1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1973 NCAA Division I football season. The Irish, coached by Ara Parseghian, ended the season undefeated with 11 wins and no losses, winning the national championship. The Fighting Irish won the title by defeating the previously unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the 1973 Sugar Bowl by a score of a 24–23.[1] The 1973 squad became the ninth Irish team to win the national title and the second under Parseghian. Although Notre Dame finished No. 1 in the AP Poll to claim the AP national title, they were not awarded the Coaches title, since Alabama was awarded the Coaches Poll title before the bowl season.

1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
AP Poll national champion Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 24–23 vs. Alabama
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 1
1973 record	11–0
Head coach	Ara Parseghian (10th season)
Offensive scheme	Wing T
Defensive coordinator	Joe Yonto
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Dave Casper Frank Pomarico Mike Townsend
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium

1973 NCAA Division I independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Notre Dame			–					11	–	0	–	0
No. 5 Penn State			–					12	–	0	–	0
No. 9 Houston			–					11	–	1	–	0
Temple			–					9	–	1	–	0
No. 20 Tulane			–					9	–	3	–	0
Memphis State			–					8	–	3	–	0
Tampa			–					8	–	3	–	0
Boston College			–					7	–	4	–	0
South Carolina			–						–	7	–	4
Utah State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Air Force			–					6	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss			–					6	–	4	–	1
Northern Illinois			–					6	–	5	–	0
Rutgers			–					6	–	5	–	0
West Virginia			–					6	–	5	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					6	–	5	–	1
Colgate			–					5	–	5	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	5	–	1
Xavier			–					5	–	5	–	1
Georgia Tech			–					5	–	6	–	0
Holy Cross			–					5	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					5	–	6	–	0
Cincinnati			–					4	–	7	–	0
Navy			–					4	–	7	–	0
Southern Illinois			–					3	–	7	–	1
Villanova			–					3	–	8	–	0
Syracuse			–					2	–	9	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					2	–	9	–	0
Army			–					0	–	10	–	0
Florida State			–					0	–	11	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Season

Ara Parseghian's second national title team was led by its relentless rushing attack. Fullback Wayne Bullock (750 yards), halfback Art Best (700 yards), halfback Eric Penick (586 yards) and quarterback Tom Clements (360 yards) comprised one of the fastest Irish backfields, with Peneck and Best clocking in under 10 seconds in the 100-yard dash.[2] The Irish started the season strong, amassing large margins of victory over Northwestern, Rice and Army to set up a highly anticipated contest with No. 6 and unbeaten USC.[2] USC came into the contest riding a 23-game unbeaten streak, and USC's star tailback Anthony Davis ran over the Irish the previous year for 6 touchdowns in a 45–23 Trojan victory.[2] Moreover, Parseghian had not outright beaten USC since 1966.[1] The Irish defense responded to the challenge, limiting Davis to 55 yards on 19 carries. The star tailback of the day was Notre Dame's Penick, who ran for 118 yards, 50 more than the entire Trojan team. The Irish won the contest 23–14 and won their remaining games.[2] After Notre Dame accepted the Sugar Bowl bid, the stage was set to determine the national championship. Alabama was awarded the UPI title before the bowl season,[3] but it was Notre Dame that won it on the field, winning 24–23 in a thriller that had six lead changes. Notre Dame jumped to a 6–0 lead, but Alabama answered with a Randy Billingsley 6-yard touchdown run. Al Hunter then scored on a 93-yard kickoff return, and Clements completed a two-point conversion pass to Pete Demmerle to give the Irish a 14-7 (which would turn out to be the widest margin in the game). Alabama scored a field goal to close the halftime deficit to 14–10, and then went on a 93-yard touchdown march in the third quarter to regain the lead. Notre Dame answered with a 12-yard touchdown run by Eric Penick to go back in front, 21–17. In the fourth quarter, three turnovers occurred in 90 seconds, with Alabama coming out on top and capitalizing on a halfback pass from Mike Stock to quarterback Richard Todd for a 25-yard touchdown to take a slim 23–21 lead, but the Tide missed the crucial extra point. Notre Dame responded, with Tom Clements driving the Irish 79 yards in 11 plays and setting up a potential field goal on a clutch 15-yard pass to tight end Dave Casper. Irish kicker Bob Thomas kicked a field goal to give the Irish a slim 24–23 victory and the AP national title.[4]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 22	2:30 p.m.	Northwestern	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 44–0	59,075
September 29	1:50 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 7	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)	ABC	W 20–7	69,391
October 6	2:30 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Megaphone Trophy)		W 14–10	59,075
October 13	8:05 p.m.	at Rice	No. 9	Rice Stadium Houston, TX		W 28–0	50,321
October 20	2:00 p.m.	at Army	No. 11	Michie Stadium West Point, NY (rivalry)		W 62–3	42,503
October 27	1:50 p.m.	No. 6 USC	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	W 23–14	59,075
November 3	1:30 p.m.	Navy	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 44–7	59,075
November 10	1:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Pittsburgh	No. 5	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)		W 31–10	56,593
November 22	1:20 p.m.	Air Force	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	ABC	W 48–15	57,236
December 1	8:15 p.m.	at Miami (FL)	No. 5	Miami Orange Bowl (night) Miami, FL		W 44–0	42,968
December 31	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 1 Alabama	No. 3	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 24–23	85,161
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Frank Allocco Jr C 52 Joe Alvarado Jr RB 23 Art Best So OG 62 Tom Bolger Sr C 59 Mark Brenneman QB 8 Cliff Brown Sr FB 30 Wayne Bullock Jr TE 86 Dave Casper Sr QB 2 Tom Clements Jr WR 85 Peter Demmerle Jr RB 28 Gary Diminick Sr OG 72 Gerry DiNardo Jr TE 93 Tom Fine RB 21 Ron Goodman RB 25 Al Hunter C 52 Vince Klees FB 15 Russ Kornman OT 58 Tom Laney OT 84 Dennis Lozzi Sr OG 57 Elton Moore OG 66 Dan Morrin OT 64 Steve Neece Jr FB 36 Tom Parise RB 44 Eric Penick OG 56 Frank Pomarico OT 77 Steve Quehl RB 24 Al Samuel So WR 28 Tim Simon OT 71 Steve Sylvester Jr WR 80 Willie Townsend Sr TE 91 Robin Weber OG 66 Al Wujciak So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 79 Jay Achterhoff So CB 14 Reggie Barnett Jr S 20 Luther Bradley DE 89 Ross Browner LB 50 Greg Collins Jr DE 41 Tom Creevey DT 88 Mike Fanning Jr DE 94 Willie Fry DT 95 George Hayduk CB 26 Tom Lopienski So LB 45 Drew Mahalic So CB 25 Mike Naughton DT 70 Steve Niehaus So DT 60 Kevin Nosbusch Jr LB 38 Tony Novakov S 33 Mike Parker LB 40 Gary Potempa CB 7 Tim Rudnick CB 29 Pat Sarb So LB 55 Sherm Smith DE 48 Jim Stock So LB 42 Tim Sullivan Sr S 27 Mike Townsend Sr LB 61 Mike Webb S 34 Bob Zanot So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 4 Tony Brantley P 9 Brian Doherty Sr K 98 Bob Thomas Sr	Head coach Ara Parseghian Coordinators/assistant coaches Greg Blache (JV) Brian Boulac (OL) Bill Hickey (OL) George Kelly (LB) Wally Moore (OL) John Murph (Scouting/Def. Asst) Tom Pagna (RB) Paul Shoults (DB) Mike Stock (WR) Joe Yonto (DC) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Northwestern

