|
|
|
|
Air Force Falcons |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish © |
|
Played November 22, 1973 at Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, Indiana |
|
Teams' Belt Records
|
Team |
Belt Reigns |
Overall Record |
Home Record |
Away Record |
Neutral Record |
||||||||||||
|
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
||
| Air Force | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Notre Dame © | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | ||||
Previous Belt Meetings: None
|
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
|
|
Air Force |
0 |
6 |
3 |
6 |
15 |
|
Notre Dame |
28 |
6 |
0 |
14 |
48 |
Air Force, coached by Ben Martin, brought a 4-game winning streak & 6-3 record to South Bend to meet the 5th ranked, 8-0 Notre Dame Fighting Irish of coach Ara Parseghian. Their record was deceptive though as they had lost 2 of the 3 road games they had played. Notre Dame scored 4 touchdowns in the 1st quarter including 2 by RB Eric Penick as the Fighting Irish amassed 414 rushing yards on their way to a 48-15 victory to retain The Belt. Notre Dame's QB Tom Clements opened the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown pass to All-American TE Dave Casper. The first of Air Force's 5 turnovers set-up the next score for the Fighting Irish, a 6-yard touchdown run by Penick. RB Wayne Bullock's 8-yard touchdown run followed by Penick's 4-yard touchdown run finished the 1st quarter eruption for Notre Dame. Air Force got on the board early in the 2nd quarter with a 21-yard touchdown pass from QB Rich Haynie to WR Alvin Bready but Notre Dame got field goals of 36 & 32 yards from PK Bob Thomas as the Fighting Irish took a 34-6 halftime lead. The Falcons scored the only points of the 3rd quarter on a 51-yard field goal by PK Dave Lawson but Air Force was unable to stop the Notre Dame rushing attack. Back-up QB Cliff Brown connected with WR Pete Demmerle on a 22-yard touchdown pass to open the 4th quarter & RB Al Samuel scored on a 5-yard touchdown run midway through the period to finish the Notre Dame scoring. Air Force's RB David Reiner added an 18-yard touchdown run with just 3:04 left in the game for the final points. Clements finished with 91 yards passing with his touchdown & RB Art Best added 125 yards rushing in the win. Haynie threw for 189 yards with a touchdown & an interception while WR Frank Murphy added 7 catches for 107 yards. Notre Dame finished 11-0 & claimed the National Championship while the Falcons finished the season 6-4. Air Force would play for The Belt again in 1975.
