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1941 – 1943
The hire: Frank Leahy came to Notre Dame from Boston College, where he had coached in 1939–40. He had played for Rockne in 1928–30, on the championship teams of 1929 and 1930 — the succession, in his case, ran directly through the Rockne dressing room.
The offense: In 1942 Leahy installed the T-formation at Notre Dame, built around quarterback Angelo Bertelli — the scheme that carried the whole era.
1943: The team went 9–1 and took the consensus championship. It beat the teams that finished Nos. 2, 3 and 4 in the final rankings — among them a 35–12 win at No. 2 Michigan — and lost only the finale, to Great Lakes Naval Station. Bertelli won the Heisman Trophy as a Marine private in the V-12 program, called to active duty after playing six games of the season; Notre Dame placed three men in the Heisman top ten that year — Bertelli first, Creighton Miller fourth, Jim White ninth. The championship roster, in the College Football Hall of Fame's accounting carried by Lou Somogyi, included 14 Navy apprentice seamen and 17 Marine privates: a wartime team in the literal sense.
Sources:
- Leahy biographical record — the Boston College hire, the Rockne playing years, the 1942 T-formation installation.
- The 1943 season record — the 9–1 mark, the wins over the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 finishers, the Great Lakes loss, the Michigan score.
- Notre Dame athletics, Heisman history (fightingirish.com) — Bertelli's win and the 1943 top-ten cluster.
- College Football Hall of Fame / Somogyi accounting — the 1943 roster's service composition.