1975 Orange Bowl

(9–2)

(11–0)

Head coach:
Ara Parseghian

Head coach:
Bear Bryant

AP	Coaches
9	9

AP	Coaches
2	2

	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	7	6	0	0	13
Alabama	0	3	0	8	11

Date

January 1, 1975

Season

1974

Stadium

Miami Orange Bowl

Location

Miami, Florida

MVP

Wayne Bullock, Notre Dame FB

Attendance

71,801

United States TV coverage

Network

NBC

Announcers

Jim Simpson and John Brodie

The 1975 Orange Bowl, part of the 1974 bowl game season, took place on January 1, 1975, at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, competing as a football independent. In a game dominated by both defenses, Notre Dame was victorious by a final score of 13–11.

Teams

Alabama

The 1974 Alabama squad finished the regular season with an 11–0 record and as conference champions. Following their victory over Mississippi State, Orange Bowl officials announced Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl in a rematch of the previous year's Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame.^[1] The appearance marked the seventh for Alabama in the Orange Bowl, and their 28th overall bowl game appearance.^[2]

Notre Dame

The 1974 Notre Dame squad finished the regular season with a 9–2 record with losses coming against Purdue and USC. Following their victory over Navy, Orange Bowl officials announced an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl was made to Notre Dame in a rematch of the previous year's Sugar Bowl against Alabama.^[1] The appearance marked the second for Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, and their sixth overall bowl game appearance. The contest was also notable as being Ara Parseghian's final game as Notre Dame head coach as he announced his resignation from the position December 15.^[3]

Game summary

Midway through the first quarter, Alabama's Willie Shelby fumbled a punt that was recovered by Notre Dame's Al Samuel at the Crimson Tide 16-yard line.^[4] Five plays later, the Irish scored on a 4-yard Wayne Bullock touchdown run to take a 7–0 lead.^[4] Their lead was extended to 13–0 midway through the second quarter after Mark McLane scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to cap a 17-play, 77-yard drive.^[4] A 21-yard field goal by Danny Ridgeway cut the lead to 13–3 at the half.^[4] After a scoreless third, the Crimson Tide scored a late touchdown on a 48-yard Richard Todd touchdown pass to Russ Schamun, and with a successful two-point conversion closed the gap to 13–11.^[4] After a defensive stop, Alabama again got the ball on offense and was driving for a game-winning score when Todd threw an interception to Reggie Barnett effectively ending the comeback for the Tide.^[4]

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	Notre Dame	Alabama
1	6:41		5 plays, 16 yards	1:30	Notre Dame	Wayne Bullock 4-yard touchdown run, Dave Reeve kick good	7	0
2	8:29		17 plays, 77 yards	7:21	Notre Dame	Mark McLane 9-yard touchdown run, Dave Reeve kick no good	13	0
2	1:45		10 plays, 36 yards	4:01	Alabama	21-yard field goal by Danny Ridgeway	13	3
4	3:13		4 plays, 53 yards	1:16	Alabama	Russ Schamun 48-yard touchdown reception from Richard Todd, 2-point pass good	13	11
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							13	11

References

1 2 McKenzie, Mike (November 5, 1974). "Bama takes Orange bid, Bear silent". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
↑ "Alabama Crimson Tide". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
↑ "Notre Dame's Ara Parseghian ends 25-year coaching career". Lodi News-Sentinel. United Press International. December 16, 1974. p. 13. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
1 2 3 4 5 6 McKenzie, Mike (January 2, 1975). "Mistakes spell defeat for Tide". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 13. Retrieved January 25, 2011.

Orange Bowl Game

History & conference tie-ins	History Miami Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Southeastern Conference Notre Dame

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 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2015 2016

Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005. There was an Orange Bowl in January and December in 1996 and 2014. The game was a semifinal for the College Football Playoff 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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