It was perhaps the best 50 cents Sam Blackman has ever spent. That’s how much it cost Clemson’s long-time senior associate athletic communications director to get into the 1977 clash between No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 15 Clemson.

The 50-cent ticket got Blackman, then 15 years old, a seat on Clemson’s famous hill in the east end zone.

“It was so packed in we could barely move,” he recalled.

More than 54,189 fans packed into Death Valley on November 12, 1977 to watch their Tigers taken on Joe Montana and the Irish. At the time, it was the most fans to ever witness a football game in Clemson. The Tigers were having their best season in years. They entered the game with a 7-1-1 record, which included a hard fought one-point win at Georgia and two shutouts over Virginia and Wake Forest.

“There was so much excitement in the air,” Blackman said. “Clemson was starting to win and there was talk of bowl games, and we had an exciting win at Georgia. You could just tell this was going to be a different year and an exciting year for Clemson.”

THE BUILD UP

Prior to 1977, Clemson has just one winning season in the previous nine years and had not played in a bowl game since Frank Howard guided the Tigers to a Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Bob Lilly’s TCU Horned Frogs in 1959.

The Tigers were led by first-year head coach Charlie Pell, who got his players to buy into believing they could play with and could beat anyone of their schedule, including Notre Dame.

It also helped he had a Clemson team that was stocked with future in NFL talent such as Steve Fuller, Jim Stuckey, Joe Bostic, Jeff Bostic, Dwight Clark and Jerry Butler to name a few.

Notre Dame came in with a 7-1 record, and, like always, was right in the middle of the national championship race. The Irish were on a six-game winning streak heading into the game, and like Clemson they were stocked with NFL talent as well. Montana, Ken MacAfee, Ross Browner, Bob Golic and Vegas Ferguson all went on to play in the NFL.

“I remember my father telling me while we were tailgating prior to the game, ‘Son this is the greatest collection of talent we might ever see at one time on that field today,’” Blackman recalled. “And he was right.”

In all, 36 players from the game played in the NFL, and 14 of them won Super Bowl rings. Nineteen of Notre Dame’s 22 starters that afternoon were eventually selected in the NFL Draft.

“When you think of Notre Dame, you think about big-time college football,” Blackman said. “This was very prestigious for Notre Dame to be playing here at Clemson. This was such a good opportunity for Clemson to beat a big-name school like this.”

THE SILENT TREATMENT

Two weeks before Clemson was set to play the Irish in Death Valley, Notre Dame head coach Dan Devine privately called the head of officials of the ACC and asked if the game officials would take notice of the stories that Clemson’s Death Valley was too loud when the opposing team had the ball. He was worried his team might get called for a couple of delay of game penalties while trying to get plays in from the sideline or change things up at the line of scrimmage. Instead, he wanted the officials to penalize Clemson for too much fan noise.

Somehow word leaked back to Clemson of Devine’s plan and the Clemson fan base—without the services of a thing called the Internet—got a little creative. During pregame warm ups, no one in the stadium made a sound. They did not scream or yell until the Tigers’ finally came charging down the Hill just minutes before kickoff.

“Even the band cooperated,” Blackman said. “They acted like they were playing their instruments, but there was no music. They were just pretending like they were playing. They did that all throughout the pregame.”

From that point on they were loud the entire game and it did cause some communication issues for the Irish.

But the fans wanted Devine to think he got to them and they were going to be on their best behavior. But they gave it to him and every time he stepped out onto the field that afternoon to complain to the officials he was booed and jeered.

“What he did was just add fuel to the fire,” Blackman said. “I tell you what. That was the loudest I ever heard Memorial Stadium. It was obviously smaller than the crowds we have today, but in my opinion, that stadium has never been louder than it was on that afternoon.

“That was the loudest noise I think I have ever heard in my life.”

Clemson quarterback Steve Fuller rushed for 51 yards and scored one touchdown, while throwing for 185 more on 13 of 20 passing against Notre Dame in 1977.

A CLASSIC

As good as all the pomp and circumstance was before the game, the actual game itself was even better. The Tigers controlled the game for the better part of three quarters before a fumble by Ken Callicutt changed the direction of the outcome.

Clemson grabbed a 17-7 lead with 11:41 to play in the third quarter when Lester Brown raced around left end, got a little help from an official, and scored on a two-yard run on what was a fourth-and-one play.

“Like my father said, Notre Dame knew they were in for a ball game and they were going to have to fight to win,” Blackman said.

In the second quarter, Obed Ariri made a 30-yard field goal, and Fuller ran in from 10 yards out to give the Tigers a 10-7 halftime lead. They had an opportunity to extend the lead before the break, but while being under pressure from the Notre Dame 12, Fuller made a bad throw on his pass to Clark and the Irish intercepted it at the four with 22 seconds left in the half.

Clemson opened the second half by forcing a three-and-out on Notre Dame’s first possession, and then from the Notre Dame 48, it needed seven plays to extend its lead. The key play was a 35-yard Fuller to Warren Ratchford completion to the Irish 11-yard line. Four plays later, from the two, Brown scored the touchdown for the 17-7 advantage.

