1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

during the 1973 college football season

1973 college football season

The 1973 college football season was the first for the NCAA's current three-division structure. Effective with the 1973–74 academic year, schools formerly in the NCAA "University Division" were classified as Division I...

. The Irish, coached by Ara Parseghian

Ara Parseghian

Ara Raoul Parseghian is a former American football player and coach of Armenian descent. He served as the head football coach at Miami University , Northwestern University , and the University of Notre Dame , compiling a career college football record of 170–58–6...

, ended the season undefeated with 11 wins and no losses, winning the national championship. The Fighting Irish won the title by defeating the previously unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl

Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

by a score of a 24-23. The 1973 squad became the ninth Irish team to win the national title and the second under Coach Parseghian. Although Notre Dame finished No. 1 in the AP Poll

AP Poll

The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...

to claim the AP

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

national title, they were not awarded the Coaches' title, since Alabama was awarded the Coaches' Poll title before the bowl season.

Season

Ara Parseghian's second national title team was led by its relentless rushing attack. Fullback Wayne Bullock (750 yards), halfback Art Best (700 yards), halfback Eric Penick (586 yards) and quarterback Tom Clements (360 yards) comprised one of the fastest Irish backfields, with Peneck and Best clocking in under 10 seconds in the 100-yard dash. The Irish started the season strong, amassing large margins of victory over Northwestern, Rice and Army to set up a highly anticipated contest with No. 6 and unbeaten USC. USC came into the contest riding a 23 game unbeaten streak, and USC's star tailback Anthony Davis ran over the Irish the previous year for 6 touchdowns in a 45-23 Trojan victory. Moreover, Parseghian had not outright beaten USC since the 1966. The Irish defense responded to the challenge, limiting Davis to 55 yards on 19 carries. The star tailback of the day was Notre Dame's Penick, who ran for 118 yards, 50 more than the entire Trojan team. The Irish won the contest 23-14 and won its remaining games. After Notre Dame accepted the Sugar Bowl bid, the stage was set to determine the national championship. Alabama was awarded the UPI title before the bowl season, but it was Notre Dame that won it on the field, winning 24-23 in a thriller that had six lead changes. Notre Dame jumped to a 6-0 lead, but Alabama answered with a Randy Billingsley 6-yard touchdown run. After Al Hunter scored on a 93-yard kick off return, Alabama scored 10 straight points. In the fourth quarter, three turnovers occurred in 90 seconds, with Alabama coming out on top and capitalizing on a halfback pass from Mike Stock to quarterback Richard Todd for a 25-yard touchdown to take a slim 23-21 lead, but the Tide missed the crucial extra point. Notre Dame responded, with Tom Clements driving the Irish 79 yards in 11 plays and setting up a potential field goal on a clutch 15-yard pass to tight end Dave Casper. Irish kicker Bob Thomas

Robert R. Thomas

Robert R. Thomas is a justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois and a former professional football player. He has served as the Illinois Supreme Court Justice for the Second District since December 4, 2000 and as Chief Justice from September 6, 2005, to September 5, 2008...

kicked the extra point to give the Irish a slim 24-23 victory and the AP national title.

Schedule

Roster

Quarterback

2 Tom Clements
8 Cliff Brown
Cliff Brown
Cliff Brown is a former American football quarterback for the University of Notre Dame, and was the first African American quarterback to start a game for the prestigious program....
12 Frank Allocco

Left Halfback

21 Ron Goodman
23 Art Best
28 Gary Diminick

Right Halfback

24 Al Samuel
25 Al Hunter
44 Eric Penick

Fullback

15 Russ Kornman
30 Wayne Bullock
36 Tom Parise

Split End

28 Tim Simon
80 Willie Townsend
85 Pete Demmerle

Tight End

86 Dave Casper
Dave Casper
David John Casper , nicknamed "The Ghost." is a former American football player. He was an offensive lineman and tight end.-High school:...
91 Robin Weber
93 Tom Fine

Center

52 Joe Alvarado
52 Vince Klees
59 Mark Brenneman

Offensive Guard

56 Frank Pomarico
57 Elton Moore
62 Tom Bolger
66 Dan Morrin
66 Al Wujciak
72 Gerry DiNardo
Gerry DiNardo
Gerard DiNardo is a former American football player and coach. He played college football as a guard for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish where he was selected as an All-American in 1974...

Offensive Tackle

58 Tom Laney
64 Steve Neece
71 Steve Sylvester
Steve Sylvester (American football)
Steve Sylvester was an American football offensive lineman who played 9 seasons in the National Football League for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame....
77 Steve Quehl
84 Dennis Lozzi

Defensive Tackle

60 Kevin Nosbusch
70 Steve Niehaus
79 Jay Achterhoff
88 Mike Fanning
95 George Hayduk

Defensive End

41 Tom Creevey
48 Jim Stock
89 Ross Browner
Ross Browner
Ross Browner is a former American football defensive end who played ten seasons in the NFL, mainly for the Cincinnati Bengals. He is the father of current Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Max Starks, and brother of Joey Browner and Keith Browner...
94 Willie Fry

Cornerback

7 Tim Rudnick
14 Reggie Barnett
25 Mike Naughton
26 Tom Lopienski
29 Pat Sarb

Strong Safety

20 Luther Bradley
Luther Bradley
Luther Bradley is a former professional American football player who played four seasons for the Detroit Lions. He later played with the Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers and Houston Gamblers of the USFL...
33 Mike Parker

Free Safety

27 Mike Townsend
34 Bob Zanot

Linebacker

38 Tony Novakov
40 Gary Potempa
42 Tim Sullivan
45 Drew Mahalic
50 Greg Collins
55 Sherm Smith
61 Mike Webb

Punter

4 Tony Brantley
9 Brian Doherty

Place Kicker

98 Bob Thomas
Robert R. Thomas
Robert R. Thomas is a justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois and a former professional football player. He has served as the Illinois Supreme Court Justice for the Second District since December 4, 2000 and as Chief Justice from September 6, 2005, to September 5, 2008...

