The 1975 Orange Bowl was the 41st

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of the college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

, played at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1974–75 bowl game season, it matched the ninth-ranked

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and the undefeated #2

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC). It was a rematch of the previous season's Sugar Bowl. In a game dominated by both defenses, underdog Notre Dame held on to upset the Tide,

Teams

Notre Dame

Notre Dame went 9–2 in the regular season, with losses to Purdue and USC. Following their victory over

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, Orange Bowl officials announced an invitation to Notre Dame and Alabama. This was Notre Dame's sixth bowl game appearance and their second Orange Bowl. It was notable as

Ara Parseghian Ara Raoul Parseghian (; hy, Արա Ռաուլ Պարսեղյան; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for br ...

's final game as head coach, as he announced his resignation from the position December 15. He was succeeded by

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Universi ...

, the head coach of the NFL's Green Bay Packers for four seasons, and previously led

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

and

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Alabama

Alabama won all eleven games in the regular season and were conference champions. Following their victory over

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

, Orange Bowl officials announced Alabama accepted an invitation to play against Notre Dame in a rematch of the previous year's Sugar Bowl. It was Alabama's 28th bowl game appearance and seventh Orange Bowl. Undefeated Alabama was first in the UPI coaches poll (#2 in AP poll) and favored by nine to ten points.

Game summary

Earlier in the evening in California, fifth-ranked USC won the Rose Bowl by a point over #3

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Top-ranked Oklahoma was bowl ineligible, and #4

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

was also idle, as this was the final season that the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

(and Pac-8) allowed just one bowl team. The final game of New Year's Day, the Orange Bowl kicked off at night; 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. Five plays later, the Irish scored on a four-yard Wayne Bullock

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

run to take a 7–0 lead. Their lead was extended to 13–0 midway through the second quarter after Mark McLane scored on a nine-yard touchdown run to cap a 17-play drive that covered 77 yards. A 21-yard field goal by Danny Ridgeway cut the lead to 13–3 at the half. After a scoreless third, the Crimson Tide scored a late touchdown on a 48-yard

Richard Todd Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...

touchdown pass to Russ Schamun, and with a successful

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion or two-point convert is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run ...

closed the gap to 13–11. After a defensive stop, Alabama got the ball back at its own 38 with under two minutes remaining, needing only a field goal to win. After two completions, the ball was on the Irish 38; Todd missed an open

Ozzie Newsome Ozzie Newsome Jr. (born March 16, 1956) is an American former professional football player and executive who is the executive vice president of player personnel of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Newsome was a tight e ...

and threw an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

to Reggie Barnett, effectively ending the comeback for the Tide. Bullock was the leading rusher at 83 yards, and was named the game's outstanding player, with Alabama defensive end Leroy Cook.

Aftermath

In an era of few postseason games, this was Alabama's sixteenth consecutive bowl appearance, but was the eighth straight without a victory (0–7–1). Their last postseason win was in starting with the next season, the Tide won six consecutive bowl games.

Scoring

Statistics

: :

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orange Bowl, 1975 1974–75 NCAA football bowl games

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1975 in sports in Florida January 1975 sports events in the United States