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| Herschel Walker would carry the ball 36 times for 150 yards and score two touchdowns in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. |
But it wasn't Notre Dame that would be playing for the national championship, but their opponents, the Georgia Bulldogs who entered New Year's Day 1981 #1 with a 11-0 record and a chance to claim the national championship with a win over Notre Dame in New Orleans.
Georgia entered the 1980 season with modest expectations as they were ranked #16 in the Associated Press preseason poll.
The Dawgs were led by head coach Vince Dooley, who was entering his 17th season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, having lead them to three SEC titles but never a national championship.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame entered the season ranked #9 in the AP preseason poll despite coming off a 7-4 season in 1979.
The 1980 season would be the last for head coach Dan Devine, who on August 15th, that he would be stepping down as Notre Dame head coach to spend more time with his family.
Notre Dame hoped to give Devine a ride into the sunset with another national title as Devine had lead the Irish to the 1977 national title.
It certainly appeared that the Irish would have a chance to play for the national championship as they won started the season 7-0 to become the #1 team in the country until they a shocking 3-3 tie to 1-7 Georgia Tech dropped them from #1 to #6.
The team that replaced Notre Dame at #1: Georgia.
The Dawgs jumped to the #1 ranking for the first time in school history thanks to freshman phenom running back Herschel Walker, who made his debut in spectacular fashion as he famously ran off Tennessee defensive back Bill Bates for his first career touchdown in sparking a Georgia 16-15 comeback win over the Volunteers in their season opener.
Behind Walker and an opportunistic defense that featured all-American cornerback Scott Woerner which lead the country in turnover margin, the Dawgs climbed up the polls as they jumped all the way to #2 until they faced Florida on the same Saturday as Notre Dame tied Georgia Tech.
In that game, the Dawgs pulled out a miracle 26-21 win as quarterback Buck Belue connected with Lindsay Scott on a 93-yard touchdown pass with over a minute left which kept Georgia undefeated and vaulted them to #1.
While Georgia would finish the season 11-0 with wins over Auburn and Georgia Tech, Notre Dame would jump back up to #2 thanks to a 7-0 win over Alabama, but would fall in their regular season finale 20-3 to USC, dropping them to #7 with a 9-1-1 as they were invited to play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, who earned their spot in the game as the SEC champion automatically got to play in the Sugar Bowl.
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| The 1981 Sugar Bowl was the final game in Dan Devine's coaching career. |
Notre Dame got the ball to start the game and promptly drove from their own 20 to the Georgia 30-yard-line, thanks to freshman quarterback Blair Kiel's 3-of-4 passing for 46 yards on the drive.
The Irish appeared to convert on 3rd & 2 at the 30-yard-line as Phil Carter ran for five yards, only to have an illegal use of hands nullify the run and push the Irish back five yards for 3rd & 7 at the 35-yard-line.
Carter could only run for three yards, forcing the Irish to settle for a 50-yard field goal by Harry Oliver, which was successful to give Notre Dame a 3-0 lead with 10:41 to go in the first quarter.
The Dawgs begin their first possession of the game at their 20-yard-line when disaster seemed to strike on the second play from scrimmage as Walker dislocated his left shoulder following a hit by strong safety Dave Duerson.
Walker went to the bench where the trainers told Dooley that they thought Herschel was done for the game.
A holding penalty and a quarterback sack forced the Dawgs to punt from their end zone as the Irish would begin their next possession from the Georiga 41-yard-line.
The Irish picked up one 1st down before the Georgia defense stiffened and forced the field goal unit to come on and have Oliver attempt to a 48-yard field goal.
That is when freshman defensive back Terry Hoage busted through the Irish offensive line to block the kick which was recovered by Irish wide receiver Mike Condeni, but since it was 4th down, the ball would go to the Dawgs at the Notre Dame 49-yard-line.
After receiving some treatment from the trainers to get his shoulder to pop back into place, Walker returned to the game and carried the ball six times for 31 yards to lead Georgia to the Notre Dame 18-yard-line for a 3rd & 8 when defensive end John Hankerd sacked Belue for a 11-yard-loss.
