynasty today,” Bowden said. ”Bear Bryant had 140 players on scholarship. Now you`re down to . . . 88. You`re working with fewer numbers. There are more good teams.”
Another amazing fact is Miami has done it with three different coaches. The teams that went on great runs did it with one coach: Wilkinson at Oklahoma, Leahy at Notre Dame, Bryant at Alabama.
Miami, though, hasn`t had the continuity up top. Howard Schnellenberger led Miami to its first national title in 1983 and then left, and Jimmy Johnson, coach of the 1987 champions, bolted for the pros in February 1989. But like Johnson before him, Erickson hasn`t missed a beat.
”Having three different coaches is not a positive thing,” said Schnellenberger, now at Louisville. ”Usually, when you have a change of coaches, there`s a dropoff. But the Miami coaches have come in with new ideas, new energies and an urgency of continuity.”
The Miami coaches do have a plus-playing in the Orange Bowl. Schnellenberger estimates that during the regular season, Miami`s home field is worth up to a touchdown because of the heat.
Then, of course, as the local favorite, Miami usually gets to play in the Orange Bowl game. Three of the Hurricanes` national titles came without having to leave home Jan. 1, which is no small advantage.
”It`s a tremendous edge for them to play a home bowl game,” Switzer said. ”What coach wouldn`t want to play a bowl game at home for the national championship?”
Still, playing at home hardly is a guarantee. Teams on top usually don`t stay there because opponents gear up so much more to play them. When a team plays Miami, it`s the biggest game of the year.
Washington coach Don James got an understanding of what Miami experiences. Last year`s No. 1 team in the coaches` poll, the Huskies remained on top into November this season before finally wilting in losing two of their last three games.
”I know how it compared to other years, and this one was different,”
James said. ”We were getting it all spring, with opponents getting all our videos. People were calling us their bowl game. It`s tough. The fact that Miami keeps doing it is unbelievable.”
Miami does it with a confidence that some have called an unstomachable cockiness. But like them or not, the Hurricanes win.
”We believe we can win every time we play,” Erickson said. ”We do it when we have to. That`s the bottom line.”
The same could be said of the great Notre Dame teams, the great Oklahoma teams. Miami obviously ranks with them.
Even if Miami wins Friday, debates will continue over whether Oklahoma`s winning streak signified greater dominance, or whether Notre Dame`s run in the 1940s was just as impressive. Everyone has his favorite.
Perhaps Lujack said it best.
”It`s up to the historians to judge,” Lujack said. ”I wouldn`t want to say that we were better than Miami, and I wouldn`t want Miami to say they were better than us. We played in an outstanding era. Miami played in an outstanding era. Let`s compliment all the teams.”