1 2 3 4 Total Northwestern 0 0 0 0 0 • Notre Dame 16 21 0 7 44 Date: September 22 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 pm EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: Sunny, 76 degrees

Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 3 7 7 3 20 Purdue 0 7 0 0 7 Date: September 29 Location: Ross–Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, Indiana Game start: 12:50 pm EST Game attendance: 69,391 Television network: ABC

Scoring summary 1 ND Thomas 22-yard field goal Notre Dame 3-0 2 PUR Burton 53-yard pass from Bobrowski (Conner kick) Purdue 7-3 2 ND Best 9-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 10-7 3 ND Bullock 1-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 17-7 4 ND Thomas 42-yard field goal Notre Dame 20-7

[5]

Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan St. 0 0 3 7 10 • Notre Dame 0 14 0 0 14 Date: October 6 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 pm EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: Upper 60s

Rice

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 7 7 7 7 28 Rice 0 0 0 0 0 Date: October 13 Location: Rice Stadium, Houston, TX Game start: 7:30 p.m. CDT Game weather: Hot, humid, drizzle

Army

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 0 28 20 14 62 Army 3 0 0 0 3 Date: October 20 Location: Michie Stadium, West Point, New York

Scoring summary 1 ARMY Barclay 22-yard field goal Army 3–0 2 ND Penick 1-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 7–3 2 ND Casper 34-yard pass from Clements (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 14–3 2 ND Best 5-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 21–3 2 ND Casper 3-yard pass from Brown (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 28–3 3 ND Penick 6-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 35–3 3 ND Hunter 22-yard run (kick failed) Notre Dame 41–3 3 ND Hunter 1-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 48–3 4 ND Allocco 9-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 55–3 4 ND Simon 74-yard punt return (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 62–3

[6]

Southern Cal

1 2 3 4 Total So. Cal. 7 0 7 0 14 • Notre Dame 3 10 10 0 23 Date: October 27 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 12:50 pm EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: Upper 50s, cloudy, rain Referee: Jerry Markbreit TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson, and Duffy Daugherty

Scoring summary 1 7:08 ND Thomas 32-yard field goal ND 3-0 1 USC Davis 1-yard run (Limahelu kick) USC 7-3 2 9:34 ND Thomas 33-yard field goal USC 7-6 2 0:30 ND Clements 1-yard run (Thomas kick) ND 13-7 3 ND Penick 85-yard run (Thomas kick) ND 20-7 3 USC Swann 27-yard pass from Haden (Limahelu kick) ND 20-14 3 ND Thomas 32-yard field goal ND 23-14

