Cotton Bowl
1970
Texas 21
Notre Dame 17
January 1, 1971: This truly was to become one of the Classic’s
memorable games. The Longhorns were fresh from their famed 15-14
come-from-behind victory over No. 2 Arkansas, known best as “The Big
Shootout.” Texas was a perfect 10-0-0. So important was that game that
President Nixon had attended and declared the Horns the national
champions after the win. Ninth-ranked Notre Dame carried
an 8-1-1 mark to Dallas. But, more notably was the fact the only other
time the Fighting Irish had gone bowling was in the 1925 Rose Bowl when
the legendary Four Horsemen led the way to a 27-10 defeat of Stanford.
Now, 45 years later, three of the surviving Four Horsemen would come to
Texas to spread Irish lore for the bowl-starved Notre Dame loyalists.
The Irish had plenty of incentive to keep its perfect bowl record
intact, and when Notre Dame jumped to a 10-0 lead, the game looked to
have the makings of the centennial season’s most colossal upset.
The Longhorns won the toss and elected to kick. In trotted quarterback
Joe Theismann to direct the Irish on a 72-yard march up the field en
route to Scott Hempel’s 26-yard field goal. The 3-0 Notre Dame lead held
up for the remainder of the first quarter. Then, 12 seconds into the
second, Theismann unloaded the bomb. Just as he turned to throw, Tom
Gatewood slipped behind Longhorn defender Danny Lester. The pass was on
target and Gatewood went in for an easy 54-yard score.
Down 10-0, Texas roared back. James Street, the Longhorns' brilliant
Wishbone quarterback, took control and in nine plays had Texas in the
end zone. A 17-yard pass to Cotton Speyrer, another completion of 16
yards to Randy Peschel, and a 17-yard sprint by halfback Jim Bertelsen
moved the Horns to the Notre Dame 10. Three plays later, Bertelsen
crashed the goal line to cut the Irish lead back to three, 10-7.
That’s the way it stood as the teams changed ends of the field to begin
the fourth quarter. By then, however, Texas was on a roll, moving from
its 23 to the Notre Dame 37. From there, Street and company continued to
grind out the yardage with halfback Ted Koy gaining the last three to
put the Horns ahead for the first time, 14-10. Now, it was Notre Dame’s
turn to move. Theismann started the drive at his 20 and ended it with a
24-yard scoring toss to halfback Jim Yoder (video).
The Irish were back in front, 17-14, but not for long. The game clock
was ticking with 6:47 left, enough time for one more Texas drive...and
it was a classic. The march was good for 76 yards in 17 plays, and the
key was a fourth down play at the Irish ten. Street had to hurry his
throw under duress to Speyrer. The pass was short, but Speyrer stopped,
turned back and made a diving catch just before the ball hit the ground
at the two. Seconds later, reserve halfback Billy Dale plunged over from
the one with just 1:08 left (video). With
that, Texas wrapped up its second national championship.
Walter Robertson of the Dallas Morning News may have summed it up best
when he wrote, “The initial temptation would be to rank the
Texas-Arkansas game as tops for the first 100 years of college football,
and then start the second centennial running with this one.”
Notre Dame contained the mighty Longhorns
Street's heroics in the last two games won it all
Walt Patulski deflects a James Street pass
Steve Wooster carries for Texas
Texas defenders stop Notre Dame's Bill Barz
After the Arkansas game, Nixon had declared UT #1
The Irish were just happy to be bowling
Attendance- 72,000
Scoring Summary
First Quarter:
ND- FG Hempel 26
Second Quarter:
ND- Gatewood 54 pass from Theismann (Hempel kick)
UT- Bertelsen 1 run (Feller kick)
Fourth Quarter:
UT- Koy 3 run (Feller kick)
ND- Yoder 24 pass from Theismann (Hempel kick)
UT- Dale 1 run (Feller kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
ND- Barz 10-49, Theismann 11-48, Huff 11-39, Allan 7-47
Texas- Worster 20-155, Bertelsen 18-81, Koy 12-40, Street 10-31, Speyrer
1-13, Dale 6-11
Passing
ND- Theismann 17-27-231
Texas- Street 6-11-107
Receiving
ND- Gatewood 6-112, Allan 3-43, Crotty 3-8, Huff 2-15, Yoder 1-24,
Poskon 1-22
Texas- Speyrer 4-70, Bertelsen 1-21, Perschel 1-16
