1973 Sugar Bowl

The 1973 Sugar Bowl, part of the 1973 bowl game season, took place on December 31, 1973, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, competing as a football independent. Notre Dame was victorious by a final score of 24–23. The game received a 25.3 Nielsen Rating, making it one of the highest-rated college football games of all time.^[1]

Teams

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.^[2] Following their victory over Auburn, university officials announced they accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl.^[3] 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.^[3]

Notre Dame

The 1973 Notre Dame squad finished the regular season with a 10–0. Following their victory over Miami, university officials announced they accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl.^[3] The appearance marked the first for Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, and their fifth overall bowl game appearance.

Game summary

With a cold rain falling, Notre Dame opened the scoring with a Wayne Bullock 6-yard touchdown run, and after a missed extra point took an early 6–0 lead.^[4] 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, was returned 93-yards for a touchdown by Al Hunter.^[4] The Tide cut the lead to 14–10 late in the quarter on a 39-yard Bill Davis field goal.^[4] In the third quarter, the teams traded touchdowns with Alabama scoring first on a 5-yard Wilbur Jackson touchdown run and Notre Dame on a 12-yard Eric Penick touchdown run to make the score 21–17 entering the final period.^[4] 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.^[4] 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.^[4] 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 awarded the Irish the national championship in ranking them #1 in their final poll.^[5]

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	Notre Dame	Alabama
1	3:19		6 plays, 64 yards	2:32	Notre Dame	Wayne Bullock 6-yard touchdown run, Bob Thomas kick no good	6	0
2	7:30		7 plays, 52 yards	2:40	Alabama	Randy Billingsley 6-yard touchdown run, Bill Davis kick good	6	7
2	7:17		None	None	Notre Dame	Al Hunter 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, 2-point pass good	14	7
2	0:39		7 plays, 69 yards	2:40	Alabama	39-yard field goal by Bill Davis	14	10
3	11:02		11 plays, 93 yards	3:57	Alabama	Wilbur Jackson 5-yard touchdown run, Bill Davis kick good	14	17
3	2:30		1 play, 12 yards	0:07	Notre Dame	Eric Penick 12-yard touchdown run, Bob Thomas kick good	21	17
4	9:33		5 plays, 39 yards	2:14	Alabama	Richard Todd 25-yard touchdown reception from Mike Stock, Bill Davis kick no good	21	23
4	4:26		11 plays, 79 yards	5:13	Notre Dame	19-yard field goal by Bob Thomas	24	23
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							24	23

References

↑ Pennington, Bill (December 8, 2012). "Before Computer Rankings and the Superdome, There Was Notre Dame vs. Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl". The New York Times.
↑ "Alabama wins National Title in UPI Poll". The Los Angeles Times. United Press International. December 5, 1973. p. B3. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
1 2 3 Reed, Delbert (November 17, 1973). "It's official: Tide-Irish in Sugar Bowl". The Tuscaloosa News. p. B1. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "1973 Sugar Bowl". 2010 Notre Dame Football Supplement (PDF). South Bend, IN: Notre Dame Athletics Media Relations. 2010. p. 116. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
↑ "Final word in polls: Notre Dame #1". The Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. January 3, 1974. p. 13. Retrieved January 25, 2011.

Sugar Bowl Game

History & conference tie-ins	History Tulane Stadium Georgia Dome Mercedes-Benz Superdome College Football Playoff Broadcasters Southeastern Conference Big 12 Conference

Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1972 1973 1974 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Notes	The 2006 game took place in Atlanta, Georgia due to Hurricane Katrina. The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2004. There was a Sugar Bowl in January and December in 1972 and 1995. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its 2015 edition.

Alabama Crimson Tide bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

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