The last two weekends I have watched and re-watched the available footage of Pitt's 1976 opening day destruction of Notre Dame in South Bend. The win immediately catapulted Pitt into the national championship discussion. They would win it in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 1977. The New York Times report on that game contained the description of Pitt running back Tony Dorsett quoted in the title.
He did run like water, so effortless and...fluid.
Effortless, like he's carrying a loaf of bread. Or a top. Maybe he could spin it on his finger as he runs. Whistling. It was unbelievable. I've never seen a running back carry the ball like that. And this is after four years at Pitt. This is the run, against Navy, on which Dorsett broke the NCAA career yardage record.
Jesus Christ. Another characterization of Dorsett, equally apt, is "The prettiest running back ever." He was. He was a beautiful runner.
He was "efficient" in his running, there was little superfluous activity, little drama even to his cuts. He was so fast, he was through holes literally faster than you could tell sometimes.
And he was equally "quick," the football term of art for speedy cutback running. Dorsett got hit on every play he carried the football, of course, but his speed and quickness combined to produce elusiveness and though he got hit plenty of times he seldom took "slobber-knocking" hits. He was so slight of build but he was so durable.
The 1976 Pitt-Notre Dame game was moved from November to September 11 to kick off the college football season. Pitt had beaten Notre Dame the previous year at Pitt Stadium and Dorsett had embarrassed the "Fighting Irish," running for over 300 yards. Pitt won 34-20.
Notre Dame Nation was in a froth in the lead up to the 1976 game. The stadium was deafening. They wanted blood, Tony Dorsett's blood. Notre Dame alum and Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung, who was doing Notre Dame broadcasting in 1976 was quoted as saying that if Dorsett ran for 300 yards again he would jump out of the press box window.
The game was nationally televised by ABC and, man, they had their first team there. Keith Jackson calling play-by-play, Bill Fleming and Jim Lampley down on the field, and joining Jackson in the broadcast booth doing color was...Ara Parseghian. Notre Dame's Hall of Fame former coach. This was Parseghian's first game doing color on a Notre Dame game.
There are a couple of things about this game that are legendary, one of them I thought apocryphal: that Notre Dame deliberately grew the field grass long to slow down Dorsett. Snicker, snicker, they didn't do that.
The other legend, which I believed, was that Dorsett broke a long run on the first play of the game. Notre Dame won the coin toss and elected to receive. After a near three-and-out on their first series, the "Irish" masterfully moved down the field, combining running and passing plays, and scored a touchdown. 7-0. The final was to be 31-10 Pitt so yeah, that was the end of the Notre Dame highlights for the afternoon.
Sixty two yards. The first time the mother-fucker touched the ball he ran for sixty-two fucking yards. Un-fucking-believable.
He did run like water, so effortless and...fluid.
And he was equally "quick," the football term of art for speedy cutback running. Dorsett got hit on every play he carried the football, of course, but his speed and quickness combined to produce elusiveness and though he got hit plenty of times he seldom took "slobber-knocking" hits. He was so slight of build but he was so durable.
The 1976 Pitt-Notre Dame game was moved from November to September 11 to kick off the college football season. Pitt had beaten Notre Dame the previous year at Pitt Stadium and Dorsett had embarrassed the "Fighting Irish," running for over 300 yards. Pitt won 34-20.
Notre Dame Nation was in a froth in the lead up to the 1976 game. The stadium was deafening. They wanted blood, Tony Dorsett's blood. Notre Dame alum and Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung, who was doing Notre Dame broadcasting in 1976 was quoted as saying that if Dorsett ran for 300 yards again he would jump out of the press box window.
The game was nationally televised by ABC and, man, they had their first team there. Keith Jackson calling play-by-play, Bill Fleming and Jim Lampley down on the field, and joining Jackson in the broadcast booth doing color was...Ara Parseghian. Notre Dame's Hall of Fame former coach. This was Parseghian's first game doing color on a Notre Dame game.
There are a couple of things about this game that are legendary, one of them I thought apocryphal: that Notre Dame deliberately grew the field grass long to slow down Dorsett. Snicker, snicker, they didn't do that.
The hell they didn't, lol.
It was not on the first play of the game, it wasn't even on Pitt's first play, which was a procedure penalty, it was on Pitt's second play that Dorsett...
Blurrr
Keith Jackson: The first play of the ball game goes to Tony Dorsett and he breaks it over the right side and he may go!
Jackson: Well, how do you do.
Jackson: Well, how do you do.
Ara Parseghian: I don't believe it but I saw it.
Parseghian: I guess Dorsett's back again.
One more thing about this game. This is bizarre. That was ABC. There is a YouTube video, from which those screenshots are taken, labeled Part 1. But there is no Part 2. There is a Part 3 but it is not ABC's telecast, it's Notre Dame radio's broadcast over Mutual with accompanying black and white video. No idea who was calling the game for Notre Dame radio, don't know if he was drunk, but this is bizarre. In the third quarter, Pitt up 24-10, Pitt got the ball back on the Notre Dame 36 yard line:
Pitch to Dorsett, he's around the right side, 30, 25, 20...
...10, 5...
(He's at the 15 there)
...He...is into the endzone for a touchdown.
?
MAN. Maybe that guy is refereeing in the EPL now.
