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I think pre-1965 it’s a close debate between Oklahoma and Ohio State at this point. Both have a good case to make.
For number 2?
Notre Dame won 7 national titles prior to 1965 and (God help us) an eighth in 1966.
That's more than OU has in their entire history.
Again - I'll concede it has moved from "Notre Dame is top all-time" in 1989 to "we can legitimately dispute whether they're even #2 now." That's true. And as more years go by and more fans come to the game that don't have any memory or knowledge of Notre Dame actually being dominant, the pendulum swings in favor of Ohio St and OU.
I DO think (at this point) the Irish are still #2 overall - but as I said on the other thread, compelling cases can be made for OU, Ohio State, and USC.
In my view, those are the indisputable 2 through 5 schools.....the only debate is the order.
This is one of those where I do think rational fans can disagree charitably, so it's not like I'm going to go to the mat for Notre Dame. I just think when the time frame is "
all-time," we're talking about a school with Rockne, Leahy, Thomas, Parseghian, Devine, and Holtz, a bunch of wins in big games, and a bunch of national titles.
