On October 15, 1988, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Miami Hurricanes in a 31-30 classic where the Irish handed the Hurricanes their first loss in a regular season game in three years in a game that would be nicknamed "Catholics vs Convicts" after a T-shirt made by Notre Dame students in anticipation of the 1988 game(To read about that game, click on the link highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/college-football-old-school-game-of_8.html).
The consequences of that game were enormous as Notre Dame would finish the 1988 season with a 12-0 record as they would be voted as the #1 team in the country at the end of the season, to earn the Irish their first national title since 1977 while the Hurricanes would finish the '88 season #2 with a 11-1 record.
Thirteen months after their defeat at the hands of the Irish, the Hurricanes would get a chance at revenge as they played host to Notre Dame in the anticipated rematch at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
Following the 1988 season, the Hurricanes lost their head coach Jimmy Johnson who left to become the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL as Dennis Erickson was hired from Washington State to replace Johnson as the Miami football head coach.
Not only did Miami have to replace their head coach, they also had to replace their quarterback as Steve Walsh, whose only loss as the Miami starting quarterback was the loss to Notre Dame in 1988, as junior quarterback Craig Erickson(no relation to Dennis)took over as the Miami quarterback hoping to continue the tradition of great Miami starting quarterbacks that had started earlier in the 1980s with Jim Kelly, followed by Bernie Kosar, and then Vinny Testaverde, and then Walsh.
The two Erickson led Miami to a 3-0 start when in the fourth game of the season against Michigan State, Craig broke a knuckle on his throwing hand, causing him to miss the next three games which included a 24-10 loss to Florida State 24-10 on October 28th which dropped the Hurricanes from #2 to #7 in the country.
Erickson returned one week later to help Miami defeat East Carolina and Pittsburgh before the Hurricanes' penultimate game of the regular season against San Diego State, which Miami won 42-6 despite five interceptions thrown by Erickson.
This performance caused many Miami fans to think that Dennis should bench Craig and replace him with Gino Toretta, who had filled during Craig's absence, but Dennis stuck with Craig as the Hurricanes prepared to take on Notre Dame.
The Irish had been ranked #1 throughout the entire 1989 season as they had extended their winning streak to 23 games under head coach Lou Holtz and quarterback Tony Rice, who had been the Notre Dame starting quarterback for their championship season the year before.
The highlight of the '89 season for the Irish was their 24-19 win over Michigan in a #1 vs #2 matchup where kickoff return Raghib "Rocket" Ismail returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to lead the Irish to victory that day.
If the Irish could defeat Miami, it likely would set up another #1 vs #2 matchup in the Orange Bowl Classic on New Year's Day as #2 Colorado Buffaloes, undefeated champions of the Big 8 conference, with the national championship on the line.
After the Irish punted on their opening possession of the game, the Hurricanes would drive 36 yards in six plays, with the bulk of the yardage coming on a 26-yard pass from Erickson to wide receiver Dale Dawkins, to set up a 35-yard field goal by Carlos Huerta to give Miami a 3-0 lead with 9:41 left in the first quarter.
The Irish's next offensive possession would end in a turnover as Rice threw a deep pass intended for Ismail which ended up being intercepted by Hurricanes cornerback Roland Smith to give Miami the ball at their 11-yard-line.
Following an exchange of punts, the Hurricanes had the ball at their 45-yard-line when Erickson found Dawkins again, this time with a pass over the middle that was caught by the senior wide receiver around the Notre Dame 30-yard-line, who then outran the rest of the Irish defense for a 55-yard touchdown to extend Miami's lead to 10-0 with four seconds to go in the second quarter.
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| Miami quarterback Craig Erickson completed 16 of 26 passes for 210 yards and threw two touchdown passes. |
The Irish would begin their ensuing drive at their 16-yard-line as Rice led the Irish down to the Miami 15-yard-line when the game's most controversial play occurred when Rice handed the ball off to fullback Anthony Johnson, who reeled off a 14-yard run until it looked like he fumbled the football after a hit by Hurricanes defensive back Charles Pharms as Hurlie Brown recovered the football for Miami.
However, the referees ruled that Johnson was down by contact even though replays showed that he had lost the football before his knee touched the ground.
Nevertheless, the Irish had a 1st & goal at the Miami one-yard-line when the Hurricanes defense rose up and kept Notre Dame out of the end zone as the Irish lost three yards on the next three plays, forcing them to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Billy Hackett to cut the Miami lead to 10-3 midway through the second quarter.
