The NCAA has ordered Notre Dame to vacate its football wins from the 2012 and 2013 seasons after denying the school’s appeal of sanctions tied to academic misconduct.
The Irish won 12 games in 2012 before losing to Alabama in the BCS championship game and went 9–4 in 2013.
A student-trainer was found to have completed coursework for two Notre Dame players and provided impermissible academic benefits to another six.
Five players—DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore, Eilar Hardy, KeiVarae Russell and Ishaq Williams—were suspended before the 2014 season for academic improprieties, bringing the case to the public eye. Everett Golson, the starting quarterback for the 2012 team, missed the 2013 season because he was suspended from the university due to academics.
The NCAA initially ordered the wins vacated in 2016 but the school filed an appeal, which was denied Tuesday. (Other sanctions included a year of probation, a $5,000 fine and a show-cause order against the trainer accused of facilitating the academic fraud.)