1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
National champion (various selectors)
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
Record	9–0–1
Head coach	Frank Leahy (11th season);
Captain	Don Penza
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
	Seasons ← 1952 1954 →

1953 Midwestern college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 2 Notre Dame		–		9	–	0	–	1
Cincinnati		–		9	–	1	–	0
Carthage		–		8	–	1	–	0
Youngstown		–		7	–	1	–	0
John Carroll		–		7	–	2	–	0
Washington University		–		7	–	2	–	0
Rose Poly		–		6	–	2	–	0
Wabash		–		6	–	2	–	1
Marquette		–		6	–	3	–	1
Baldwin–Wallace		–		4	–	4	–	0
Drake		–		4	–	4	–	0
Wayne		–		3	–	4	–	1
Dayton		–		3	–	5	–	1
Xavier		–		2	–	7	–	1

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1953 college football season. Led by Frank Leahy in his 11th and final season as head coach, the Fighting Irish compiled a record of 9–0–1. John Lattner won the Heisman Trophy although he did not even lead the Irish in passing, rushing, receiving or scoring.^[1] Lattner held the Notre Dame record for all-purpose yards until Vagas Ferguson broke it in 1979.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 26	at No. 6 Oklahoma	No. 1	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	W 28–21	59,500
October 3	at Purdue	No. 1	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)	W 37–7	49,135
October 17	No. 15 Pittsburgh	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 23–14	57,998
October 24	No. 4 Georgia Tech	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 27–14	58,254	^[2]
October 31	No. 20 Navy	No. 1	Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 38–7	58,154
November 7	at Penn	No. 1	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 28–20	69,071	^[3]
November 14	at North Carolina	No. 1	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	W 34–14	43,000	^[4]
November 21	No. 20 Iowa	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	T 14–14	56,478
November 28	at No. 20 USC	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	W 48–14	97,952
December 5	SMU	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 40–14	55,522
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster (Asterisk * Denotes Offensive Starter)

QB Ralph Gugliemi*
QB Don Schaefer
QB Tom Carey
RB Neil Worden*
RB Joe Heap*
RB Dick Fitzgerald
RB Johnny Lattner
RB Tommy McHugh
RB Dick Washington
RB Dick Keller
RB Nick Raich
RB Bob Rigali
RB Jim Bigelow
RB Fran Paterra
RB Armando Galardo
RB Joe Markowski
WR, DE Don Penza*
WR Dan Shannon*
WR Paul Matz
WR Walter Cabral
WR Don George
WR Gene Kapish
OL Art Hunter*
OL Ray Lemek*
OL Menil "Minnie" Mavraides*
OL Jim Schrader*
OL Frank Varrichione*
OL Pat Bisceglia
OL Jack Lee
OL Sam Palumbo
OL Dick Szymanski
OL Joe Bush
DE Joe Katchik
DE Entee Shine

Game Summaries

Oklahoma

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Notre Dame	7	7	14	0	28
Oklahoma	7	7	0	7	21

Date: September 26
Location: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
Game attendance: 59,500
Game weather: Sunny • 94 °F (34 °C)

Don Penza blocked and recovered a kick to set up one touchdown and recovered a fumble that led to another Notre Dame score.^[5]

Team players drafted into the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Art Hunter	T	1	3	Green Bay Packers
Johnny Lattner	RB	1	7	Pittsburgh Steelers
Neil Worden	B	1	9	Philadelphia Eagles
Jim Schrader	C	2	20	Washington Redskins
Fran Paterra	B	4	42	Chicago Bears
Menil Mavraides	G	4	45	Philadelphia Eagles
Tommy McHugh	B	6	62	Chicago Cardinals
Joe Katchik	E	10	118	Los Angeles Rams
Sam Palumbo	G	15	179	San Francisco 49ers
Don Penza	E	18	211	Pittsburgh Steelers
Entee Shine	E	27	322	Los Angeles Rams
Joe Bush	G	28	331	Pittsburgh Steelers