Crimson Tide Top 10 Sugar Bowls: No. 3, 1973 Alabama vs. Notre Dame

The first meeting between the two titans of college football was more than epic, and the game more than lived up to the hype.

The Alabama Crimson Tide will be making its 17th appearance in the Sugar Bowl, the most of any team, when it squares off against the No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats inside Caesars Superdome on Dec. 31 (11 a.m. CT on ESPN).

BamaCentral is counting down the Top 10 Sugar Bowls for Alabama:

#3 Notre Dame 24 (Final: 11-0-0, #1)
#1 Alabama 23 (Final: 11-1-0, #4)

The game lived up to the billing, with the lead changing hands six times and featured a wild 90-second span with three turnovers at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The deciding points came with 4:26 left on the clock, when Notre Dame’s Bob Thomas, who had missed two attempts earlier in the game, kicked a 19-yard field goal.

After the Tide offense stalled on the subsequent possession, Greg Gantt’s 69-yard punt gave Notre Dame first down at its own 1-yard line, but Gantt also drew a penalty on the play that would have given Alabama fourth down and 5 yards to go.

Bryant decided to decline the penalty, putting the game into the defense’s hands, only to see Fighting Irish quarterback Tom Clements, who was named game’s most valuable player, complete a key 35-yard third-down pass to tight end Robin Weber to secure the 24-23 victory.

Not surprisingly, Notre Dame was No. 1 in the final Associated Press poll, and soon after the coaches’ poll announced that it too would hold its final voting after all bowl games had been played

Alabama Recap

It was the first meeting between two giants of college football – Alabama and Notre Dame. The game was the latest version of “The Game of the Century”, and it certainly lived up to every inch of newspaper space and moment of air time on radio and television.

Notre Dame won, 24-23, in one of the true classics of college football history. The game had everything – six lead changes, outstanding plays in all phases of the game, a tense finish and dramatic play calling. With the close victory, Notre Dame vaulted from third to first in the final Associated Press (AP) rankings. Alabama had finished first in both polls in the regular season and remained the United Press International (UPI) champion as that ranking did not have a post-bowl survey.

Alabama could have put the game away in the third quarter, but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch.

Sugar Bowl Summary 

The Irish faced third-and-six with 2:12 left. Coach Ara Parseghian told quarterback Tom Clements to go with a long count in hopes of drawing Alabama offsides. Instead, Irish tight end Dave Casper was the one who jumped, pushing Notre Dame back almost to the 2, and making the situation third-and-nine.

Parseghian gave Clements the next play, one which took the signal-caller aback. Parseghian called Power-I-right, tackle-trap-left. “There were two options on the play,” Parseghian said. “Clements could bootleg the ball around the left end to throw to Casper, the primary receiver, who would cross the middle of the field from right to left.”

“I do remember asking him, ‘Are you sure?’ ” Clements said. “He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ ”

Parseghian said decades later a pass out of his end zone wasn’t that much of a gamble. “Circumstances prevail there,” he said. “I knew we could get beat by a field goal if we didn’t maintain possession. Being so close to the goal line, we would have to punt out of our end zone. We tried to lead them into thinking we were going to run the ball by coming out in a two-tight end formation and a stacked backfield. We made it look conservative.”

Alabama fell for it.

“I was the outside linebacker on the play, and we were completely fooled by it,” said Mike Dubose, who later became head coach at Alabama. “It caught us off guard. Third-and-nine in 1973 wasn’t exactly the way it is now, as easy to pick up. In that situation in 1973, you’re thinking ‘Run.’ It was a great call on their part.”

Trouble was, the player who was supposed to catch the pass, Casper, got hung up in the middle of the field by the Tide defense, forcing Clements to look for his second option, Robin Weber, who hadn’t practiced in two days because of a knee injury and who hadn’t caught a single pass all season.

An Alabama defensive back, expecting the run, froze. Weber blew past him and suddenly was all alone. Cutting diagonally, Weber saw Clements let loose with the pass and thought, ‘Oh (bleep), this is one I better not miss.”

He didn’t, and Notre Dame had a new set of downs at the 38, from where the Irish were able to run out the clock.

Excerpted from the book “Sugar Bowl Classic: A History” by Marty Mulé. 

What Sports Illustrated Said ... 

Number 1 By Just the Number 1, by John Underwood

The game was not artful and it was not particularly pretty, and it was decided mostly on imperfections rather than perfect football, but like Clements himself it was certainly to the point. One, to be exact. Notre Dame, an underdog scratching, came from behind three times to beat top-ranked Alabama 24-23, wresting in a flash the championship from the hands of Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide and setting it firmly into those of Ara Parseghian's not-unlucky Irish. A sign popped up in the west-side lower deck of rusting, creaking Tulane Stadium immediately after the issue was decided; "God Made Notre Dame No. 1." God, but with Clements' help.

Forget the dramatics that went on before in this hyperventilation-a-minute battle of two undefeated super-charged college teams. Forget that Alabama had felt set upon from the dawning of the day—it rained when it was not supposed to, and got cold (well, cool), and 53 Alabama team steaks burned up in a kitchen fire at the team's hotel. Forget the breathtaking shifts of fortune that came before Clements' last heroic act. How Alabama fell behind in the first quarter, feeling its way against the intricacies of the Notre Dame attack and the bewildering scaffolds of the Notre Dame defense. How Alabama abruptly gained its considerable composure, and the lead at 7-6, only to lose it back again on Al Hunter's 93-yard kickoff return. And then to take it again at 17-14; and once more lose it, and take it again at 23-21 on a Bryant nifty—a halfback-to-quarterback pass. Forget that as the game wound down the teams tightened up, fumbling the ball back and forth—five times in all.

Forget even Clements' winning drive, a 79-yarder to a field goal that required Old Mediocre Tom to carry the ball himself three times for important gains and to loft a 30-yard floater to Dave Casper to set up the kick at the Alabama nine. "I really thought it was going to be intercepted," said Clements of the pass, and it certainly should have been, as there were two Alabama defenders beside Casper. But homemade signs in grandstands don't lie.

Instead, return with us now to the last two minutes of play. The last act of Tom Clements. Alabama has punted 69 yards to the Notre Dame one and is menacing the Irish offense. On third down at the two, Clements hands off to a running back. Oh, no he doesn't. He takes it back, calmly (with gusto), withdraws into the end zone, and spirals a 35-yarder to Tight End Robin Weber who is all alone near Bear Bryant on the Alabama sideline. That was it. Notre Dame ran out the clock. Clements, of course, had the ball when the game ended.

See Also:

No 4: 1962 Alabama vs, Arkansas

No. 5: 1980 Alabama vs. Arkansas

Bonus: 1964 Alabama vs. Ole Miss

No. 6: No. 6, 1966 Alabama vs. Nebraska

No. 7: 2018 Alabama vs. Clemson (CFP semifinal)

No. 8: 1978 Alabama vs. Ohio State

No. 9: 1945 Alabama vs. Duke

No. 10: 1975 Alabama vs. Penn State

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