1971 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1971 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 15
AP	No. 13
1971 record	8–2
Head coach	Ara Parseghian (8th season)
Captain	Tom Gatewood
Captain	Walt Patulski
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons

1971 NCAA University Division independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Penn State			–					11	–	1	–	0
Boston College			–					9	–	2	–	0
No. 17 Houston			–					9	–	3	–	0
No. 13 Notre Dame			–					8	–	2	–	0
Utah State			–					8	–	3	–	0
Florida State			–					8	–	4	–	0
Cincinnati			–					7	–	4	–	0
West Virginia			–					7	–	4	–	0
Temple			–					6	–	2	–	1
Air Force			–					6	–	4	–	0
Army			–					6	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					6	–	4	–	0
Villanova			–					6	–	4	–	1
South Carolina			–					6	–	5	–	0
Southern Miss			–					6	–	5	–	0
Georgia Tech			–					6	–	6	–	0
New Mexico State			–					5	–	5	–	1
Northern Illinois			–					5	–	5	–	1
Syracuse			–					5	–	5	–	1
Dayton			–					5	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					4	–	7	–	0
Rutgers			–					4	–	7	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					4	–	7	–	0
Navy			–					3	–	8	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					3	–	8	–	0
Tulane			–					3	–	8	–	0
Xavier			–					1	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season.

Prior to their concluding game at LSU, #7 Notre Dame (8–1) announced that they would not play in a bowl game this season.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 18	1:30 p.m.	Northwestern	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)		W 50–7	59,075
September 25	1:30 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 2	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)		W 8–7	69,765
October 2	12:50 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 4	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Megaphone Trophy)	ABC	W 14–2	59,075
October 9	8:15 p.m.	at Miami	No. 9	Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 17–0	66,039
October 16	1:30 p.m.	North Carolina	No. 7	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		W 16–0	59,075
October 23	1:30 p.m.	USC	No. 6	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	L 14–28	59,075
October 30	1:30 p.m.	Navy	No. 12	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)		W 21–0	59,075
November 6	1:00 p.m.	at Pittsburgh	No. 8	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)		W 56–7	55,528
November 13	1:30 p.m.	Tulane	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		W 21–7	59,075
November 20	8:05 p.m.	at No. 14 LSU	No. 7	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA	ABC	L 8–28	66,936
Rankings from AP Poll All times are in Eastern time

Source:

Game summaries

Purdue

Notre Dame at Purdue

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 0 0 0 8 8 Purdue 0 7 0 0 7 Date: September Location: Ross–Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN Game attendance: 69,765 Game weather: Rain/mud Scoring summary 2 PUR Armstrong 26 yard pass from Danielson (Renie kick) PUR 7-0 4 2:58 ND Swendsen recovered fumble in end zone (Steenberge to Creaney pass) ND 8-7

Navy

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total Navy 0 0 0 0 0 • Notre Dame 7 14 0 0 21 Date: October 30 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana Game attendance: 59,075 Scoring summary 1 ND Gulyas 1 yard run (Thomas kick) ND 7-0 2 ND Minnix 1 yard run (Thomas kick) ND 14-0 2 ND Minnix 10 yard run (Thomas kick) ND 21-0

LSU

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 0 0 0 8 8 • LSU 7 7 7 7 28 Date: November 20 Location: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Game start: 7:05 p.m. CST Game attendance: 66,936 Referee: James M. Artley Scoring summary 1 10:47 LSU Hamilton 36 pass from Jones (Michaelson kick) LSU 7-0 2 01:14 LSU Hamilton 32 pass from Jones (Michaelson kick) LSU 14-0 3 00:10 LSU Jones 5 run (Michaelson kick) LSU 21-0 4 02:54 ND Gatewood 7 pass from Brown (Minnix pass from Brown) LSU 21-8 4 00:20 LSU Hamilton 13 pass from Lyons (Michaelson kick) LSU 28-8

Roster

1971 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class G 62 Bolger, TomTom Bolger 3.0 !So QB 8 Brown, CliffCliff Brown 3.0 !So TE 88 Casper, DaveDave Casper 3.0 !So WR 44 Gatewood, TomTom Gatewood 7.0 !Sr RB 22 Hill, GregGreg Hill 3.0 !So C 50 Novakow, DanDan Novakow 7.0 !Sr WR 80 Townsend, WillieWillie Townsend 5.0 !Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 17 Crotty, MikeMike Crotty 7.0 !Sr DB 23 Ellis, ClarenceClarence Ellis 7.0 !Sr DT 72 Kadish, MikeMike Kadish 7.0 !Sr DT 75 Marx, GregGreg Marx 5.0 !Jr LB 81 O'Malley, JimJim O'Malley 5.0 !Jr LB 45 Patton, EricEric Patton 3.0 !So DE 85 Patulski, WaltWalt Patulski 7.0 !Sr DE 93 Swendson, FredFred Swendson 7.0 !Sr LB 61 Webb, MikeMike Webb 5.0 !Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 98 Thomas, BobBob Thomas 3.0 !So	Head coach Ara Parseghian Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Walt Patulski	Defensive end	1	1	Buffalo Bills
Clarence Ellis	Defensive back	1	15	Atlanta Falcons
Mike Kadish	Defensive tackle	1	25	Miami Dolphins
Fred Swendson	Defensive end	3	53	Buffalo Bills
Eric Patton	Linebacker	4	86	Green Bay Packers
Tom Gatewood	Running back	5	107	New York Giants
Ralph Stepaniak	Defensive back	7	157	Buffalo Bills
Mike Zikas	Defensive tackle	7	177	New York Giants