| 1978 Cotton Bowl Classic | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 42nd Cotton Bowl Classic | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 1978 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Cotton Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Dallas, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Bob Golic (N. Dame LB) Vagas Ferguson (N. Dame RB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Texas by 7 points[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Vance Carlson (Big Eight) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 76,701 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Lindsey Nelson, Paul Hornung, Paul Alexander, and Don Criqui | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1978 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 42nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, January 2. Part of the 1977–78 bowl game season, it matched the top-ranked and undefeated Texas Longhorns of the Southwest Conference (SWC) and the #5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, an independent. A record crowd of 76,701 turned up to see the coronation of the Longhorns championship season, but Notre Dame surprisingly won as they dominated the Longhorns 38–10.[2][3][4][5][6]
New Year's Day was on Sunday in 1978, and the major college bowl games were played the following day.
- ^ "Cotton Bowl should decide who's tops". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). UPI. December 31, 1977. p. 16.
- ^ Underwood, John (January 9, 1978). "Shake down the thunder". Sports Illustrated. p. 9.
- ^ "Texas fumbles title and Irish fall on it". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 3, 1978. p. 2C.
- ^ Mizell, Hubert (January 3, 1978). "Notre Dame corrals 'Horns, Campbell in 38-10 cruise". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). p. 1C.
- ^ Loomis, Tom (January 3, 1978). "Irish put in bid for No. 1, beat Texas in all phases". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 18.
- ^ Bock, Hal (January 3, 1978). "Devine feels Irish No. 1 after easy victory". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). p. 16.