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January 2, 1978: For the fourth time in history, Texas came to the
Cotton Bowl equipped with the nation’s No. 1 ranking and a spotless
season record. The Longhorns rolled through the SWC race with ease to
win their first championship in four seasons. When it came time to
tender bowl invitations, fifth-ranked Notre Dame, without hesitation,
turned down all others to come to Dallas with the avowed intention of
beating the Longhorns and propelling themselves to yet another national
championship.
This classic was a headline attraction. It featured college football’s
Heisman Trophy winner- Earl Campbell, the Outland Trophy winner- Brad
Shearer, both of Texas; the Lombardi and Maxwell Award winner- Ross
Browner, and the Walter Camp Award winner- Ken MacAfee, both of Notre
Dame. As a junior, Browner was awarded the Outland as the season's
outstanding interior lineman. Six major individual awards, along with
the country’s top ranked team and No. 5 Notre Dame, all rolled into one
New Year’s Day Classic. On paper, Texas had the edge in every
department, a team with more ways than one to deliver a knockout punch.
Campbell was a franchise running back. Of his 1,744 yards gained that
season, more than a thousand of them came after he had been hit at least
once. Durable and hard to bring down was his trademark.
But, the game was barely two minutes old when a fumble by Texas
quarterback Randy McEachern gave the ball to the Irish at the Longhorn
32, setting up a 47-yard field goal by Dave Reeve. The Longhorns
answered right back with Russell Erxleben’s 42-yard boot. So, at the end
of the first quarter, the teams had battled to a 3-3 tie. But, by then,
Notre Dame was well on its way to cashing in on its second fumble
recovery. On the first play of the second period, Terry Eurick stepped
over left tackle for six yards and the Irish had their first touchdown
of the game and led, 10-3. In less than two minutes, quarterback Joe
Montana had his team ready to score again. This drive also began with a
Texas fumble deep in its own end of the field. Eurick rambled 10 yards
to the goal line and Notre Dame was off and running, 17-3. Before the
game was 23 minutes old, the Irish had moved in front 24-3 and there was
no catching them. Although the Irish were aided by six uncharacteristic
turnovers, they were in no way mere benefactors of Texas mistakes. Notre
Dame controlled the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively.
Texas’ only touchdown was set up on a pass interference call on the
final play of the first half.
For the day, two Notre Dame backs rushed for a hundred yards or more,
Jerome Heavens gained 101 yards and Vagas Ferguson an even 100. When the
game was over, the two teams had virtually traded places in the national
rankings. The Fighting Irish vaulted to the No. 1 spot, while the
Longhorns fell to fourth, marking the seventh time the national
championship had been won or lost at the Cotton Bowl.
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Attendance- 76,701
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
ND- FG Reeve 47
UT- FG Erxleben 42
Second Quarter
ND- Eurick 6 run (Reeve kick)
ND- Eurick 10 run (Reeve kick)
ND- Ferguson 17 pass from Montana (Reeve kick)
UT- Lockett 13 pass from McEachern (Erxleben kick)
Third Quarter:
UT- Ferguson 3 run (Reeve kick)
Fourth Quarter:
UT- Ferguson 26 run (Reeve kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
ND- Heavens 22-101, Ferguson 21-100, Eurick 4-16, Lisch 2-16
UT- Campbell 29-116, Ham Jones 11-63
Passing
ND- Montana 10-25-1-111, Lisch 4-7-0-45
UT- McEachern 11-24-3-160
Receiving
ND- MacAfee 4-45, Waymer 3-38, Haines 2-29, Ferguson 3-23, Eurick 1-12,
Pallas 1-9
UT- Harris 4-57, Lam Jones 1-34, Jackson 3-33, Miksch 1-18, Lockett
1-13,
Ham Jones 1-5
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