Notre Dame-Texas, Part III: In Tall Cotton

Among Notre Dame’s 892 victories in its football history entering the 2016 season, if one had to list 20 of the most famous or greatest, its two conquests of Texas in the Cotton Bowl would have to be among them.

From Jan. 1, 1970 through Jan. 2, 1978, an underdog, one-loss Notre Dame outfit confronted unbeaten and No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl three times.

On Jan. 1, 1970, a dramatic 17-play drive by the Longhorns resulted in a touchdown with 1:08 left in the contest for a 21‑17 victory to clinch the national title. That 1969 season marked the first time in 45 years Notre Dame attended a bowl, in great part because it was in 1968 that the Associated Press decided it would no longer name its national champion at the end of the regular season but after the bowl games had been completed.

There was some controversy about 8-1-1 and No. 9 Notre Dame facing No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl. However, unbeaten and No. 2 Penn State voted to travel to the more appealing Miami Beach to face head coach Dan Devine’s No. 6 Missouri team. Thus, it forfeited controlling its own destiny. Meanwhile, even though the Fighting Irish lost and fell to 8-2-1, its impressive effort against the nation’s No. 1 team elevated it from No. 9 to No. 5 in the final AP poll.

It would be the first of three times after a meeting with the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl that Notre Dame would jump exactly four spots in the final rankings.

Exactly one year later, No. 6 and 9‑1 Notre Dame again faced the No. 1 Longhorns, who now sported a 30-game winning streak. Led by senior quarterback Joe Theismann and the newly concocted “Mirror Defense” by head coach Ara Parseghian to hold in check Texas’ vaunted wishbone, Notre Dame pulled off the 24‑11 upset. The defensive concept was to align in a formation that “mirrored” the wishbone, with each defenseman accounting for a player on offense.

Remarkably, the 9-1 Irish almost vaulted from No. 6 to No. 1 because 10‑0 and No. 2 Ohio State was stunned by 8‑3 Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Then in the Orange Bowl, No. 3 and 10‑0‑1 Nebraska trailed LSU, 12‑10 before a fourth-quarter TD drive by the Cornhuskers provided a 17‑12 win and the program’s first national title, with Notre Dame placing No. 2.

Following the 1977 regular season, the 10‑1 and No. 5 Fighting Irish faced a similar task versus 11‑0 and No. 1 Texas.

To win the national title, not only did third-year head coach Devine's Irish have to upset Texas in its home state, but they probably had to win by at least a couple of touchdowns for “style points” to impress the pollsters and leapfrog three other teams: No. 2 Oklahoma (Orange Bowl), No. 3 Alabama (Sugar) and No. 4 Michigan (Rose).

The Sooners and Wolverines both ended up losing — with Lou Holtz’s 10‑1 Arkansas squad crushing Oklahoma 31‑6 — while Notre Dame’s stunning 38‑10 demolition of Texas propelled the Irish all the way to No. 1.

There were four eerie similarities between Notre Dame’s Jan. 1, 1971 Cotton Bowl victory and the one on Jan. 2, 1978:

• In 1971, Notre Dame trailed 3‑0 but exploded with three touchdowns in a span of 9:30 to take a 21‑3 lead in the second quarter. In 1978, the game was tied 3‑3 when the Irish tallied three touchdowns in a span of 7:28 to build a 24‑3 second quarter cushion. Both Notre Dame teams had future NFL MVPs and Super Bowl champion QBs named Joe — Theismann and Montana — at the throttle.

• In 1971, the Longhorns committed six turnovers (five fumbles and an interception), while Notre Dame had only two. In 1978, Texas again had six turnovers (three fumbles and three interceptions), while the Irish had one.

• In the 1971 contest, Texas’ dynamic backfield tandem of Steve Worster and Jim Bertelsen that combined for 236 yards rushing on 38 carries a year earlier against the Irish managed just 47 yards on 24 attempts in the return match. Then in 1978, Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell had a hard earned 116 yards on 29 carries against the swarming Irish defense led by Ross Browner and Bob Golic.

• In 1971, Texas scored late in the first half to trail 24‑11 at halftime. In 1978, it scored a touchdown on the last play of the first half to cut its deficit to 24‑10 at the intermission.

One difference was whereas the 1971 game had a scoreless second half, the 1978 contest saw the Irish add two more touchdowns while also shutting out the Longhorns.

The other difference was this time Notre Dame with an 11-1 record and a four-touchdown beat down of the unbeaten, No. 1 Longhorns earned the No. 1 vote. A bit of an assist came from Holtz’s Arkansas team when it destroyed the No. 2 Sooners in the Orange Bowl.

Although No. 3 Alabama also was impressive in its 35-6 rout of Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, the Buckeyes were ranked only No. 8. Crushing No. 1 in its home state carried far more weight.

Notre Dame received 37 1/3 of the 64 first-place votes, Alabama 19 1/3, Arkansas 5 1/3 and Texas retained two.