The 1973 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...

, part of the 1973 bowl game season, took place on December 31, 1973, at Tulane Stadium

Tulane Stadium

Tulane Stadium was an outdoor football stadium located in New Orleans, Louisiana from 1926 to 1980. Officially known as the Third Tulane Stadium, it replaced the "Second Tulane Stadium" where the Telephone Exchange Building is now located...

 in New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (SEC), and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish

1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1973 college football season. The Irish, coached by Ara Parseghian, ended the season undefeated with 11 wins and no losses, winning the national championship...

, competing as a football independent. Notre Dame was victorious in by a final score of 24–23.

Alabama

The 1973 Alabama squad finished the regular season with an 11–0 record, as conference champions and as national champions as determined by the Coaches' Poll. Following their victory over , university officials announced they accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl. The appearance marked the sixth for Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, their 27th overall bowl game appearance and their first all-time meeting against Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

.

Notre Dame

The 1973 Notre Dame squad finished the regular season with an 10–0. Following their victory over , university officials announced they accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl. The appearance marked the first for Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, and their fifth overall bowl game appearance.

Game summary

Notre Dame opened the scoring with a Wayne Bullock 6-yard touchdown run, and after a missed extra point

Convert

The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...

 too an early 6–0 lead. In the second quarter, Alabama took the lead on a 6-yard Randy Billingsley touchdown run, only to see the Irish go up 14–7 on the following play. On the ensuing kickoff

Kickoff (American football)

A kickoff is a method of starting a drive in American football and Canadian football. Typically, a kickoff consists of one team – the "kicking team" – kicking the ball to the opposing team – the "receiving team"...

, was returned 93-yards for a touchdown by Al Hunter

Al Hunter (American football)

Alfonse "Al" Hunter is a former professional American football running back who played in four National Football League seasons from 1977-1980 for the Seattle Seahawks. Al Hunter played highschool football Junius H. Rose High School in North Carolina before going to Notre Dame where they won the...

. The Tide cut the lead to 14–10 late in the quarter on a 39-yard Bill Davis field goal. In the third quarter, the teams traded touchdowns with Alabama scoring first on a 5-yard Wilbur Jackson

Wilbur Jackson

Wilbur Jackson is a former American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. He was drafted in the first round of the 1974 NFL Draft out of University of Alabama by the 49ers. He played five seasons for San Francisco, and then three years with the...

 touchdown run and Notre Dame on a 12-yard Eric Penick touchdown run to make the score 21–17 entering the final period. After quarterback Richard Todd made a 25-yard touchdown reception from Mike Stock on a beautiful trick play, Davis missed the extra point to only put Alabama up 23–21. The Irish responded with a 19-yard field goal by Bob Thomas to take the lead 24–23 with 4:26 remaining in the game. Late in the 4th quarter Alabama pinned Notre Dame back deep in Irish territory with a punt, hoping to get the ball back within easy range of a game-winning field goal, however, on third and long Irish QB Tom Clements connected with backup TE Robin Weber on a long pass that gave the Irish a first down and allowed them to run out the clock. With their victory, the Associated Press

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...

 awarded the Irish the national championship in ranking them #1 in their final 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...

.