I was also 9 in 74. My dad was a transplant 'Bama fan from KY and my mom had attended 'bama for 2 years so we were a Tide household. I didn't remember the 73 game- I was 8- but my parents had a party for the 74 game. I had to stay upstairs because of all the drinking but kept getting updates. I knew the game was for the championship. Never had so much anger as when my friend Ward's parents, the Johnson's ( auburn fans ) came up the stairs to joyfully announce that the domers had lost. I never asked Ward over to my house again! At that point according to my Dad Notre Dame had cost us the championship the last 2 years, and that alone was enough for me to hate them.
1977 was a horrible injustice that didn't make sense, and ONLY then was I educated about 1966.
Auburn. Seriously??? I had heard vague references by desperate Auburn fans about the 1972 game and punting etc. But we routinely beat Auburn by 28 to 35 points in the formative years of my fandom. Tennessee was the hated rival then, and only because we didn't play Notre Dame every year was my attention always on Tennessee. But my hatred of Notre Dame was first seared in 1974 and has only grown every year. I would pull for Auburn to beat Notre Dame every year if they played. And I pulled for Clemson to beat Notre Dame this year even though Clemson pisses me off. They are still not Notre Dame. If the Notre Dame volleyball team were playing I would gladly pull against them. And as I have said on this site before, if a Notre Dame victory would be advantageous for us to get into the football playoff, forget it! I would still pull against Notre Dame and shrug my shoulders and state that we should never have been in that situation to begin with if a Notre Dame win was going to be what we had to depend on!
F$#@ the freaking goldendomers always and forever! And ROLL DAMN TIDE!!!!