Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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on fourth-and-22, off an audible, fell short and set up a USC touchdown in its 13-0 victory. Epilogue: Layden stepped down two years later after producing a 47-13-3 record. His winning percentage of .770 eclipsed that of fu- ture Fighting Irish na- tional title coaches Dan Devine (.764) and Lou Holtz (.765), but never finishing No. 1 meant he didn't get a coaching statue on campus. tion: Defending national champ and No. 1 Notre Dame needed to defeat No. 3 USC to clinch a third championship un- der head coach Frank Leahy. The largest crowd ever (104,953) for a sports event on the West Coast gathered for the show- down. Outcome: Leading DEC. 6, 1947 Notre Dame's Situa- only 10-7 at halftime, Notre Dame broke the game open with halfback Emil Sitko's 76-yard scor- ing run to build a 17-7 cushion, and then closed the game on a 92-yard scoring run by halfback Bob Livingstone to make the final score 38-7. Michigan defeated USC in the Rose Bowl 49-0, an informal AP poll gave more first-place votes to the Wolverines than Notre Dame. However, back then national titles were officially declared at the end of the regular season, and Leahy's Lads finished the deal in De- cember. Epilogue: When No. 2 stunned Notre Dame by taking a 14-7 lead with just 2:30 remaining in the contest, but an 86-yard return by Bill Gay on the ation: Although two- time defending national champ Notre Dame en- tered the game at the Coliseum 9-0 again, this time it was ranked No. 2, a form of a "make-up call" from the previous year to reward No. 1 Michigan. The game was held in the Coliseum for a second straight year because of the financial windfall, this time with 100,571 in attendance to see the four-touchdown underdog and 6-3 Tro- jans try to end Notre Dame's 27-game un- beaten string (26-0-1). Ou t c ome : USC DEC. 4, 1948 Notre Dame's Situ- ensuing kickoff allowed Sitko to score a touch- down. Steve Oracko added the extra point (two-point conversions didn't enter the NCAA until 1958) with 35 sec- onds left to finish with a 14-14 verdict. Epilogue: Notre Dame finished No. 2 to Michi- gan, but continued its amazing four-year run from 1946-49 of never tasting defeat. tion: The greatest single- season turnaround in the program's football history occurred under first-year head coach Ara Parseghian. After a 2-7 finish a year earlier, and five straight years of fail- ing to finish above .500, the 9-0 and No. 1 Irish entered the Coliseum one game from seizing the national title. Outcome: A 17-0 Notre NOV. 28, 1964 Notre Dame's Situa- Dame halftime lead was not enough when USC scored on a fourth-and- eight pass from the Irish 15 with 1:33 remaining for a 20-17 triumph. Ear- lier, a "phantom hold" on Notre Dame offensive left tackle Bob Meeker was called from the USC