This Saturday is one of the biggest in recent years for No. 22 Pitt football.
The Panthers host No. 9 Notre Dame for a non-conference noon kickoff. The popularity and recent play of the two programs are enough for ESPN’s College GameDay to return to the Steel City for the first time since the return of the Backyard Brawl in 2022. Also, soon-to-be NFL Hall of Famer and College Football Hall of Famer Aaron Donald’s No. 97 jersey is scheduled to be retired at halftime this Saturday.
It’s a monumental day for the Panthers. Maybe most importantly, Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of one of the best single-game performances in football history.
On Nov. 15, 1975, Pitt junior running back Tony Dorsett rushed for 303 yards in a 34-20 win over Notre Dame. During this Saturday’s contest, Pitt is commemorating Dorsett’s performance, bringing back memories for Fighting Irish and Panther fans alike, and celebrating one of the greatest running backs in football history.
One of the thousands in Pitt Stadium that day was the Panthers’ play-by-play commentator, Bill Hillgrove.
“[Head coach] Johnny Majors was in the process of completely turning the program around,” Hillgrove said. “That game was the pivot of taking the program from non-relevant to the national stage. And then people say, ‘Wow, this team is pretty darn good, and that kid is great.’ And I think that was the historical perspective that I like to give to that game.”
In 1973, Pitt made its first bowl game since 1956 in Dorsett’s first year with the program. That year against Notre Dame, Dorsett rushed for 209 yards on 29 carries — the most ever against the Fighting Irish — the No. 1 defense and eventual national champion — in a game.
The next year, Dorsett rushed for only 61 yards. Notre Dame fullback Wayne Bullock — “one of the best fullbacks in the country,” according to Dorsett — won the head-to-head matchup with 124 yards, and Notre Dame won the game.
In 1975, though, Dorsett was unstoppable. The Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, native finished fourth in Heisman voting and finished with 1,544 rushing yards on 228 carries in only 11 games. He broke the record he set two years before against Notre Dame with 303 rushing yards. That doesn’t include a 49-yard screen pass Dorsett took to the endzone.
“One of my memories was that Moose Krause, the athletic director for the Irish, was in one of the press boxes above us,” Hillgrove said. “After the game, we signed off, I’m in the public area of the press box, and he comes down the stairs with an assistant. And I heard [Krause] turn to the guy and say, ‘We never made any damn adjustments.’ I felt like saying, ‘Hey, Moose, how do you adjust to the greatest college running back you’ve ever looked at?’ But, you know, I didn’t.”
Less than 12 hours after the win, Pitt accepted an invitation to the Sun Bowl. Dorsett rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries — en route to a 33-19 win over Kansas. It was the second bowl victory in school history.
“It was one of the best moments ever,” Hillgrove said. “And he actually topped it the year later.”
In 1976, when the Panthers came to town for the season opener, Notre Dame had its grass grown extra long in an attempt to slow down Dorsett. Former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian even called it the “Dorsett cut” on the television broadcast of the game.
“You could drop a golf ball in the grass and couldn’t see it,” Dorsett said in an interview with The Tribune-Review. “It was that high. The field was wet, and it hadn’t rained.”
On Pitt’s first offensive play, Dorsett took a pitch to the right 61 yards. Five plays later, he scored his only touchdown of the game. The No. 9 Panthers took down No. 11 Notre Dame 31-10 with Dorsett rushing for 181 yards on 22 carries.
After the game, The New York Times published, “Tony Dorsett of Pitt completed a four‐year-long project today of carving a lasting imprint of football achievement on the Notre Dame football team.”
The imprint still lasts. Dorsett’s 754 rushing yards on just 96 attempts over four years against Notre Dame are an NCAA record.
“I guess Tony got up for the Notre Dame game because they’re the program to beat,” Hillgrove said. “And I guess you go back to the recruiting process, there was something about that that didn’t sit well with Tony, and as a result, he played his best.”
All of that is true. Notre Dame was seen as a key checkpoint to winning the Heisman trophy. By 1976, Notre Dame had produced six Heisman winners. In Dorsett’s first two years at Pitt — when he and the Panthers lost to Notre Dame — he received no votes for the Heisman. And in 1975, Dorsett finished fourth in voting.
Former Pitt publicist Beano Cook once said, “You either have to play for Notre Dame or beat Notre Dame to win the Heisman.”
The 1976 win over Notre Dame elevated the Panthers to No. 3 in the AP Poll. They went on to complete an undefeated season and win a national championship. Dorsett rushed for an NCAA record 1,948 rushing yards, winning him the Heisman by a wide margin.
Not bad for a Pittsburgh-area kid who Notre Dame thought was too small and weighed too little to earn a scholarship.
“I was playing with a chip on my shoulder most of my career,” Dorsett said.
Even if Dorsett ripped apart Notre Dame, it wasn’t totally personal.
“He kind of did it to everybody,” Hillgrove said. “Keep in mind, the tearaway shirt was still in vogue then. And so many times he ripped his shirt because they’d grasp and get nothing but shirt.”
Dorsett went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys. His 12,739 career rushing yards are the second most in NFL history. Dorsett became the first player in football history to win the Heisman, a college National Championship and a Super Bowl, as well as receive Hall of Fame enshrinement on both the college and professional levels.
“That was the thing about Tony. Not only great speed, but full speed in two steps,” Hillgrove said. “I remember when Jack Lambert talked about playing Dorsett with the Cowboys. He said, ‘He’s unbelievable. He’s the only running back that I’ve ever faced who could give you his moves at full speed.’ [Lambert] said, ‘Most running backs would slow down to give you that Shake-and-Bake. Tony could do it at full speed.’”
Future generations of Pitt running backs have had success, but not to the level of Dorsett. Curtis Martin, LeSean McCoy, Craig Heyward, James Conner and more have put on the Blue and Gold, gained thousands of yards on the ground and kept Pitt’s tradition of a dominant running game alive.
This Saturday, against Notre Dame, first-year running backs Ja’Kyrian Turner and Juelz Goff and senior running back Desmond Reid will have to channel the legend of Dorsett. Pitt can get its first win against a team ranked inside the College Football Playoff since the Playoff’s expansion last season.
“Notre Dame is really good,” Hillgrove said. “They’re on a roll, and they’re a double-digit favorite. But what I’ve seen with this Pitt team since [first-year quarterback Mason] Heintschel took over is that he not only has lit up the offense, he has lit up the defense. [The defense] is playing much more inspired football, and their special teams are forced to be reckoned with.”
