NOSTALGIA No, not this year. But it did happen. Going into the 1951 game with Notre Dame, SMU’s prospects weren’t much better than this year’s. The Irish had rolled over two opponents by the collective score of 88-12. while the Ponies had lost two out of three. The game was played in South Bend. Indiana, the land of Rockne, Gipp, and tradition ad nauseam. SMU had never beaten Notre Dame anywhere.
“They wanted to warm up on the end of the field where we were, so (hey came down there and ran us off,” recalls reserve quarterback SAM STOLLENWERCK, now a Dallas attorney. ’?We couldn’t believe it. They were actually growling.”
The Mustangs knew they couldn’t run against Notre Dame’s line, so they didn’t try. FRED BENNERS, also a Dallas attorney, completed 13 passes out of SMU’s first 25 downs, two of them tor touchdowns. SMU didn’t call a run until midway through the second quarter. Later, Benners threw two more touchdown passes to nail the Irish 27-20.
Dallas didn’t get to see the game on TV until two days later, since the city was not yet connected to the coaxial cable. The game substantially boosted the local ratings of the 9 p.m. premiere of a new CBS offering called “I Love Lucy.”
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