1974 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team The 1974 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1974 college football season . It was Ara Parseghian ' s final season as head coach . Season summary . Georgia Tech . The season began as Notre Dame faced Georgia Tech who scored first , but the Irish came back to scored 31 unanswered points . Wayne Bullock tied it with a 14 - yard touchdown run after a Tech fumble . the Fighting Irish took the lead in the second quarter on a 22 - yard Dave Reeve field goal and a 7 - yard touchdown pass from Tom Clements to Pete Demmerle . in the second half , Bullock scored from the one and Al Samules slashed in from the 8 on a sweep . The national telcast caught a great play when Steve Sylvester blindsided a pursuing Tech linemen as he Clements on a broken play . Northwestern . Notre Dame dropped four fumbles in the first half and Northwestern held the Irish to a 14 - 3 halftime lead . the first Fighting Irish score followed a pas to Demmerle that reached the Northwestern 2 ; Russ Kornman scored . Bullock scored for the second touchdown after a Northwestern roughing penalty boosted a drive . Ron Goodman ran 62 yards to score on the fourth play of the new half . Clements followed a fumble recovery with a drive and a 14 - yard touchdown pass to Robin Weber . Frank Allocco scored akeeper after another fumble . Reserves Mark McLane punched over an 11 - yard touchdown and Terry Eurick a two - yarder . Future All - America tihght end Ken MacAfee ( 6 ' 5 " and 245 pounds0 made his freshman appearance . Notre Dame won 49 - 3 . Purdue . Purdue stopped the winning streak at 13 with a 31 – 20 victory . The Fighting Irish self - destructed with early fumbles and interceptions . Purdue enjoyed a 21 - 0 lead after only 11 plays . Their scored came on a one - yard quarterback keeper around end , a 52 - yard scoring sprint , and a 21 - yard interception return . Notre Dame shanked a punt and Purdue nailed a 47 - yard field goal . Bullock scored early in the second quarter . At the half , the score was 24 - 7 , and Notre Dame had 208 yards to Purdue ' s 168 . Bullock scored on a short run in the third quarter after a busted play . Two scoring opportunities were wasted with loss of possession on downs and an ineligible receiver penalty . Purdue intercepted a pass and made a 6 - yard follow - up touchdown . Clements hit Demmerle late with a touchdown pass , too late to change the outcome . The Fighting Irish beat themselves with offensive mistakes , although they outgained Purdue 407 yard to 270 . Michigan State . The Fighting Irish came back the next week against Michigan State . In the first quarter , Kevin Nosbusch recovered a fumble caused by Mike Stock and Mike Fanning . Clements almost got a touchdown out of a pass play to Weber ; Bullock plowed in for the score . The Spartans fumbled at their 10 and Bullock scored on the next play . Reeve made a field goal from 38 yards after a bad Spartan punt . he added a 32 - yarder in the last period . The Spartans drove 99 yards for their first touchdown , scored again , but Randy Payne intercepted a pass to kill their last good chance . Bullock ran the ball against MSU 36 times , a new record . Rice . Rice , normally a patsy , went down by the surprising score of 10 - 3 . Notre Dame spotted Rice an early field goal and spent the rest of the game searching for their missing offense . In the second quarter , the Fighting Irish were flagged for illegal procedure ; a referee claimed the linemen ' s posteriors were not on the same horizontal plane , within an inch ' s variance . Ara protested with all he had , only to add to the penalty . After 5 futile drives , Reeve kicked a 45 - yard field goal . Rice was kept in check for the rest of the game . in the fourth quarter , Notre Dame used 20 plays to execute an 80 - yard drive . Bullock scored from the two around left end . Army . Army was again mismatched , 48 - 0 . Bullock scored from the six to lead Fighting Irish backs to 525 yards rushing and 30 first downs , a new record . Bullock scored the second touchdown as well . Clements ran a seven - yard keeper before halftime for a touchdown and a 20 - 0 score . in the