Davis’ Domination Is Pure Perfection : College football: Running back’s six touchdowns helped the Trojans beat the Irish, 45-23, en route to a 12-0 season and a national championship in 1972.

The game was close until Anthony Davis got his hands on the football for the first time.

That was the opening kickoff, and after Davis had gone 97 yards in 13 seconds, USC had a 7-0 lead over Notre Dame during the 1972 game in the Coliseum.

The game was close again after the Fighting Irish had pulled to within 25-23 midway in the third quarter. A.D. time once again. This time it was a 96-yard kickoff return that broke the spirit of Coach Ara Parseghian’s Notre Dame team.

Davis, a sophomore from San Fernando who had started the season as the third-string tailback, scored four other times that December day as the Trojans won, 45-23.

It was the signature game of a 12-0 team that some critics call the greatest ever at USC, perhaps one the greatest college teams ever.

Coach John McKay’s team had beaten UCLA two weeks earlier, 24-7, and later defeated Ohio State and Woody Hayes in the Rose Bowl, 42-17, but it was the decisive victory over Notre Dame that is most remembered from the 12-0 season.

“Beating Notre Dame was the big thing all season,” Davis recalled. “We wanted to beat UCLA, for sure, and going to the Rose Bowl was great, but we pointed for Notre Dame from the first day of practice. That was it , as far as we were concerned.”

As far as Davis is concerned, that’s still it, and he’s getting tired of wearing an old Notre Dame sweat shirt every time the Trojans play the Irish. He will have it on today, waiting for his alma mater to end Notre Dame’s nine-game winning streak in the USC series.

“I made a bet with a friend of mine about six years ago that I’d wear it until we beat Notre Dame, and I’m still wearing it,” Davis said. “It’s getting old and tattered. I’d like to get rid of it.”

That’s up to Rob Johnson and Curtis Conway and the rest of the Trojans this evening in the Coliseum, where game No. 64 in the intersectional series will be played.

You might not know it from the headline in the Times the day after the Notre Dame game--DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS!--but the 1972 team was a lot more than Anthony Davis.

It had five players chosen as All-Americans--tight end Charles Young, a unanimous choice; linebacker Richard Wood, fullback Sam Cunningham, offensive tackle Pete Adams and defensive tackle John Grant. The quarterback, Mike Rae, was selected by his teammates as the most valuable player.

Young, Adams and Cunningham were first-round selections during the NFL draft, and a year later, flanker Lynn Swann and the other offensive tackle, Steve Riley, were No. 1 picks. For backups, there were quarterback Pat Haden and wide receivers J.K. McKay and Edesel Garrison.

McKay coached at USC for 15 years before moving into the professional ranks. He rates the 1972 unit “the best I’ve ever seen.”

The team was the first in the history of news-service polls to receive every first-place vote in both Associated Press and United Press International balloting to determine a national champion.

Yet when the Trojans lined up for their season opener against Arkansas in Little Rock, they were underdogs to the Razorbacks, who had Joe Ferguson at quarterback. USC won, 31-10, and Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles said, “If USC doesn’t go undefeated, then something’s wrong.”

After routing Oregon State, 51-6; Illinois, 55-20, and Michigan State, 51-6, the Trojans moved into the No. 1 spot in the polls. In the closest game, USC beat Stanford, 30-21, before a 42-14 rout of California and a 34-7 victory over Washington. Then it was 18-0 over Oregon in the rain.

The Oregon game was notable for Davis’ debut as starting tailback. Injuries to Rod McNeill and Allen Carter had opened the position for him and he made the most of it, scoring on carries of 48 and 55 yards. Meanwhile, the Trojan defense was intercepting four Dan Fouts passes and holding him to a net 11 yards in the air.

A 44-3 victory over Washington State left only UCLA and Notre Dame remaining in the regular season.

The Bruins were defeated, 24-7, earning USC the Pacific 8 championship and sending the Trojans to the Rose Bowl, ending a two-year run by Stanford.

A day or two after the UCLA game, Davis was discussing the coming Notre Dame game with Jeff Prugh of The Times, saying: “They’re big and strong, but if I can get outside--get into the open--I think I can go all the way a few times.”

Little did he know.

Davis, a thick-set runner who carried 190 pounds on a 5-foot-9 frame, accounted for 368 all-purpose yards against Notre Dame. Besides his two kickoff returns, he scored on carries of one, five, four and eight yards.

“I was only a sophomore, but winning was important to me because of the seniors, especially the offensive line,” said Davis, who, two years later, scored four touchdowns against Notre Dame as a senior in a 55-24 USC victory. “They had never been to the Rose Bowl or won a national championship. We all felt it was time.”

In the Rose Bowl, the big senior from Santa Barbara scored four times, but his name was too long for a CUNNINGHAM! CUNNINGHAM! CUNNINGHAM! CUNNINGHAM! headline. Besides, the total yardage of his four scoring carries was five. Each touchdown was the result of Cunningham launching himself over the top of the Ohio State defense and into the end zone.

For that, Cunningham was voted player of the game. Like Davis, and Rae and Swann and Woods and all the others, Cunningham credited a team effort for his success.

“It was probably the most unselfish team I’ve played on,” Cunningham said.