After a Miami three-and-out, the Irish got the ball back at their 49-yard-line as three plays picked up nine yards to set up a 4th & 1 at the Hurricanes 42-yard-line when Holtz decided to go for the 1st down which he got when Rice kept the ball himself and snuck two yards give Notre Dame a fresh set of downs at the Miami 40-yard-line.
Three plays later, the Irish were faced with another 4th down situation, this time needing three yards to convert as Holtz would once again gamble and go for the 1st down which this time failed as Miami defensive tackles Cortez Kennedy and Russell Maryland combined to stop Johnson one yard short of the marker as the Hurricanes would take over on downs at their 31-yard-line.
The Hurricanes picked up one 1st down as they advanced to their 43-yard-line when Erickson threw a pass intended for tight end Rob Chudzinski that was picked off by Notre Dame linebacker Ned Bolcar, who then return the interception 49 yards for a touchdown that with the extra point tied the game at 10 with 2:08 to go before halftime.
It appeared that the momentum had swung in Notre Dame's favor especially after their defense forced Miami to go three-and-out on their next possession to give their offense the ball back at their 45-yard-line with a chance to take the lead before the end of the first half.
But once again the Miami defense would make a play as Hurricanes linebacker Bernard Clark intercepted a pass intended for running back Ricky Watters and returned the pick 50 yards to the Notre Dame eight-yard-line to give Erickson and the Miami offense the ball with 37 seconds to go before the halftime break.
After two plays gained three yards, Erickson would hand the ball off to running back Stephen McGuire who would run up the gut for the five-yard touchdown to give Miami a 17-10 lead as the first half came to an end.
The Hurricanes would get the ball to start the second half as Miami would put together one of the longest drives in school history in terms of plays and time of possession.
Starting at their 20-yard-line, the Hurricanes would run the ball twice, picking up five yards to set up 3rd & 5 when Erickson completed a five-yard pass to running back Leonard Conley to give Miami a fresh set of downs at their 30-yard-line.
A two-yard run by Conley, followed by an incomplete pass, and then a nine-yard pass from Erickson to Chudzinski would set up a 4th & 1 when Miami gambled and went for the 1st down which they got after a two-yard run by McGuire for a 1st down at the Hurricanes' 41-yard-line.
However after the McGuire run, the Hurricanes were called for a dead-ball personal foul penalty that would push Miami not only back 15 yards to their 26-yard-line but force them into a 1st & 25 situation.
The odds of converting a 1st down seemed to go from slim to none on the next play from scrimmage when Erickson was sacked by Notre Dame defensive end Eric Jones, causing a fumble that the Irish's other defensive end, Devon McDonald, had a shot at recovering but failed as Miami center Bobby Garcia would fall on the football, allowing the Hurricanes to keep possession of the football after a 23-yard loss
Now facing a 2nd & 48 at their three-yard-line, the Hurricanes appeared to be content on punting the ball back to the Irish as they kept it on the ground as McGuire ran the ball for five yards to set up a 3rd & 43 at the Miami eight-yard-line.
That is when Erickson dropped back and fired a pass down the right sideline intended for wide receiver Randel Hill that if the Hurricanes were lucky, could maybe draw a pass interference penalty on the Irish that would give Miami an automatic 1st down.
But Hill was able to get past Notre Dame cornerback Stan Smagala and free safety Pat Terrell to make the catch at the Notre Dame 49-yard-line for a 44-yard completion to miraculously give Miami a 1st down to keep the drive going.
A 42-yard pass from Rice to wide receiver Williams Pollard help move the Irish down to the Miami eight-yard-line when on 4th & 6, Rice tried to connect with Ismail only for his pass to fall incomplete to end the Notre Dame drive and give Miami the ball with 7:04 left in the game.
From there, the Hurricanes would drive 77 yards in 10 plays, with the biggest play of the drive being a 30-yad run by Conley on 3rd & 7 from the Miami eight-yard-line, to set up a 32-yard field goal by Huerta with 1:44 to go in the game to put the icing on the Hurricanes' 27-10 victory and an end to Notre Dame's 23-game winning streak.
Following the game, the Irish fell from #1 to #4 in the polls while Miami climbed from #7 to #2 as the Hurricanes earned an invitation to play the SEC Champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide, in the Sugar Bowl while Notre Dame was invited to play Colorado in the Orange Bowl as the Buffaloes assumed the #1 ranking.
Notre Dame would upset Colorado 21-6 in the Orange Bowl while the Hurricanes defeated the Crimson Tide 33-25 in the Sugar Bowl as Miami would finish the season ranked #1 in the polls to earn the Hurricanes their third national championship in seven years while the Irish would finish the season ranked #2.
