Football and Thanksgiving.

It has been as common a combination to the sports fan on the holiday as turkey and stuffing.

For most of us, it has touched our lives on the high school, collegiate, and professional level.

Recently, with the NFL adding a third game at night, it has made the late afternoon nap - triggered by the chemical tryptophan in our turkey - an absolute necessity.

This latest installment of my look back at YESTERDAY - a trip back in time to the late 1960s and the 1970s - is a recollection of football and Thanksgiving, some predated contests, and other pop culture items along the way, and what it meant to those of us who were preteens and teens during the time.

Most of us can recall some moments from the fabled CBS broadcasts from the staple Detroit and Dallas games.

The most lingering memory for me was the 1974 game between the Cowboys and the Washington Redskins that will be forever remembered as the “Clint Longley” game.

It was a heated rivalry between the two during that time. Cowboys’ quarterback Roger Staubach had to leave the game with an injury. Dallas was trailing 16-3 at the time, and facing elimination from the playoffs with a loss.

Enter Longley, an unknown rookie who didn’t expect to play. He rallied the Cowboys for two touchdowns, and capped the comeback with a 50-yard Hail Mary pass to Drew Pearson for the win. It was the first step toward earning him the nickname ... the “Mad Bomber.”

That was Longley’s lone claim to fame as his Cowboy career collapsed, and he was traded to San Diego after he got into a scuffle with Staubach in training camp when Longley and Danny White were in a highly contested duel for the backup QB job.

The Longley trade helped change the landscape of the Cowboys, as they traded him along with their first round pick to the Chargers’ first two picks that resulted in them eventually putting together a package to land Tony Dorsett with the second overall pick in 1977.

As for Longley, his career fizzled out with the Chargers, and he had a cup of coffee with the Cardinals before he finished his career in Canada with Hamilton of the CFL.

The Eagles have one of the league’s better mark on Thanksgiving with a 5-1 record.

Probably the most notable game in the 1980s was the “Bounty Bowl,” in which the Buddy-Ryan-led Eagles blanked Dallas, 27-0. Cowboys’ head coach Jimmy Johnson accused Ryan of placing bounties to injure kicker Luis Zendejas and quarterback Troy Aikman.

One prominent game in the 1960s could have changed the fate of the franchise in the 1970s.

It was the 1968 “Mud Bowl” or the “OJ Bowl” in which the Eagles defeated Detroit, 12-0, on four Sam Baker field goals on a field that looked more like a quagmire for the two lousy football teams. The Eagles reportedly were accused of swiping wet footballs for dry ones on Baker’s field goal attempts.

The Eagles were 0-11 at the time, and if they would have lost two of their last three games, they would have had the chance to draft college star OJ Simpson of USC.

But the Eagles went on to defeat New Orleans in the finale, and Simpson ended up in Buffalo. The Eagles drafted running back Leroy Keyes, and Pittsburgh used the next pick to choose a defensive tackle from North Texas named Joe Greene.

Case closed.

Backyard Brawls ... At one time, Thanksgiving high school football in the Times News area played an immense role.

Lehighton and Stroudsburg ended a long-term rivalry in 1945. From there, Stroudsburg began its current rivalry with East Stroudsburg.

But the more intense battles were between Palmerton and Slatington (Northern Lehigh) from 1946-1974, and Lansford and Coaldale (1946-63).

They were before my time, but I am sure some of you readers can recall those games.

College Collection ... College football had some rivalries either on Thanksgiving Day, or the day after. Some of the more memorable ones on TV were Texas-Texas A&M, Mississippi State-Ole Miss, and Pitt-Penn State.

In the 1976 Pitt-Penn State matchup, Dorsett rallied the Panthers after a 7-7 halftime score to a 24-7 victory and further helped them to an 11-0 season - and their first national championship in 39 years - that was capped with a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia.

Welcome Back ... In September 1975, ABC debuted “Welcome Back Kotter,” which developed into a four-year run of one of the more iconic shows of the past 40-plus years.

The ever-witty Gabe Kaplan was the perfect character for Mr. Kotter, and his class of Vinnie Barbarino, Arnold Horshack, Juan Epstein, and Freddie “Boom-Boom” Washington had some characteristics that each of us wanted to incorporate in our lives. They were the perfect mix together that all of us could relate to.

Barbarino’s ladies’ man charm, Horshack’s nasally, loud laugh, Epstein’s excuses - signed Juan Epsstein’s mother - and Washington’s cool-cat “brother” approach all became hallmarks and trademarks of the characters. Kotter’s anecdotal one-liners to end the show were the perfect signoff.

Little-known John Travolta became a star, and further emerged as a superstar with his role in “Saturday Night Fever” in 1977. Travolta released a top-40 hit, “Let Her In” in 1976. You have to be a 70s trivia buff to remember that one.

More pop culture ... Before “Saturday Night Fever” exploded on the screen, ”Rocky” took the country by storm in 1976.

Yoplait yogurt was a smash success in 1975, and the country responded by kickstarting a yogurt craze.

One food that debuted in 1977 that you may have forgotten, and was a precursor for Ramen? Try Better Crocker’s Mug-O-Lunch. It was noodles in a styrofoam cup that were flavored with mac-n-cheese, beef, spaghetti sauce, and chicken noodle to name a few after you added boiling water.

A great one-hit wonder from the same year? Recall Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life?”

Keep relishing the memories, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!