third period , Russ Kornman scored twice , form the seven and the four , and Al Samuels went 35 yards on a pitchout to score . Tom Baker scored the same way in the fourth quarter , form the six . Miami . Miami was 4 - 1 and had stars Rubin Carter , Dennis Harrah , and Mike Archer but fell to Notre Dame . Demmerle caught a 53 - yard touchdown in the first two minutes of the game . Miami later fumbled on a 69 - yard punt , at their nine ; Bullock rammed in to score on the next play . Reeve made an 18 - yard field goal fter MacAfee set him up with a 24 - yard pass play . Randy Harrison intercepted a pass and ran it back 44 yards for a touchdown . Clements scored on a keeper from the Miami 8 , and MacAfee made a four - yard touchdown catch . Clements was 13 of 19 for 154 yards and two touchdowns . Navy . The 14 – 6 win over Navy was a turning point in Notre Dame football history ; on the flight back from Philadelphia , a weary Ara Parseghian decided he would leave football . He had important family considerations and constant pressure ; the fun was gone . The fighting Irish probably played down to the Middies . Goodman fumbled a punt early in the game and Navy kicked a field goal . They added another in the second half for a 6 - 0 lead . The only decent Fighting Irish drive to that point ended in a missed field goal . The defense turned it up , forced a punt , and Goodman took it back to their 28 . Surving a bad snap at the five , Clements found Demmerle for a touchdown . Randy Harrison made an interception and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown . It was an ugly win and Clements had his worst day , 5 of 22 with two interceptions . Pittsburgh . In their next game , Notre Dame looked proficient on the first possession and Bullock scored from the seven . But then they had to wait until the fourth quarter . in the interim , Pitt kicked a field goal and scored from the one . notre Dame had stopped a Pitt scoring attempt after a blocked Irish punt — this proved to be the game - saver . With 8 minutes left , and 55 yards away from the goal , Clements uesd Bullock for 32 yards on line smashes , and hit Demmerle with a 3 - yard touchdown pass for the win . Bullock ' s 25 runs gave him 193 for the year to break Neil Worden ' s old record . Air Force . Kornman , in for an injured Bullock , scored from the one , but Parise got in there with a 62 - yard jaunt . Parise scored in the second quarter from the 11 , and Clements scored from the nine . Allocco scored on a keeper from the one for a 28 - 0 halftime score . in the second half , Reeve booted a 33 - yard field goal and Allocco hit Kevin Doherty with a 25 - yard touchdown pass . USC . The Fighting Irish blew a two - touchdwon lead as USC scored 55 points in a strange game . Drew Mahalic intercepted a Pat Haden pass , and Bullock scored from the two to end the short drive . Clements threw to Demmerle for a touchdown form the USC 29 . reeve hit a field goal , and McLane scored from the nine with a drwa play . Anthony Davis scored from the eoght with a swing pass but they missed the point after . then they hammered Notre Dame for 49 unanswered points in the second half . Davis ran the kickoff back 102 yards for a touchdown , scored from the six , and then four . J . K . McKay caught an 18 - yard touchdown pass , and a 44 - yarder . the Fighting Irish fumbled , and Diggs caught a 16 - yard touchdown pass , A long Clements pass was returned 58 yards for the final touchdown and a 55 - 24 win for USC . Orange Bowl . A Crimson Tide fumble at the 16 ended in a Bullock score from the four . Notre Dame rolled on along drive , mostly running , and McLane scored from the nine in the second quarter . The point after was missed . An Irish fumble earned Alabama a field goal . The third quarter was scoreless . the Crimson Tide scored on a 48 - yard pass play in the fourth quarter and made a 2 - point conversion . The wishbone haad foundered on the Notre Dame defense , so they had to pass . it was their undoing . Reggie Barnett intercepted a pass and zigzagged all over the Orange Bowl for the win . the wishbone gained 62 yards all evening . The Fighting Irish players carried Ara off the field and into history .