“Clemson played so hard, you thought they were going to win it,” Blackman said.

It looked like the Tigers were going to blow the Irish out when on the ensuing possession Randy Scott jumped on a Notre Dame fumble at the Clemson 44. But after moving the football to the Notre Dame 33, Callicutt fumbled the ball and the Irish took over at the 31.

But Clemson’s defense rose to the occasion once again, forcing another three-and-out and setting the offense up at its own 42. Again the offense went on the attack as Fuller completed a 13-yard pass and then ran for 15 more as they found themselves with a first-and-10 from the Notre Dame 13.

But on the next play, the Tigers turned the football over for a third time deep in Irish territory when Callicutt fumbled for a second time and Notre Dame recovered.

“That was the game-changer,” Blackman said. “I remember someone sitting next to me saying, ‘I feel like they are going to come back on us.’ We weren’t the only ones thinking that because Notre Dame was known for making dramatic comebacks and we all kind of sense it.”

Notre Dame’s Joe Montana did not have his best game against Clemson in 1977, but he did what he did what he did best in his career, he rallied the Irish from 10-points down to beat the Tigers.

THE LEGEND OF JOE MONTANA

A lot of people like to say Notre Dame has had so many historical comebacks because it has “the luck of the Irish” on their side. On this day, it was because of who was playing quarterback.

Rallying his teams from the jaws of defeat became a trademark of Joe Montana in his Hall of Fame career for the San Francisco 49ers. But his reputation did not begin when he was in the NFL, it first started in college. As a freshman he led the Irish to come-from-behind wins over Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Alabama in the Orange Bowl.

He did the same to Alabama a few years later.

“Now that you go back and look, what he did that day does not surprise you on how he brought the team back. That was his forte bringing a team back,” Blackman said. “Of course the next year, at the Cotton Bowl, he brought his team back from a 34-7 deficit against Houston, and they won 35-34.

“Now that you look back, it does not surprise you know because that’s what he did.”

Montana’s stats that day were not great. He completed just 9 of 21 passes for 172 yards and no touchdowns. But he never lost control of the game, and following Callicutt’s second fumble, he slowly began their comeback.

On the ensuing possession, Notre Dame moved the football to the Clemson 26, but the Irish were flagged for a clipping penalty and then Devine was charged with a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which pushed the ball all the way back to their own 44. On second down-and-31, Montana calmly threw a pass to MacAfee for a gain of 27 yards.

After Ferguson gained two yards on third down, Devine elected to go for it instead of kicking the long field goal from the Clemson 27. The gamble paid off as Montana again hit MacAfee in the flats, and this time the All-American tight end rumbled 16 yards to the Tigers’ 11.

Montana later scrambled for six yards and then two plays later, on the first play of the fourth quarter, he snuck the ball into the end from two yards out to cut the Clemson lead to 17-14 with 14:58 to play.

The two teams traded punts after that and with 11:57 to play the Tigers took over the football at its own 20-yard line. On third down-and-eight from his own 22, Fuller scrambled for a 22-yard gain to the 44. But disaster struck two plays later. After keeping the ball on a four-yard gain, Clemson turned the football over for a fourth time as it came loose from Fuller’s arms and Notre Dame recovered it at midfield.

With 9:24 to play in the game, Montana took advantage of the gift. On second-and-10, he hit Ferguson on a screen pass and the future NFL running back ran the majority of the next 36 yards to set the Irish up at the Clemson 14.

Five plays later, on third-and-goal from the one, Montana again called his own number and snuck it up the middle to give the Irish a 21-17 lead with 7:11 left on the clock.

The two teams proceeded to trade punts after that and Clemson got one more opportunity to win the game when it took over the football at its own 27 with 3:53 to go in the game. After a short Callicutt run, Fuller was sacked on back-to-back plays and with 1:57 to play Pell elected to punt the ball, hoping his defense could force a three-and-out.

On second down-and-nine from his own 40, Ferguson stole Pell’s and the Tigers’ hope by ripping off a 13-yard run which all but ended the game. Montana then carried the ball for one yard and then fell on it the next two plays to run out the clock.

Clemson played a good game and gave it a good fight, but in the end Montana and the Irish found a way to win the game, and ultimately the national championship in the Cotton Bowl six weeks later.

Notre Dame ended the season with 10 straight victories and of those 10 opponents, no one played the Irish better than Clemson. But losing pretty was not the Tigers’ goal that afternoon. They felt like they were the better team and they let it slip away.

“I remember seeing Charlie Pell in a highway patrol car after the game. I guess he was coming back to Jervey, and he just looked so dejected,” Blackman remembered. “He was sitting in the passenger’s seat. I can still see him. He was going down the Avenue of Champions and he just looked so dejected.

“You just felt bad for him because he coached so hard. You just hated to see Clemson lose.”