1978 Cotton Bowl Classic

December 2025 August 2023 Cotton Bowl Classic 42nd Cotton Bowl Classic January 2 1978 1977 Cotton Bowl Classic 1978.png University of Notre Dame Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10–1 5 5 Dan Devine Independent 3 21 7 7 University of Texas Texas Longhorns 11–0 1 1 Fred Akers SWC 3 7 0 0 bg Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Texas by 7 pointsDecember 31, 1977 Cotton Bowl should decide who's tops 16 Nashua Telegraph UPI New Hampshire https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bXljAAAAIBAJ&sjid=53kNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6991%2C6476038 76,701 Bob Golic7(N. Dame LB)Vagas Ferguson (N. Dame RB) Vance Carlson (Big Eight) CBS Lindsey Nelson, Paul Hornung, Paul Alexander, and Don Criqui thumb|The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, hosted the Cotton Bowl Classic. The 1978 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 42nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, January 2. Part of the 1977–78 bowl game season, it matched the top-ranked and undefeated Texas Longhorns of the Southwest Conference (SWC) and the #5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, an independent. A record crowd of 76,701 turned up to see the coronation of the Longhorns championship season, but Notre Dame surprisingly won as they dominated the Longhorns 38–10.Underwood John January 9, 1978 Shake down the thunder https://www.si.com/vault/1978/01/09/822299/shake-down-the-thunder-though-the-odds-were-great-old-notre-dame-won-over-all-the-no-1-ranked-texas-longhorns-on-a-day-of-astonishing-upsets-and-lopsided-scores Sports Illustrated 9January 3, 1978 Texas fumbles title and Irish fall on it 2C Eugene Register-Guard Associated Press Oregon https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q8YUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6OEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7162%2C597265Mizell Hubert January 3, 1978 Notre Dame corrals 'Horns, Campbell in 38-10 cruise 1C St. Petersburg Times Florida https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N7laAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bFkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2322%2C2236623Loomis Tom January 3, 1978 Irish put in bid for No. 1, beat Texas in all phases 18 Toledo Blade Ohio https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vQtPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bwIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6317%2C2274144Bock Hal January 3, 1978 Devine feels Irish No. 1 after easy victory 16 Youngstown Vindicator Ohio https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mJNIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vYMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1237%2C1109082 New Year's Day was on Sunday in 1978, and the major college bowl games were played the following day. Teams 1977 NCAA Division I football season Notre Dame 1977 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team Fifth-ranked Notre Dame entered the game at 10–1. In September, they were upset by Mississippi in Jackson,September 18, 1977 Irish stunned by Ole Miss D1 Toledo Blade Associated Press Ohio https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_ApPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6822%2C3949137 but had won all nine games since. Texas 1977 Texas Longhorns football team Texas had won all eleven games; the closest margins were in October against Oklahoma and Arkansas. Game summary Televised by CBS, the game kicked off at around 1 p.m. CST, as did the Sugar Bowl on ABC.January 2, 1978 Sports on TV 15 Spokesman-Review Spokane, Washington https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nvYjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zu0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=1940%2C1022168 Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell of Texas gained 116 yards on 29 carries, but was kept out of the end zone. Tied at three after the first quarter, the Irish scored three touchdowns in eight minutes to lead 24–3; Texas finally got in the end zone late in the second quarter to narrow the lead to fourteen points at halftime. Notre Dame then shut out the Longhorns in the second half while scoring two more touchdowns. The 28-point loss by the Longhorns resulted in complete chaos in the final polls, with Notre Dame vaulting past #3 Alabama to win the national championship.January 4, 1978 AP, UPI agree – it's Notre Dame 1C St. Petersburg Times AP, UPI Florida https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OLlaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bFkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5580%2C2771519January 4, 1978 It might not add up, but Irish are clearly No. 1 3C Eugene Register-Guard AP, UPI Oregon https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P_hVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6OEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7028%2C772477January 2, 1978 - Notre Dame 38, Texas 10 http://media.attcottonbowl.com/resource/history/1978/rsrc/1978-Classic-Recap.pdf dead https://web.archive.org/web/20200828064036/http://media.attcottonbowl.com/resource/history/1978/rsrc/1978-Classic-Recap.pdf August 28, 2020 AT&T Cotton Bowl Scoring First quarter Notre Dame – Dave Reeve 47-yard field goal, 11:35 remaining (after fumble recovery by Ross Browner) ND 3–0 Texas – Russell Erxleben 42-yard field goal, 6:07. Tie 3–3 Second quarter Notre Dame – Terry Eurick 6-yard run (Reeve kick), 14:56 (after fumble recovery by Jim Browner) ND 10–3 Notre Dame – Eurick 10-yard run (Reeve kick), 11:37 (after fumble recovery by Willie Fry) ND 17–3 Notre Dame – Vagas Ferguson 17-yard pass from Joe Montana (Reeve kick), 7:28 (after interception by Doug Becker) ND 24–3 Texas – Mike Lockett 13-yard pass from Randy McEachern (Erxleben kick), 0:01 ND 24–10 Third quarter Notre Dame – Ferguson 3-yard run (Reeve kick), 6:49 (after interception by Steve Heimkreiter) ND 31–10 Fourth quarter Notre Dame – Ferguson 26-yard run (Reeve kick), 9:41 (after fake punt attempt) ND 38–10 Source: Statistics {| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Statistics !! Notre Dame !! 5Texas5 |- |First downs ||26 ||16 |- |Rushing yards ||53–243 ||50–130 |- |Passing yards ||156 ||160 |- |Passing || 14–32–1 || 11–24–3 |- |Total offense ||85–399 ||74–290 |- |Fumbles–lost ||0–0||3–3 |- |Turnovers ||1||6 |- |Punts–average ||5–30.4 || 3–40.0 |- |Penalties–yards ||4–37 ||1–5 |} Source: Aftermath Texas' loss opened the door to the national championship for several teams: second-ranked Oklahoma was soundly beaten 31–6 by #6 Arkansas in the Orange Bowl nightcap, and in between, fourth-ranked Michigan fell 27–20 to #13 Washington in the Rose Bowl.January 3, 1978 How they fared 6B Deseret News Salt Lake City, Utah https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DiMPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sYUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4448%2C431913 That left third-ranked Alabama and #5 Notre Dame as the primary teams for the title. Alabama felt that with their convincing 35–6 win over #9 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, they would be champions due to the losses by Texas and Oklahoma,Browning Al January 3, 1978 No. 1? Bear doesn't know Tuscaloosa News Alabama https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CW00AAAAIBAJ&sjid=B54EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4607%2C650180 but the pollsters saw it differently. Notre Dame was voted number one in every poll. Perhaps the rout by fellow SWC member Arkansas in the Orange Bowl made the difference as it made Notre Dame's victory over Texas (who had won at Arkansas in mid-October) even more impressive. References 2 Cotton Bowl Classic Category:Cotton Bowl Classic Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football bowl games Category:Texas Longhorns football bowl games Cotton Bowl Classic Category:January 1978 sports events in the United States