Cotton Bowl
1979
Notre Dame 35
Houston 34
January 1, 1979: Knute Rockne must have been looking down upon the
Cotton Bowl festivities on this cold and windy day as the Fighting Irish
staged one of the greatest comebacks in bowl history. Weather conditions
were less than ideal, but even the elements couldn’t offset the classic
matchup between Notre Dame’s Power-1 and the Houston Veer, and the man
who invented it, Bill Yeoman. The Cougars boasted of two backs who
rushed for more than a thousand yards each, Emmett King and Randy Love,
along with a quarterback named Danny Davis, a born leader with a knack
of making something out of nothing. Of course, Notre Dame returned to
Dallas with its unflappable miracle man, quarterback Joe Montana. The
stage was set for a great show and the teams promptly delivered. The
temperature at kickoff was 20 degrees with a wind chill factor of
minus-six. The winds were whipping in at 15 to 20 mph, and it got worse
after that, especially for Houston.
The Fighting Irish jumped to a 12-0 first quarter lead, taking advantage
of a pair of Cougar fumbles. Then the momentum shifted, Davis threw to
his flanker Willis Adams for the first score, and minutes later, Love
carried over from the one to push Houston ahead 14-12 with 6:27 left in
the first half. After gaining the lead, the Cougars scored on its next
two possessions, both off the toe of Ken Hatfield on 21-yard and 34-yard
field goals. By the end of the first half, the two teams had traded
positions, the Cougars were up by eight, 20-12. When the two teams
changed ends of the field to begin the final period, Houston had
increased its lead to 34-12.
That’s the way the score stood until the 7:37 mark when the Irish began
their comeback. Notre Dame’s Tony Belden roared in to block a Houston
punt. The ball shot up in the air and came
back down into the arms of
Steve Cichy who burst out of a crowd and raced 33 yards for the Irish
touchdown. Montana, who missed most of the third quarter because of
below-normal body temperature, threw for the two-point conversion and it
was a 34-20 ballgame. Momentarily, however. Following a Houston punt,
Montana took his team 61 yards to the end zone again. What once appeared
to be an almost insurmountable 22-point Cougar advantage had quickly
evaporated to six. But time was becoming a factor, 4:15 was left to play
and the Irish had to hurry.
In two minutes, Notre Dame was threatening again. Montana had just
ripped 16 yards for an apparent first down to the UH 20, but was
stripped of the ball by linebacker David Hodge and Houston took over.
The clock was down to 1:50 and all UH needed was one first down. They
never got it. Gambling on fourth and one at its 29, Houston called the
dive, but Notre Dame’s Joe Gramke and Mike Calhoun stopped King in his
tracks. The Fighting Irish had the ball, just 29 yards away from paydirt
and 28 seconds to get it there. In succession, Montana scrambled for 11,
then hit Kris Haines for a gain of 10 to the eight. The clock stopped as
Haines stepped out of bounds. Six seconds were left, and Montana again
went for Haines in the corner of the end zone. The pass fell incomplete.
Two seconds left, Montana called the same play to Haines, and this time
the two connected. With no time left, the score was tied, and Dallas
native Joe Unis came on to add the extra point. Illegal procedure was
called on the first kick, forcing Unis to try again. It was a
pressurized kick, but Unis came through. What a finish- 35-34, Notre
Dame (video)!
Danny Davis rolls out.
Kris Haines celebrates with Dave Huffman.
The comeback started with Steve Cichy's return of a blocked punt.
Montana was masterful in the miracle comeback.
Attendance- 72,000
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
ND- Montana 3 run (Unis kick fail)
ND- Buchanan 1 run (Montana pass fail)
Houston- Adams 15 pass form Davis (Hatfield kick)
Second Quarter
UH- Love 1 run (Hatfield kick)
UH- Hatfield 21 FG
UH- Hatfield 34 FG
Third Quarter
UH- Davis 2 run (Hatfield kick)
UH- Davis 5 run (Hatfield kick)
Fourth Quarter
ND- Cichy 33 return of blocked punt (Ferguson pass from Montana)
ND- Montana 2 run (Haines pass from Montana)
ND-Haines 8 pass from Montana (Unis kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
ND- Heavens 16-71, Montana 7-26, Ferguson 10-19
UH- Davis 19-76, King 21-74, Love 22-73
Passing
ND- Montana 13-34-163
UH- Davis 4-12-60
Receiving
ND- Heavens 4-60, Haines 4-31, Masztak 3-49
UH- Adams 2-35, Herring 2-25
