The 1970 Texas Longhorns football team represented the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in the

1970 NCAA University Division football season The 1970 NCAA University Division football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on ...

. The Longhorns shared the national championship with

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, their third national championship overall. Texas had previously won consensus national titles in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

and

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

. Utilizing a

wishbone Wishbone commonly refers to: * Furcula, a fork-shaped bone in birds and some dinosaurs Wishbone may also refer to: * Wish-Bone, an American salad dressing and condiment company * Wishbone formation, a type of offense in American football * Wishb ...

option offense An option offense is an American football offensive system in which a key player (usually the quarterback) has several "options" of how each play will proceed based upon the actions of the defense. Traditionally, option-based offenses rely on ru ...

, the defending national champion Longhorns won all ten regular season games to extend their winning streak to thirty games. They were again awarded the

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(coaches) national title, released prior to the bowl games in early December. On

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

1971, Texas had a rematch with Notre Dame in the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

at the Cotton Bowl in

Fair Park Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the buildings were constructed for t ...

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. This time, the sixth-ranked Fighting Irish won 24–11, denying top-ranked Texas a third straight Cotton Bowl victory and consecutive consensus national championship. Later that day, second-ranked

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lost to #12

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in the Rose Bowl. That night, third-ranked

defeated in the

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to give the unbeaten Huskers the post-bowl AP national championship. Through the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

season, the final UPI coaches poll was released prior to the bowl games. (In December 1973, UPI champion

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also lost their

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

Schedule

Game Summaries

vs. California

at Texas Tech

vs. UCLA

vs. Oklahoma

at Rice

vs. SMU

at Baylor

at TCU

vs. Texas A&M

vs. Arkansas

vs. Notre Dame (Cotton Bowl)

Roster

Rankings

NFL Draft

Nine seniors from the 1970 Longhorns were selected in the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

:
Two juniors from the 1970 Longhorns were selected in the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

:
One sophomore from the 1970 Longhorns was selected in the 1973 NFL Draft:Pro Football Reference.com
– 1973 NFL Draft

Awards and honors

*Bobby Wuensch, Tackle, Consensus All-American *Steve Worster, Back, Consensus All-American *Bill Atessis, Defensive end, Consensus All-American

References

{{Southwest Conference football champions

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Texas Longhorns football seasons College football national champions Southwest Conference football champion seasons

Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate team representing the University of Texas at Austin (variously Texas or UT) in the sport of American football. The Longhorns compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivisio ...