'73 Irish Used Win over USC
To Launch National Title Drive
By Jim Lefebvre, Editor, Forever Irish

"Our home crowd was the most supportive and louder than any other game I ever played at ND." -- Drew Mahalic

 

Watch 1973 ND-SC Game Highlights

 

Watch Lindsay Nelson and Paul Hornung call Penick's TD

In the fall of 1973, Notre Dame was coming off a 9-3 season which ended badly, with a 40-6 humiliation in the Orange Bowl at the hands of Nebraska.

Coach Ara Parseghian’s Irish featured a combination of solid veterans and outstanding young talent.  They started the season with victories over five unranked opponents – Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, Rice and Army – and were ranked No. 8 in the country when mighty Southern Cal came to Notre Dame Stadium on October 27.

It would be the ultimate test of whether Notre Dame was for real.

The Trojans came to South Bend sporting a 23-game undefeated streak going (21 wins, 2 ties). Ironically, the streak began at Notre Dame with a 28-14 victory on Oct. 23, 1971.

Notre Dame had not defeated the Trojans since 1966.  Included in that 0-4-2 stretch for ND were three visits by USC to the Stadium: a 24-7 Trojan victory in 1967, a 14-14 tie in 1969, and the streak-starting win in ’71.

USC had rolled to a 12-0 mark and the national championship in 1972, including a 45-23 drubbing of the Irish at the LA Coliseum.

That game is remembered for the performance of USC running back Anthony Davis, who scored six touchdowns, including two on kickoff returns.

The Irish were determined to avoid a repeat, and they had some new weapons at their disposal.  Freshmen like defensive lineman Ross Browner and defensive back Luther Bradley had worked their way into the lineup, and they made their presence felt in the USC game.

Browner and the Irish front seven repeatedly pressured Trojan quarterback Pat Haden, and Bradley led the backfield with a pair of interceptions and numerous pass breakups.

Junior starting linebacker Drew Mahalic, now a sports organization executive in Oregon, recalls the day.

“I remember there was a light rain, but our emotions were so high, we never felt it at all.  Our home crowd was the most supportive and louder than any other game I ever played at ND,” Mahalic said.

The team and coaches seemed to sense they might be ready for something special.

“Ara's approach to the game was infectious in that we could see that winning was the only option for us,” Drew recalled.  “His greatest gift was conveying an expectation and confidence in our abilities to win.  That attitude and expectation was never higher for any other game we ever played for Ara.”

The defense, especially, excelled from the start.  They stuffed Davis repeatedly, holding him to 55 yards on 19 carries.

“We shut off their running game pretty well, and Haden didn't get a lot of time to do his magic against us,” said Mahalic.

The rushing star of the game was Irish junior halfback Eric Penick, whose electrifying 85-yard ramble for a third-quarter touchdown was the game’s decisive score.  Penick finished with 118 yards for the game, 50 more than the Trojan team managed.

Haden did manage to hit future Hall of Famer Lynn Swann for one TD, but couldn’t rally the Trojans when it counted most, and the Irish hung on for a 23-14 victory, sealed by Bradley's second interception.

 

With the stirring win, Notre Dame proved to itself, and to everyone else, it had the makings of a national championship team .

 

"We had an inkling that we were the real deal," recalled Mahalic, "and we proved it that afternoon.

The Irish followed the momentous win with decisive victories over Navy, Pitt, Air Force and Miami, leading to their epic 24-23 triumph over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, cementing their 1973 national championship.

 

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