*Bold denotes starter.

Reserves:
Offense:
T—Mike McBride, Pat Pohlen, Bob Sweeney, Max Wasilevich;
G—Cal Balliett, Paul Sawicz;
C – Pete Hartman, Andy Rohan
HB – Dan Knott, Greg Hill, Jim Weiler;
FB – John Gambone;
E – Kevin Doherty, Bob Washington;
Defense:
E – Jeff Hein;
T – Ivan Brown, Lew Miskowitz, Larry Susko, Greg Szatko;
LB – John Harchar, Joe Pszeracki, Marv Russell, Ed Scales, Gene Smith

Gene Smith (athletic director)

Gene Smith is currently the athletic director for The Ohio State University. He was named the university's eighth athletic director on March 5, 2005. Prior to his tenure at Ohio State, he served as athletic director for Arizona State, Eastern Michigan, and Iowa State...

;
DB – Mike Banks, Kevin Kineally, Tony Zappala, Jim Zloch
(DNP) – Mike McBride

Source:http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nd/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/Football-Supplement-07

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Notre Dame
Ara Parseghian Ara Parseghian Ara Raoul Parseghian is a former American football player and coach of Armenian descent. He served as the head football coach at Miami University , Northwestern University , and the University of Notre Dame , compiling a career college football record of 170–58–6...	Head Coach	10th
Tom Pagna	Offensive Backs	10th
Brian Boulac	Offensive Line	4th
Bill Hickey	Offensive Line	4th
Wally Moore	Offensive Line	10th
Mike Stock	Receivers	5th
Joe Yonto	Defensive Coordinator Defensive Line	10th
George Kelly	Linebackers	5th
Paul Shoults	Defensive Backs	10th
Greg Blache Greg Blache Greg Blache is a retired professional football coach, most recently the defensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins. He served as Defensive Coordinator-Defensive Line 2004 through 2007 for the Redskins, followed by two seasons as the Defensive Coordinator under former coach Jim Zorn...	Junior Varsity	1st
John Murphy	Scouting Defensive Coach	15th

Award winners

All-Americans
{| border="0" style="width:100%;"
|-
| valign="top" |
{| cellpadding="1" border="1" cellspacing="0" style="width:80%;"
|-
! style="background:#c5b358;"| Name
! style="background:#c5b358;"| AP
! style="background:#c5b358;"| UPI
! style="background:#c5b358;"| NEA
! style="background:#c5b358;"| FC
! style="background:#c5b358;"| SN
! style="background:#c5b358;"| FW
! style="background:#c5b358;"| T
! style="background:#c5b358;"| FN

College Football News

College Football News is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis includes comparisons between teams, predictions of game outcomes and...

! style="background:#c5b358;"| WCF
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Dave Casper

Dave Casper

David John Casper , nicknamed "The Ghost." is a former American football player. He was an offensive lineman and tight end.-High school:...

, TE || 2 || 1 || 1 || 1 || || 1 || || ||1
|- style="text-align:center;"
| † Mike Townshend, DB || 1 || 1 || 1 || || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 ||1
|- style="text-align:center;"
| colspan="10" style="background:#003;"| †denotes consensus selection Source:
|}

College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

inductees
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Name
!Position
!Year Inducted
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Ara Parseghian

Ara Parseghian

|| Coach ||1980
|}
Notre Dame leads all universities in players inducted.

1974 NFL Draft

{| class="wikitable" style="width:80%;"
|- style="text-align:center; background:#003; color:#c5b358;"
| Player || Position || Round || Pick || Franchise
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Dave Casper || Tight End || 2(19) || 45 || Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

|- style="text-align:center;"
| Mike Townshend || Defensive Back || 4(8) || 86 || Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

|- style="text-align:center;"
| Brian Doherty || Punter || 9(18) || 226 || Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

|- style="text-align:center;"
| Tim Rudnick || Defensive Back || 11(5) || 265 || Baltimore Colts

History of the Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the AFC South division of the National Football League. They have won 3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls....

|- style="text-align:center;"
| Frank Pomarico || Guard || 14(15) || 353 || Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

|- style="text-align:center;"
| Bob Thomas || Kicker || 15(24) || 388 || Los Angeles Rams
|- style="text-align:center;"
| Cliff Brown || Running Back || 17(11) || 427 || Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

|- style="text-align:center;"
| Willie Townsend || Wide Receiver || 17(24) || 440 || Los Angeles Rams
|- style="text-align:center;"
| colspan="5" style="background:#c5b358;"| Source:
|}

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