If history repeats itself, Notre Dame's chances of winning a championship this season increased when American Pharoah crossed the finish line at the Belmont Stakes Saturday.
Rivals.com's Lou Somogyi connected the history of Triple Crown winners with Notre Dame championship years, and there's plenty of crossover. In the 11 previous years in which a Triple Crown has been won, Notre Dame has six championships and a 97-8-5 record.
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Of course, before Saturday, a Triple Crown wasn't won in 37 years. Notre Dame's last title came in 1988, and much of the program's success came when winning the Triple Crown wasn't as rare an achievement as it is today. Times change, both in horse racing and college football.
But Notre Dame's run of success in Triple Crown years may not come to an end anytime soon. The Irish return 17 starters this fall, highlighted by the team's entire wide receiver corps and 10 of 11 regular defensive starters (and the lone defensive starter departing, Cody Riggs, is being replaced by 26-game starter KeiVarae Russell). As Lou notes, no Notre Dame team has finished outside the top 10 in the 11 Triple Crown years. Brian Kelly's side appears to have a strong chance at continuing that trend.
Lou has more on Irish/Triple Crown connection over at BlueAndGold.com.