Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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2. Seven Lead Changes ��� No championship game in college football or the Super Bowl ever had so many lead changes and perpetual drama. Notre Dame had leads of 6-0, 14-10, 21-17 and finally 24���23 on a 19-yard Bob Thomas field goal with 4:26 left. Alabama went ahead 7-6, 17-14 and 23-21 before running out of time. ���That kind of game, with so much on the line, doesn���t occur much,��� Parseghian said. Even in the dramatic 31-30 victory over No. 1 Miami during the 1988 regular season, Notre Dame never trailed. 3. Perfect Records ��� Since the coaching era of Knute Rockne (1918-30), there have been only two times an unbeaten, untied Notre Dame played another unbeaten, untied unit in the same game. The 1973 Sugar Bowl was the first. The other was the 1989 Fiesta Bowl versus West Virginia, which had a more anticlimactic feel. 4. The Pass ��� BGI ranked the third-and-eight pass from the end zone from quarterback Tom Clements to tight end Robin Weber with 1:56 remaining in the contest and Notre Dame clinging to a 24-23 lead the most famous/iconic play in the program���s history. In 2007, ESPN ranked it seventh in college football history, and the top play for the Fighting Irish. 5. Ratings Bonanza ��� The 1973 Sugar Bowl on New Year���s Eve had a 25.3 Nielsen television rating, according to The New York Times. Last year���s title matchup between Alabama and LSU received only 14.0, and a year earlier the Auburn-Oregon showdown was at 15.29. The highest ever in the BCS era, which started in 1998, was 21.7 between USC-Texas for the 2005 national title. The 1987 Fiesta Bowl is listed by Wikipedia as having the highest share at 24.9, but that would still be behind the 1973 Sugar Bowl. Can it be topped by the same two programs 39 years later? ��� Lou Somogyi Dame with a meeting in the Orange Bowl. The SEC champ traditionally went to the Sugar Bowl, but on this occasion it went to the Orange because No. 1 Oklahoma ��� the Big 8 champion, which is tied into the Orange ��� was on probation. Because the Sooners were on probation, they were banned in the coaches��� poll (just like Ohio State this year in the BCS format), so Alabama was No. 1 in the UPI entering the game. This time, Notre Dame was only 9-2 and appeared to be a fractured team after the 55-24 loss at USC in the regularseason finale. Furthermore, head coach Ara Parseghian announced two weeks before the Orange Bowl that he was stepping down as Notre Dame���s coach. Alabama was installed as an 11-point favorite, but in a determined effort to send Parseghian out with a win, the Fighting Irish hung on for a 13-11 victory. The Crimson Tide had the ball at the Notre Dame 38 with 1:21 left before a short pass attempt by quarterback R i c h a rd To d d w a s picked off by cornerback Reggie Barnett to help seal the outcome. ���I���ve never had a victory in my coaching career with a group of guys so dedicated,��� a tearful Parseghian told his players afterwards. ���I���ll remember this game forever.��� It was the third time in the last nine years Ala-