Texas had beaten Arkansas on Dec. 6, 1969, in the “Game of the Century” and had the national championship presented to it by President Richard Nixon. Yet, the Longhorns still faced an encore: They had to defeat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1970, to complete the perfect season.
The stakes were raised in Dallas that New Year’s Day because it was the first time Notre Dame was to play in a bowl game since 1925. The school would not consider postseason play for decades until changing its course with the 1969 season.
Interestingly, the 8-1-1 Irish only were the opponent because Penn State had turned down a bid to play the Longhorns before their win over Arkansas. By a vote of its players in mid-November, second-ranked Penn State (10–0) opted to return to the Orange Bowl, and faced sixth-ranked Missouri (9–1).
Penn State had several black players and wished to avoid Dallas due to segregation issues. At the time, the top-ranked team was defending champion Ohio State, who lost the next week at Michigan. team.
The Irish were ready to pull an upset, scoring the game’s first 10 points. Scott Hempel kicked a field goal in the first quarter and Joe Theismann found Tom Gatewood for a 54-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
Down double digits, Texas rallied. It took the ND kickoff and drove 74 yards with Jim Bertelsen capping the march with a 1-yard run.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, setting the stage for another rally by the Longhorns in the fourth quarter. First, Ted Koy culminated a 77-yard drive with a touchdown run with 10 minutes remaining to give Texas a 14–10 advantage.
Theismann then led the Irish on an 80-yard drive and threw a 24-yard pass to Jim Yoder for a 17–14 lead with 6:52 left.
The great Dan Jenkins wrote for Sports Illustrated about what went into some gutsy calls by Darrell Royal.
There was a great big time out at the Notre Dame 20-yard line when Texas faced fourth down and two to go with only 4:26 remaining. Street went to the sideline to see Royal, and Bob Olson went to his sideline to confer with Parseghian. Meanwhile 73,000 hearts asked for a transplant. Texas was in field-goal range, but what would a tie do? Make Penn State, which would beat Missouri, or USC, which would beat Michigan, the No. 1 team?
Royal stayed with his triple-option offense, an attack that had made Texas the second alltime rushing team in college football during the regular season. Street faked Worster into the midsection, wiggled down the line and pitched to Ted Koy, who got the two yards by an eyelash just as Bob Olson arrived.
The Longhorns found themselves back in a fourth-and-two situation with 2:26 to play. Jenkins eloquently wrote:
The whole stadium was on its feet, and the bands were blaring out a couple of fairly familiar fight songs, while Street and Olson talked to their brains.
Street said, “How ’bout the counter option fake to the short side?”
Royal mulled it over.
Across the way, Parseghian was certain Texas would either run wide or pass. Olson was told to play the run first. It was percentages.
Out on the field now Cotton Speyrer, his back turned to the Notre Dame defense, was signaling the bench. He was dragging his thumb across his chest in the manner of a hitchhiker. The signal to Royal meant that Speyrer’s defender, Clarence Ellis, was playing him tight and to the inside. It meant that Speyrer thought he could get outside on him for a quick pass.
“Left 89 Out,” said Royal.
Street blinked. It was the Arkansas thing all over again, Royal calling a pass in a moment of supreme stress and James wondering, “Coach, are you sure?”
“Watch for the keep first,” said Darrell. “You might be able to fall for two yards. But if you can’t, drill it to Cotton. He says he’s open on the out.”
Street went to the Texas huddle and said, “Awright, suck it up. This might be our last play of the season, so let’s make it a good one…. Everybody get tough….” Then he looked right at Cotton Speyrer and called the play.
Street took the snap, looked at the end coming up fast, stopped and threw. It was low, but Speyrer did his thing and made the catch. And three plays later, with exactly 1:08 on the clock, another urchin, Billy Dale, a 5’10”, 190-pound junior who had replaced Ted Koy, hugged a hand-off from Street and followed a couple of blocks by Worster and Tight End Randy Peschel into the end zone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n99HKbAtNpk
The final was 21-17 and Texas had its 20th win in a row and 500th overall. T
Steve Worster (pictured above against Arkanas) led the rushing attack with 155 of the Longhorns’ 331 yards. Speyrer had 70 receiving yards on 4 catches.
“If you really want to start defining my career, one of the things that really sticks out in my mind is when I was the Offensive MVP of the Cotton Bowl in my junior year,” Worster told Texassports.com long ago. “It was a real punishing football game where we just grinded it out. My performance was because of the linemen and the rest of my teammates.
“When I watch film of the game, I just am tickled to death because that was my type of football. It was north and south, not east and west, and three or four yards play after play. It was like Coach Royal said and that’s you line up your best 11 and we’ll line up our best 11. That game really exemplified Texas football at that time.”
A year later, the Irish got even. Legendary coach Ara Parseghian had been priming Notre Dame for a rematch and he got his shot in the 1971 Cotton Bowl.
Led by Heisman Trophy runner-up Theismann at quarterback and a defense spearheaded by end Walt Patulski, who would be the first player selected in the NFL Draft two years later, the Irish began the season 9-0 and accepted a bid to play No. 1 Texas again in the Cotton Bowl. However, it would not be an unbeaten Notre Dame team the Longhorns would face because the Irish lost to USC, 38-28, in a rain-soaked season finale.
That did not dampen the rematch. Texas took a 3-0 lead but Notre Dame erupted for three scores to make it 21-3. The rest of the scoring came before halftime and Notre Dame wound up winning, 24-11. The Longhorns fumbled nine times, five being were recovered by the Irish.