Since eliminating its bowl ban just more than 50 years ago, in 1969, Notre Dame has gone through three phases in its postseason history:
• Phase one was the extraordinary 25-year period from 1969-93. The Fighting Irish were 12-6 during this time in the postseason, but especially amazing is that 10 of those 18 bowls were against teams that were either ranked No. 1, unbeaten or both. Even more remarkable is they were 7-3 in those contests.
At the end of 1993, when one included the 1925 Rose Bowl victory over Stanford (another unbeaten opponent) to win the national title, Notre Dame’s all-time bowl record was 13-6 — a .684 winning percentage that was the best in the nation among schools that had played in at least 15 postseason events.
• Phase two was the ultra-dismal 16-year period from 1994-2009 in which Notre Dame lost an NCAA record nine consecutive bowl games. Talk about going from one extreme to another! Furthermore, the average margin of defeat in those nine bowls was 17.7 points.
The dubious streak finally ended on Christmas Eve 2008 when 6-6 Notre Dame defeated 7-6 Hawai’I in the Hawai’I Bowl, 49-21. The next year, the 6-6 Irish opted not to go to a bowl while making the transition at head coach from Charlie Weis to Brian Kelly.
• Phase three has been the Kelly era. With this College Football Playoff matchup against 11-0 and No. 1 Alabama, it will be a record 10th bowl appearance by an individual Notre Dame head coach.
Both Kelly and Lou Holtz (1986-96) are 5-4 all-time in bowls at Notre Dame, but the five victories have been vastly different.
The five wins by Holtz came against foes that were a combined 54-2 coming into the game, and all were in major bowls such as the Cotton (twice), Fiesta, Orange and Sugar.
Under Kelly, none of the bowl wins was a major and three were against unranked opponents. The two most impressive conquests were against LSU both times with dramatic 11th- and 12th-hour wins: 31-28 versus the No. 22-ranked Tigers in the 2014 Music City Bowl and 21-17 against head coach Ed Orgeron’s No. 17-ranked troops in the 2018 Citrus Bowl.
In other words, phase three has been a “tweener” — neither as glorious as phase one nor as dreadful as phase two. The missing component has been the one-for-the-ages victory in a major bowl setting.
Earlier this year, Notre Dame ended its school-record streak of 27 years without defeating No. 1 with the dramatic 47-40 double-overtime victory versus Clemson on Nov. 7. Now against No. 1 and 11-0 Alabama it will attempt to end a similar 27-year drought of not winning a major bowl.
For the time in 30 years, Notre Dame will be facing the top-ranked team in a bowl game. The last time was Jan. 1, 1991, an infamous 10-9 defeat to Colorado in which Raghib “Rocket” Ismail’s 91-yard punt return in the closing seconds was nullified by a penalty.
In an amazing 22-year period from 1969-90, Notre Dame faced a No. 1-ranked team eight times in a bowl game, and was 5-3:
• 1970 Cotton Bowl — No. 9 Notre Dame led No. 1 Texas 17-14 before a 17-play march by the Longhorns was capped with a touchdown with 1:08 left and a 21-17 win.
Despite the setback and a final 8-2-1 record, the Irish were elevated from No. 9 to No. 5 because of the impressive performance.
• 1971 Cotton Bowl — This time head coach Ara Parseghian’s No. 6 Notre Dame team avenged the loss to Texas, 24-11, ending the Longhorns’ 30-game winning streak in the process. The 10-1 Irish finished No. 2.
• 1973 Sugar Bowl — The first meeting ever with 11-0 Alabama and head coach Bear Bryant resulted in a pulsating 24-23 Notre Dame win that won Parseghian his second consensus national title.
• 1975 Orange Bowl — This was supposed to be a national title rematch — until a 55-24 USC win over Notre Dame in the regular season finale dropped the Irish to 9-2. A couple of weeks later, Parseghian announced he was stepping down at Notre Dame after the bowl.
Alabama (11-0) was No. 2 in the AP poll, but No. 1 in the UPI (Coaches poll) because AP No. 1 Oklahoma was on probation, and the UPI prohibited teams with such a penalty from appearing in the rankings.
Installed as 9.5-point underdogs, the Notre Dame players were determined to send Parseghian out with a win, and did with a 13-11 upset.
1978 Cotton Bowl — Similar to seven years earlier, Texas was No. 1 and a one-loss Notre Dame team was No. 5. But after the 38-10 demolition of the Longhorns, head coach Dan Devine’s Irish vaulted all the way to No. 1.
1981 Sugar Bowl — In Devine’s final game, No. 7 Notre Dame out-gained 11-0 and No. 1 Georgia 328-127 in total yardage, but lost the turnover battle 4-0 and missed three field goals in the 17-10 defeat.
1990 Orange Bowl — Holtz’s 11-1 Irish toppled 11-0 and No. 1 Colorado 21-6, but because Notre Dame lost head-to-head against Miami in the regular season finale, it was voted No. 2 behind the Hurricanes.
1991 Orange Bowl — As noted, Ismail’s punt return was called back, and five Irish turnovers helped Colorado capture its first national title.
It should be noted that No. 1 Notre Dame also defeated 11-0 West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl to clinch the national title, and 12-0 Texas A&M in the 1993 Cotton Bowl, 28-3.
As Bruce Springstreen once noted, Glory Days, they’ll pass you by …
But can be recaptured again this New Year’s Day like in days of yore.
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