Notre Dame Achieves Top 20 Division I-A Ranking In Three Sports
Irish athletics excel on the national level.

Nov. 8, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame is the only Division I-A institution currently ranked among the top 20 teams in Associated Press standings in the sports of football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.

The Irish currently stand 11th in football (6-2 record), while also rating sixth in women’s basketball and 15th in men’s basketball in the AP preseason polls in those two sports. It’s the first time in Irish athletic history all three of those Notre Dame teams have been ranked in the top 20 in the same week.

Those rankings also qualify in several other ways:

It’s the highest ranking for the Irish in football since Notre Dame stood ninth heading into the ’98 regular-season finale at USC. It’s the highest-ever preseason ranking for Notre Dame in women’s basketball. It’s the highest preseason ranking for the Irish in men’s basketball since Notre Dame stood 12th coming into the 1985 season opener.

All told, Notre Dame is nationally ranked this week in seven different sports. In addition to football and men’s and women’s basketball, here’s where Notre Dame teams stand:

First in women’s soccer as the Irish (20-0-1) head into a second-round NCAA game Sunday afternoon. 18th in women’s swimming (current 6-1 record) heading into competition Nov. 17-19 at the Indiana Invitational. 20th in men’s cross county heading into the NCAA District IV meet Saturday in Ypsilanti, Mich. 21st in volleyball (22-5 and 10-0 in the BIG EAST) heading into a Saturday match at Syracuse.

In other rankings, Notre Dame stood 19th in the U.S. News & World Report ratings of national universities in its fall 2000 standings — and the Irish are heading into fall NCAA competition after finishing 21st in 1999-2000 in the Sears Directors’ Cup standings.