Rex Robinson come on and kicked a 46-yard field goal to tie the game at 3 with just 1:45 left in the first quarter as the Dawgs prepared for the ensuing kickoff when the strangest play of the game.
As Robinson's kick was coming toward them, confusion ensued between returners Jim Stone + Ty Barber on who would catch the kickoff.
Stone yelled for Barber to catch it but Barber could not hear over the Louisiana Superdome crowd and instead ran up the field with Stone as the ball bounced at the four-yard-line.
Since the kick had traveled beyond 10 yards it was a free ball, meaning the Dawgs could recover it without a Notre Dame player touching it before as Dale Carver dived under Stone and Barber to try and recover the loose ball.
While Carver could not grasp the football, his teammate safety Bob Kelly was able to recover the loose ball at the Notre Dame one-yard-line, giving the Dawgs a 1st & goal.
After Belue was stopped for no gain, the junior quarterback handed it off to Walker, who dove over the scrum of players for the game's first touchdown that with Robinson's extra point, gave Georgia a 10-3 lead with 1:04 left in the first quarter.
Following an exchange of punts, the Irish got the ball early in the second quarter only to fumble it away when fullback John Sweeney lost the ball after he was hit by linebacker Frank Ros, which was recovered by defensive back Chris Welton to give the Dawgs the ball at the Notre Dame 22-yard-line.
Walker carried the ball for 12 yards to start the drive, which was followed by a seven-yard scramble by Belue, and then topped off by a Walker run around the right side for a three-yard touchdown to increase the Dawgs' lead to 17-3 with 13:49 left in the second quarter as Georgia had scored 17 points in a span of just 2 minutes and 56 seconds.
On the ensuing Irish possession, Kiel was pulled in favor of Mike Courey in hopes of sparking an Irish comeback.
Courey would lead the Notre Dame offense from their 22-yard-line to the Georgia 13-yard-line where they faced a 4th & 3.
Instead of going for the field goal, Devine decided to gamble and go for the 1st down, but when Courey took the snap, he not only went for the 1st down, but for the touchdown, as he threw a pass toward the right side of the end zone, intended for Pete Holohan.
But Woerner would leap up along with Holohan and pick off the pass, then ran it back to the Notre Dame 19-yard-line.
The rest of the second half would be a stalemate as neither team could mount a drive that could turn into points as the Dawgs went into the locker room with a 17-3 halftime lead.
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| Scott Woerner made several key defensive plays including two interceptions |
However, that is when things broke down for the Irish as on 2nd & 10, Kiel threw a pass for Tony Hunter in the end zone, who made the catch, but not could not get one foot inbounds, making the pass incomplete.
Then on 3rd down, Kiel threw a pass for Holohan in almost the exact same spot where Woerner intercepted Courey in the second quarter.
This time, Woerner knocked it down, forcing the Irish to attempt a 30-yard field goal by Oliver, which sailed wide right keeping it a 17-3 game.
Notre Dame would force the Dawgs to punt on their ensuing possession, getting the ball back at their 43-yard-line where they put together their best drive of the game as Kiel completed all four of his passes for 38 yards on a 10-play, 57-yard drive which culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by Carter to trim the Georgia lead to 17-10 with 54 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Irish seemed to have all the momentum now especially with their defense stifling the Georgia offense as the Dawgs could only muster one 1st down through three possessions in the third quarter and Belue had not completed a pass up to this point in the game.
After another Georgia punt, the Irish got the ball at their 45-yard-line and drove to the Dawgs' 20-yard-line in six plays as they prepared for a 3rd & 3 situation.
That is when Woerner struck again as he tackled Carter for an one-yard-loss, leading Devine to call on Oliver to attempt a 38-yard field goal in hopes of making it a 17-13 game.
But Oliver's kick sailed wide left and the score remained 17-10 in favor of the Dawgs early in the 4th quarter.
Things appeared bleak for the Irish when on their next possession, Kiel was intercepted by defensive back Mike Fisher, handing the Dawgs the ball at the Notre Dame 37-yard-line with a chance to put the game away.
However, the Dawgs offense could only pick up six yards leading to a 48-yard field goal attempt by Robinson, which he missed, to keep it a 17-10 game.
Following an exchange of punts, the Irish had the ball at their 43-yard-line with 5:10 to play in the game.
The drive began well with a seven-yard run by Carter, but it was followed up by a four-yard loss on a quarterback sack by defensive lineman Eddie Weaver.
Kiel would hit Nick Vehr for six yards on 3rd & 7, setting up a 4th & 1 at the Georgia 48-yard-line with almost three minutes to play.
Even though his defense had put a stranglehold on the Georgia offense, Devine declined to punt the ball and instead went for the 1st down.
Kiel took the snap and instead of handing the ball off to Carter which almost everybody expected, he instead rolled out and threw a pass intended for tight end Dean Mastzak, only to have Woerner make the interception to give the ball back to Georgia at their 34-yard-line with 2:56 left in the game.
Even though he had not completed a pass in the game and had been sacked four times, Belue would come up huge as the Dawgs needed some 1st downs to run out the clock.
First on a 3rd & 3 from the Georgia 41-yard-line, Belue scrambled for six yards to give the Dawgs a 1st down at their 47-yard-line.
Then on 3rd & 7 at the 50-yard-line after missing on his first 11 passes, Belue was finally able to complete a pass as he hit Amp Arnold for seven yards and another Georgia 1st down.
An offsides penalty and an eight-yard-run by Walker gave the Dawgs one more 1st down, allowing them to run out the clock and come away with the 17-10 victory despite being outgained 328-127 on offense.
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| Georgia head coach Vince Dooley is carried off the field by his players after his Bulldogs won the 1980 national title. |
As the clock ticked down to zero, Georgia fans swarmed the field and players hoisted up Dooley on their shoulders to celebrate their 12-0 season and the fact that they would be national champions.
Two days later, they would officially be named national champions as the Associated Press and the UPI Coaches poll voted Georgia #1 in their final polls as well in 12 other NCAA-recognized polls.
Notre Dame would finish #9 in the final AP and #10 in the final coaches poll as Devine's career come to an end with a 53-16-1 record in his six seasons at South Bend.
The Irish would go from national power to years of mediocrity as Devine's replacement, Gerry Faust complied a 30-27-1 record over the next five years leading Notre Dame to only two bowl games over that period with the most wins the Irish had in a season during Faust's tenure was seven in both 1983 and 84.
Faust was fired after the 1985 season and replaced by Lou Holtz who in his third year lead the Irish to the national championship.
As for Georgia, they would remain in the national title picture for the next two years thanks to Walker as Georgia would win the SEC the next two seasons and returned to the Sugar Bowl both times with a chance to win the national championship.
But a Clemson win in the 1982 Orange Bowl, denied the Dawgs a chance at back-to-back national championships, as they needed a Clemson loss and a win over Pittsburgh to claim another national title(They lost to Pitt 24-20 in the Sugar Bowl).
The following season, Walker would win the Heisman Trophy as he lead the Dawgs to a 11-0 regular season and a #1 ranking as they entered the Sugar Bowl to face off with #2 Penn State.
However, the Dawgs would lose 27-23 to the Nittany Lions in what turned out to be Walker's final game as he ended up leaving Georgia to sign with the new spring football league, the USFL(United States Football League).
Walker would run for 5,562 yards, including a record 2,411 yards in 1985, during his three-year stint with the New Jersey Generals, before the league folded in 1986.
Walker jumped to the NFL where he spend 12 years in the league rushing for 8,225 for four different teams before his retirement following the 1997 NFL season.
Even four decades after his college career at Georgia, many consider still Walker the greatest college football running back of all time as he finished with 5,259 rushing yards and 49 touchdown runs as many of his records still stand at the University of Georgia.
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