This season marks the 50th anniversary of the two-point conversion’s addition to college football. In at least two national-title settings, it made the difference in the closing minutes or seconds. In 1969, No. 1 Texas defeated No. 2 Arkansas 15-14 in the regular season finale, thanks to making a two-pointer earlier in the fourth quarter. In the 1984 Orange Bowl, No. 1 Nebraska’s two-point bid with 48 seconds left in the contest failed against Miami, and the Hurricanes won their first national title with a 31-30 conquest of the Cornhuskers.
Terrell's batted pass on a late Miami two-point conversion helped preserve the win and propel them to the National Title.
Five football seasons later, Miami was virtually in an identical situation as Nebraska. But this time the Hurricanes were ranked No. 1. This time they were on the opponent’s – Notre Dame – home turf. This time Miami was trailing by that same 31-30 score. And this time there were 45 seconds, not 48, remaining. Miami had just tallied on an 11-yard pass from Steve Walsh to Andre Brown on 4th and 7, and then lined up for two in an attempt to take its first lead of the game.
This was about more than just a potential game-deciding play. Miami represented the nouveau riche as college football’s “Team of the ‘80s,” while Notre Dame, although 5-0 and ranked No. 4, was more of a vestige from the past. Miami had won national titles in 1983 and 1987, and played for the title in 1985 and 1986 as well. Notre Dame, meanwhile, was a pedestrian 43-36-1 (.544) from 1981-87. Another testament to the changing of the guard was Miami’s 4-0 record against the Irish from 1983-87 while outscoring them 133-20.
Yet here was Notre Dame leading 31-30 and a chance to return to the summit with a stop of the two-point attempt. Third-year head coach Lou Holtz’s words from days earlier resonated as the two teams lined up for the play: “This is what Notre Dame is all about. Notre Dame has had a history of beating No. 1 teams. They’ve had a history of doing the impossible. They’ve had a history of coming up with the unexpected performance. And Notre Dame has a history of having people make big plays at critical times. I think Notre Dame history is on our side.”
Indeed, seats weren’t needed on this play as the entire stadium stood for what would be regarded as the biggest play since the dedication of the edifice in 1930. Walsh dropped back to pass, and defensive tackle George Williams pushed his way into the backfield, perhaps forcing Walsh to release the ball a little earlier than he wanted into the southwest corner of the end zone toward Leonard Conley. Junior free safety Pat Terrell – who had earlier returned an interception for a 60-yard touchdown to provide the Irish a 21-7 cushion – had gained position in front of him and batted the pass into the turf. Bedlam was about three flights down from what Notre Dame Stadium became at the conclusion of this play.
The Irish still had to recover the on-side kick attempt, and fullback Anthony Johnson fulfilled that duty. But Terrell’s play was the highlight in the greatest Irish victory ever at Notre Dame Stadium.
“I didn’t realize that that stadium held 150,000 people when I played in that Miami game – because that’s about how many people I’ve run into who said they were sitting in the corner of the end zone when I knocked that ball down,” said Terrell, a pilot and entrepreneur. “When I was in the NFL, I was reminded about that play by a lot by other players, and I was always more upset that they didn’t talk about my interception return for a touchdown in that game.
“Sometimes I’ll think, ‘Wow, if I didn’t make that play, it might be difficult to come back to Notre Dame.’ ”
In the summer of 1974, the first-floor lobby inside Notre Dame’s 14-story Memorial Library had an enlarged photo encased at a site where typically a scholastic achievement or historical moment in scholarship is celebrated. On this particular summer, however, there was an enlarged photo of a football game that was highlighted in this bastion of academia. It showed Notre Dame quarterback Tom Clements lofting a high pass from his end zone, just over a lunging defender, way downfield and into the night.
Underneath the photo was a succinct caption: The Pass.
An individual knows when he’s achieved a lofty stature when he needs only one name. There is Tiger, Michael or Babe in athletics, Bogey, Lucy, or Marilyn behind the camera, or Frank, Elvis or Madonna in music/popular culture. In Notre Dame’s football history, there have been a plethora of electrifying runs, spine-tingling catches, amazing tackles and historical returns…but there is only one “The Pass,” just as there can be only one Marilyn. There was no grander stage, no situation with more on the line, no greater anxiety on both sidelines, in the stands or the millions watching on national television, than when Clements found reserve tight end Robin Weber 35 yards down the field for a completion on 3rd-and-8 with two minutes left. The first down all but sealed the 1973 national title over 11-0 and No. 1-ranked Alabama with a 24-23 victory on New Year’s Eve in the Sugar Bowl.
Clements' third down pass to Weber with two minutes left in the 1973 Sugar Bowl sealed the game and the National Title.
Why does this play rank above all the others? Well, the 1988 Miami game also was a pulsating one-point thriller…but Notre Dame never trailed in that game, and the victory over the Hurricanes didn’t guarantee a national title. It was mid-season, and the Irish still had to play at USC later and maybe face Miami in a rematch in a bowl. Conversely, one knew the 1973 Sugar Bowl was for the national title – and there were seven lead changes in the game. No other national title game has had such a back-and-forth swing.
The famous 1928 “One for The Gipper” victory came against an unbeaten Army team…but Notre Dame finished 5-4 that season. John Lujack’s tackle of Felix “Doc” Blanchard in 1946 helped win a national title…but the 0-0 final left an unfulfilled feeling. Jack Elder’s 100-yard interception return in 1929 in the final game led to a 7-0 victory and national title…but the play came in the second quarter, not in the closing stages. Whichever way you slice it, The Pass encompassed more drama than any other play in Irish history.
A torrential downpour prior to the game made the field and ball somewhat slippery, so when Notre Dame was backed up at its three and facing 3rd and 8, there was plenty of tension. On the sidelines, Alabama head coach Bear Bryant was heard to tell his team, “I guarantee you if you hold them here, we win it all.” A bobbled snap, a fumble, a slip, a safety, an interception…all were possibilities. Irish head coach Ara Parseghian even had long-time assistant Tom Pagna and the “ice water in his veins” Clements do a double-take when he called for the pass play. To disguise the pass, Parseghian took out leading receiving Pete Demmerle and inserted a second tight end, Weber, whose lone pass reception during the year was an 11-yard grab in the opening-game 44-0 victory over Northwestern.
Off play-action, Clements dropped back into the end zone and saw Alabama defenders immediately converge on All-America tight end Dave Casper crossing the middle. With defensive end Leroy Cook making a beeline for Clements on the left side and linebacker Mike DuBose (a future Alabama head coach) coming hard from the right, Clements made the split-second decision to go to Weber, whose primary job was to clear the way for Casper by taking the cornerback deep. The high, arching pass that carried nearly 40 yards in the air just cleared the lunging Cook, and found Weber, who temporarily bobbled the ball, perfectly in stride right in front of the Crimson Tide bench.
“I really thought it was going to be intercepted,” said Clements, the current Green Bay Packers quarterback coach, who ran for one more first down after The Pass to help run out the clock.
“It was the first time all year they called a pass pattern from that double tight-end formation,” said Weber. “…When the situation actually comes, you’re on auto-pilot. You don’t think about the ramifications. If I had thought about it, I would have dropped it and been the governor of Alabama. I was at the right place at the right time. It just goes to show that you always have to be prepared because you never know when your number will be called.”
After the game, a gracious Bryant came to the Notre Dame locker room, asking to shake the hand of “Mark Clements” for his majestic pass. Names can sometimes be forgotten, but The Pass never will.
Will there ever be another Notre Dame play that will supplant this for No. 1?
For that to occur, it would have to be in a national-title showdown that features a mind-boggling play in the closing minute or seconds to win the game. Rocket Ismail’s 91-yard punt return for a TD against No. 1 Colorado in the 1991 Orange Bowl with the Irish trailing 10-9 and only 43 seconds left would have definitely been top 5. But even if a clip hadn’t been called, the win probably wouldn’t have resulted in a national title because the Irish finished 10-2, while UPI national champion Georgia Tech was 11-0-1. Had the play counted and the Irish finished 11-1 instead of 10-2 to capture the national title, then it would have leapfrogged The Pass.
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