[7][8]

Navy

Navy Midshipmen at Notre Dame Fighting Irish

	1	2	3	4	Total
Navy	0	0	0	7	7
Notre Dame	7	7	14	16	44

at Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN

• Date: November 3
• Game attendance: 59,075
• [9]

Game information
Navy Notre Dame Tom Clements 4/8, 68 Yds 8 Rush, 66 Yds, TD

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP NAVY ND 1 Notre Dame Pencik 20-yard touchdown run, Thomas kick good 0 7 2 Notre Dame Hunter 3-yard touchdown run, Thomas kick good 0 14 3 Notre Dame Clements 1-yard touchdown run, Thomas kick good 0 21 3 Notre Dame Samuel 7-yard touchdown run, Thomas kick good 0 28 4 Notre Dame Safety, Glenny tackled in end zone 0 30 4 Navy Van Loan 25-yard touchdown reception from Glenny, Dykes kick good 7 30 4 Notre Dame W. Townsend 9-yard touchdown reception from Brown, Thomas kick good 7 37 4 Notre Dame Parise 3-yard touchdown run, Thomas kick good 7 44 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 7 44

Pittsburgh

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 7 3 7 14 31 Pittsburgh 0 3 0 7 10 Date: November 10 Location: Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST Game attendance: 56,593 Game weather: Mid-30s, snow flurries Referee: Bob Van Lengen

Air Force

This is the only Thanksgiving Day game ever played at Notre Dame Stadium, and with students away on a week-long break, it also was the only official non-sellout for a Fighting Irish home football game between October 24, 1964, and November 16, 2019.

1 2 3 4 Total Air Force 0 6 3 6 15 • Notre Dame 28 6 0 14 48 Date: November 22 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:20 pm EST Game attendance: 57,236 Game weather: Sunny, low 60s Television network: ABC

Miami (Florida)

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 7 17 14 6 44 Miami 0 0 0 0 0 Date: December 1 Location: Miami Orange Bowl Game start: 7:30 p.m. EST Game weather: 70 degrees, humid Referee: Morris Harrison

Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama

1973 Sugar Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 6 8 7 3 24 Alabama 0 10 7 6 23 Date: December 31 Location: Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, LA Game start: 7:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 85,161 Referee: Gene Calhoun TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson, and Howard Cosell

Scoring summary 1 11:41 ND Bullock 1-yard run (kick failed) ND 6-0 2 ALA Billingsley 6-yard run (Davis kick) ALA 7-6 2 ND Hunter 93-yard kickoff return (Clements to Demmerle pass) ND 14-7 2 ALA Davis 39-yard field goal ND 14-10 3 ALA Jackson 5-yard run (Davis kick) ALA 17-14 3 ND Penick 12-yard run (Thomas kick) ND 21-17 4 9:39 ALA Todd 25-yard pass from Stock (kick failed) ALA 23-21 4 4:26 ND Thomas 19-yard field goal ND 24-23

[10]

Post-season

Award winners

All-Americans

Name	AP	UPI	NEA	FC	SN	FW	T	FN	WCF
Dave Casper, TE	2	1	1	1		1			1
† Mike Townsend, DB	1	1	1		1	1	1	1	1
†denotes consensus selection       Source:[1]

College Football Hall of Fame inductees

Name	Position	Year Inducted
Ara Parseghian	Coach	1980

Notre Dame leads all universities in players inducted.[11]

1974 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Dave Casper	Tight End	2(19)	45	Oakland Raiders
Mike Townsend	Defensive Back	4(8)	86	Minnesota Vikings
Brian Doherty	Punter	9(18)	226	Buffalo Bills
Tim Rudnick	Defensive Back	11(5)	265	Baltimore Colts
Frank Pomarico	Guard	14(15)	353	Kansas City Chiefs
Robert R. Thomas	Kicker	15(24)	388	Los Angeles Rams
Cliff Brown	Running Back	17(11)	427	Philadelphia Eagles
Willie Townsend	Wide Receiver	17(24)	440	Los Angeles Rams
Source:[12]

References

1. "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: History and Records (pages 131-175)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
2. "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: 2007 Supplement (page 163)". und.cstv.com. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
3. "Past Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I FBS) National Champions (formerly called Division I-A)". ncaa.org. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
4. "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: 2007 Supplement (page 129)". und.cstv.com. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
5. "Notre Dame Bests Purdue." Palm Beach Post. 1973 Sept 30.
6. Eugene Register-Guard. 1973 Oct 21.
7. Palm Beach Post. 28 Oct 1973. NO BOX SCORE.
8. "Irish end years of frustration." Eugene Register-Guard. 1973 Oct 28.
9. "Irish Whips Navy." Ocala Star-Banner. 1973 Nov 04. Retrieved 2018-Dec-24.
10. "Notre Dame Preserves 24-23 Victory." Palm Beach Post. 1974 Jan 1.
11. "Hall of Fame: Select group by school". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
12. "Notre Dame NFL Draft History". uhnd.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-31.