Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/616353
UNDER THE DOME 45 Years Ago: Jan. 1, 1971 & Jan. 23, 1971 On New Year's Day, No. 6 Notre Dame stuns No. 1 Texas 24-11 in the Cotton Bowl to end the Longhorns' 30-game winning streak. In his final game with the Fighting Irish, Heisman Trophy runner-up and quarterback Joe Theismann stakes Notre Dame to a 21-3 lead in the second quarter after throwing a 26-yard touch- down pass to Tom Gatewood and then running for three- and 14-yard scores. However, it is the Irish defense that steals the show with a "Mirror" look against the vaunted Wishbone that forces nine Texas fumbles, five of which are recovered by Notre Dame. The Irish went on to win the turnover category 6-2. The game had been arranged as a national title matchup prior to Notre Dame's regular-season finale at USC, but when the 5-4-1 Trojans toppled the Irish 38-28, all hope for No. 1 seemed to end. However, after 8-3 Stanford stuns No. 2 and unbeaten Ohio State in the Rose Bowl (27-17), all the Irish need is for LSU — the SEC champ that lost 3-0 at Notre Dame in November — to upset 10-0-1 and No. 3 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Alas, the Cornhuskers rally with a fourth-quarter touchdown to win 17-12. "Not even the Pope could vote Notre Dame No. 1," jokes Nebraska head coach Bob Devaney after head coach Ara Parseghian campaigns on behalf of the Irish. Nebraska ends up receiving 39 first-place votes and 946 points in the final Associated Press poll com- pared to Notre Dame's eight first-place ballots and 814 points to place No. 2. Twenty-two days later, senior guard Austin Carr leads the Irish to an 89-82 victory versus No. 1 UCLA by scoring 46 points (and 15 of the last 17) by converting 17 of 30 shots from the field and 12 of 16 from the foul line. It marks the first time in collegiate athletics that a school's football and basketball teams defeat No. 1 in the same month. Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics History: January Three weeks after the Irish football team knocked off No. 1 Texas, Austin Carr scored 46 points to lead the men's bas- ketball team past No. 1 UCLA — marking the first time in collegiate athletics that a school's football and basketball teams defeated the nation's top-ranked squad in the same month. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS