1970 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

American college football season August 2023 January 2026 1970 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football Independent 5 2 10–1 Ara Parseghian 7th Joe Theismann and Tim Kelly Larry DiNardo Tim Kelly Notre Dame Stadium National champion (FACT, Matthews, Sagarin), Cotton Bowl champion Cotton Bowl Classic W Won 24–11 vs. Texas The 1970 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. In their seventh year under head coach Ara Parseghian, the Irish compiled a 10–1 record, outscored opponents by a total of 330 to 97, and were ranked No. 2 in the final AP poll and No. 5 in the final UPI poll. They defeated No. 7 LSU and lost to unranked USC during the regular season and concluded the season with a 24–11 victory over No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl.1969 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/notre-dame/1969-schedule.html Sports Reference SR/College Football July 22, 2026The Football Review (1970) The Notre Dame Scholastic December 4, 1970 July 21, 2026 https://archives.nd.edu/Football/Football-1970s.pdf Notre Dame Archives End Tom Gatewood and offensive guard Larry DiNardo were consensus first-team picks on the 1970 All-America college football team. Quarterback Joe Theisman received fist-team All-America honors from the Associated Press, and Clarence Ellis received first-team honors from the Newspaper Enterprise Association and United Press International.. The team's statistical leaders during the regular season included Theisman (2,429 passing yards, 16 touchdown passes), Gatewood (77 catches for 1,123 receiving yards), Ed Gulyas (534 rushing yards), and Denny Allan and Scott Hempel (48 points scored each).1970 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stats https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/notre-dame/1970.html Sports Reference SR/College Football July 21, 2026The Football Review, p. 37. The team played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana. Schedule 1970 AP Eastern September 19 2:30 p.m. w y 6 Northwestern Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL rivalry 35–14 50,409 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-ledger-theismann-allan-lead-no/182561377/ The Star-Ledger Theismann, Allan lead Notre Dame to 35–14 victory September 20, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com September 26 1:30 p.m. w 6 Purdue Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN rivalry 48–0 59,075 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-huntsville-times-irish-ram-by-purdue/182561473/ The Huntsville Times Irish ram by Purdue September 27, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com October 3 2:30 p.m. w y 4 Michigan State Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI rivalry 29–0 76,103 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bay-city-times-irish-shut-out-sparta/182561542/ The Bay City Times Irish shut out Spartans October 4, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com October 10 1:30 p.m. w 3 Army Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN rivalry 51–10 59,075 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-times-third-ranked-notre-dam/182549972/ The Racine Journal-Times Third-ranked Notre Dame too much for Army 51–10 October 11, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com October 17 3:50 p.m. w y 3 Missouri 18 Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO ABC 24–7 64,200 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star-irish-bounce-back/182561619/ The Indianapolis Star Irish bounce back, blow by Missouri October 18, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com October 31 1:32 p.m. w y 3 Navy John F. Kennedy Stadium Philadelphia, PA rivalry 56–7 45,226 https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-notre-dame-rolls-over-nav/182551373/ The Clarion-Ledger Notre Dame rolls over Navy, 56–7 November 1, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com November 7 1:30 p.m. w 2 Pittsburgh Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN rivalry 46–14 59,075 https://www.newspapers.com/article/battle-creek-enquirer-notre-dame-hits-pi/182557930/ Battle Creek Enquirer & News Notre Dame hits Pitt hard 46–14 November 8, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com November 14 1:30 p.m. w 1 Georgia Tech Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN rivalry 10–7 59,075 https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger-georgia-tech-gives-nd-sca/151968463/ The Clarion-Ledger Georgia Tech gives ND scare, Irish win 10–7 November 15, 1970 July 24, 2024 Newspapers.com November 21 1:30 p.m. w 2 LSU 7 Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN 3–0 59,075 https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-irish-fight-past-lsu-30/133871452/ Star Tribune Irish fight past LSU 3–0 November 22, 1970 October 22, 2023 Newspapers.com November 28 4:15 p.m. l y 4 USC Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA rivalry ABC 28–38 64,694 https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-southern-cal-s/182561694/ The Philadelphia Inquirer Southern Cal shatters Irish win string, 38–28 November 29, 1970 October 7, 2025 Newspapers.com January 1, 1971, 1971 2:00 p.m. w y 6 Texas 1 Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX Cotton Bowl Classic CBS 24–11 73,000 https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-irish-stun-texas-in-cott/123958672/ Chicago Tribune Irish stun Texas in Cotton Bowl, 24–11 January 2, 1971 May 2, 2023 Newspapers.com https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/notre-dame/1970-schedule.html 1970 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results Schedule/Results (1970 Notre Dame) https://stats.ncaa.org/teams/296666 National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA Statistics October 7, 2025 Game summaries Northwestern Notre Dame 14 14 7 0 Northwestern 0 14 0 0 Purdue 1970 Purdue Boilermakers football team Shillelagh Trophy (Notre Dame–Purdue) Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2; text-align:center collapsed Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Fighting Irish September 26 Purdue 0 0 0 0 Notre Dame 10 14 7 17 Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, Indiana 59,075 Rainy Box Score Purdue Notre Dame Joe Theismann16/24, 274 Yds, 3 TD Tom Gatewood12 Rec, 192 Yds, 3 TD PUR ND collapsed 1 Notre Dame FG 19 Hempel 0 3 1 Notre Dame 80 RushTD Allan 4 good Hempel run/pass good/failed/incomplete 0 10 2 Notre Dame RecTD Gatewood Theismann 17 good Hempel run/pass good/failed/incomplete 0 17 2 6:09 Notre Dame RecTD Gatewood Theismann 7 good Hempel run/pass good/failed/incomplete 0 24 3 Notre Dame RecTD Gatewood Theismann 20 good Hempel run/pass good/failed/incomplete 0 31 4 Notre Dame FG 37 Hempel 0 34 4 Notre Dame RushTD Dewan 4 good Hempel run/pass good/failed/incomplete 0 41 4 Notre Dame RushTD Parker 63 good Hempel run/pass good/failed/incomplete 0 48 0 48 Michigan State Notre Dame 7 15 0 7 Michigan St 0 0 0 0 October 3 Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI 76,103 Jerry Markbreit yes Q1 ND Barz 1 yard run (Hempel kick) ND 7–0 Q2 ND Minnix 1 yard run (Hempel kick) ND 14–0 Q2 ND Gulyas 2 yard run (Theismann run) ND 22–0 Q4 ND Parker 4 yard run (Hempel kick) ND 29–0 yes Joe Theismann 12/17, 147 Yds, 13 Rush, 107 Yds First Notre Dame game on artificial turf First Notre Dame win in East Lansing since 1949 "Irish Rout Michigan State." Palm Beach Post. 1970 Oct 4. Retrieved 2014-Dec-01. Army Army 0 3 7 0 Notre Dame 21 9 14 7 Missouri Originally, Missouri was scheduled to host this game at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, but the St. Louis Cardinals forced the game to be moved to the University of Missouri campus because they anticipated hosting Game 6 of the World Series.South Bend Tribune, Oct. 16, 1970, p. 37. As it turned out, the Cardinals finished a distant fourth place in the National League East, 13 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, and were below .500 from July 1 through the end of the season.https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1970-schedule-scores.shtml 1970 St. Louis Cardinals Schedule Notre Dame 3 0 14 7 Missouri 0 0 7 0 October 17 Memorial Stadium, Columbia, MO 2:50 p.m. CDT Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson ABC Navy Notre Dame 7 28 7 14 Navy 7 0 0 0 October 31 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania yes 1 Notre Dame Dewan 3-yard run (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 7-0 1 Navy Dillon 5-yard run (Lanning kick) Tie 7-7 2 Notre Dame Barz 2-yard run (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 14-7 2 Notre Dame Barz 1-yard run (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 21-7 2 Notre Dame Gatewood 6-yard pass from Theismann (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 28-7 2 Notre Dame Gatewood 29-yard pass from Theismann (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 35-7 3 Notre Dame Allan 3-yard run (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 42-7 4 Notre Dame Diestowski 30-yard run (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 49-7 4 Notre Dame Minnix 5-yard run (Hempel kick) Notre Dame 56-7 yes Ocala Star-Banner. 1970 November 1. Pittsburgh Pittsburgh 0 14 0 0 Notre Dame 7 18 6 15 Georgia Tech Georgia Tech 0 0 7 0 Notre Dame 0 0 3 7 LSU LSU 0 0 0 0 Notre Dame 0 0 0 3 November 21 Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana 1:30 p.m. EST 59,075 mostly cloudy, 47 degrees, wind S 15-18 MPH Jerry Markbreit yes 4 02:54 Notre Dame Hempel 24-yard field goal Notre Dame 3-0 yes USC Notre Dame quarterback Joe Theismann completed 33 of 58 passes for a school-record 526 yards, and the Irish outgained the Trojans 557–359, but committed eight turnovers to zero for Southern Cal.South Bend Tribune, Nov. 29, 1970, pp. 1, 48. Notre Dame 7 7 7 7 So. Cal. 21 3 14 0 November 28 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 1:30 p.m. PST High 50s, heavy rain Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson ABC 1971 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas NOTRE DAME GOES KICKING INTO THE COTTON https://www.si.com/vault/1970/11/30/611874/notre-dame-goes-kicking-into-the-cotton Sports Illustrated Dan Jenkins November 30, 1970 August 25, 2019 #6 Notre Dame vs. #1 Texas Notre Dame 14 10 0 0 Texas 3 8 0 0 January 1, 1971 Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas 1:00 CST 72,000 Gene Calhoun (Big Ten) Lindsey Nelson, Tom Brookshier CBS 1971 Cotton Bowl Classic 1970 Texas Longhorns football team Roster 1970 Notre Dame Fighting Irish f 22 Sr Denny Allan RB 4 So Jim Bulger QB 33 Jr Bill Barz FB 35 Jr John Cieszkowski FB 91 So Mike Creaney TE 67 Jr John Dampeer OG 10 So Daryll Dewan RB 56 Sr Larry DiNardo OG y Bill Gallagher RB 70 Sr Tom Gasseling OT 44 Jr Tom Gatewood WR y 12 Jr Ed Gulyas RB Denny Gutkowski RB Ron Johnson RB 62 Sr Gary Kos OL 73 Jr Mike Martin OT Bob Minnix RB 28 Sr Chuck Nightingale RB 50 Jr Dan Novakov C 26 So Larry Parker RB 11 So Pat Steenberge QB 90 So John Tereschuk C 7 Sr Joe Theismann QB y 80 So Willie Townsend WR 82 Jr Bill Trapp WR 17 Jr Mike Crotty DB 23 Jr Clarence Ellis DB y 5 So Terry Garner DB 72 Sr Mike Kadish DT y 42 Jr Tim Kelly LB 75 Jr Greg Marx DT y 43 Sr Tom McHale LB 1 Tom Menie DB 88 Sr Bob Neidert DL 81 So Jim O'Malley LB 45 Jr Eric Patton LB 85 Jr Walt Patulski DE y Tim Rudnick DB y 21 Jr Ralph Stepaniak DB 38 Jr Rick Thomann LB 61 So Mike Webb LB 40 Sr Jim Wright LB 79 Jr Mike Zikas DL 52 Sr Scott Hempel K 9 Jr Jim Yoder P *Ara Parseghian References Notre Dame Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football seasons Category:Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons Notre Dame Fighting Irish football