Our countdown from 10 to 1 - going from most memorable, valuable and greatest - continues with …

One year earlier, 8-1-1 Notre Dame ended its 45-year ban on bowls and accepted a bid to play No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns eked out an 11th-hour 21-17 victory and extended their winning streak to 20 games.

In 1970, Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian prepared his charges from the start of spring practice to play Texas again. He even began designing a defense to combat what had become an unstoppable triple-option scheme employed in Texas' wishbone. This defense included a six-man front, with three of them across the center to mirror the three-man backfield. Consequently, it was called "The Mirror Defense."

Led by Heisman Trophy runner-up Joe Theismann at quarterback and a defensive fortress spearheaded by end Walt Patulski, who would be the first player selected in the NFL Draft two years later, the Irish began the season 9-0 and accepted a bid to play No. 1 Texas again in the Cotton Bowl - just like Parseghian planned.

Alas, while 10-0 Texas extended its winning streak to 30, Notre Dame fell to 9-1 and No. 6 in the country when it lost its regular season finale at USC, 38-28, in a monsoon. Its hopes of a national title ostensibly vanished

• After Texas took a 3-0 lead on its first possession, Notre Dame scored three touchdowns in a span of nine minutes and 30 seconds for a stunning 21-3 lead.

• With All-America wide Irish receiver Tom Gatewood injured after scoring the first touchdown on a 26-yard pass from Theismann, Notre Dame played conservatively and leaned heavily on its defense.

• All the scoring in the 24-11 contest came in the first half. Notre Dame's Mirror frustrated Texas into nine fumbles, five of which were recovered by the Irish.

• A year earlier, the Texas tandem of Steve "Woo Woo" Worster and Jim Bertelsen carried 38 times for 236 yards, or 6.2 yards per carry, versus the Irish. In the rematch, Worster and Bertelsen combined for 24 carries that netted 47 yards, or 2.0 yards per try. The swarming Notre Dame defense made one bruising hit after another. Texas quarterback Eddie Phillips passed and ran well, totaling 363 yards total offense on his own, but he was knocked out of the game early in the fourth quarter.

Offense: During the 21-point first-half onslaught, Theismann found Gatewood for a 26-yard score and kept the ball on 3- and 15-yard scoring runs in his final game with the Irish. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated while engineering the upset.

Defense: Junior cornerback Clarence Ellis was assigned one-on-one coverage in the Mirror attack, and Texas head coach Darrell Royal pointed to his play as a crucial factor in Notre Dame executing its defense. Not only did Ellis break up three passes, but he also was inserted on offense late in the first half and caught a 37-yard pass from Jim Bulger to set up the game's final score, a 36-yard field goal by Scott Hempel with 24 seconds left until halftime.

Until 2002, when Ohio State upset Miami in double overtime, this was the longest winning streak in college football that was snapped in a bowl game.

Texas and its offense had developed an aura of invincibility, and for the Irish to go into the Longhorns' home state after the demoralizing loss in the regular season finale at USC and pull the upset was one of the great moments in Notre Dame football history.

Since 1951, five teams in major college football had winning streaks of 30 games or longer: Oklahoma (47 from 1953-57), Toledo (35 from 1969-71), USC (34 from 2003-05), Miami (34 from 2000-02) and Texas (30 from 1968-70). Notre Dame snapped two of them, Oklahoma and Texas.

In one of the greatest and exciting days in college football history, Notre Dame almost made it from No. 6 to No. 1, falling minutes short of a national title.

After the Irish upset of Texas, No. 2 and 10-0 Ohio State was in the driver's seat to finish No. 1 - but was upset by a three-loss Stanford team, 27-17, in the Rose Bowl that afternoon. Thus, if SEC champion LSU - which lost 3-0 at Notre Dame in November - could defeat 10-0-1 and No. 3 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl that night, the Irish would leapfrog all the way to No. 1.

LSU held a 12-10 fourth-quarter lead, but a game-winning touchdown drive by Nebraska gave the Cornhuskers the 17-12 victory. Just in case voters were indecisive, Nebraska head coach Bob Devaney declared, "not even the Pope could vote Notre Dame No. 1."

Nebraska did win the final AP vote count handily (39 first-place votes to eight for the Irish), but this was the type of New Year's Day excitement in college football that wasn't quite the same with the 1998-2013 BCS format, and is trying to be recaptured by the new playoff.

10. 1994 Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame 24, Texas A&M 21

9. 1992 Sugar Bowl: Notre Dame 39, Florida 28

8. 1975 Orange Bowl: Notre Dame 13, Alabama 11

7. 1990 Orange Bowl: Notre Dame 21, Colorado 6

6. 1979 Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame 35, Houston 34

5. 1971 Cotton Bowl: Notre Dame 24, Texas 11