The 1973 Alabama squad finished the regular season with an 11–0 record, as conference champions and as national champions as determined by the Coaches' Poll.[2] Following their victory over Miami, university officials announced they accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl.[3] The appearance marked the sixth for Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, their 27th overall bowl game appearance and their first all-time meeting against Notre Dame.[3]
The 1973 Notre Dame squad finished the regular season with an 10–0. Following their victory over Miami, university officials announced they accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl.[3] The appearance marked the first for Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, and their fifth overall bowl game appearance.
Game summary[]
Notre Dame opened the scoring with a Wayne Bullock 6-yard touchdown run, and after a missed extra point too an early 6–0 lead.[4] In the second quarter, Alabama took the lead on a 6-yard Randy Billingsley touchdown run, only to see the Irish go up 14–7 on the following play. On the ensuing kickoff, was returned 93-yards for a touchdown by Al Hunter.[4] The Tide cut the lead to 14–10 late in the quarter on a 39-yard Bill Davis field goal.[4] In the third quarter, the teams traded touchdowns with Alabama scoring first on a 5-yard Wilbur Jackson touchdown run and Notre Dame on a 12-yard Eric Penick touchdown run to make the score 21–17 entering the final period.[4] After quarterback Richard Todd made a 25-yard touchdown reception from Mike Stock on a beautiful trick play, Davis missed the extra point to only put Alabama up 23–21.[4] The Irish responded with a 19-yard field goal by Bob Thomas to take the lead 24–23 with 4:26 remaining in the game.[4] Late in the 4th quarter Alabama pinned Notre Dame back deep in Irish territory with a punt, hoping to get the ball back within easy range of a game-winning field goal, however, on third and long Irish QB Tom Clements connected with backup TE Robin Weber on a long pass that gave the Irish a first down and allowed them to run out the clock. With their victory, the Associated Press awarded the Irish the national championship in ranking them #1 in their final poll.[5]
