The Notre Dame-Miami game that ultimately decided college football’s 1989 national championship game wasn’t the epic battle it had been the prior year. It wasn’t as clear-cut that these were the best two teams. The sequel to Catholics vs. Convicts was much like Godfather II—it was pretty good, but it could never measure against the standard set by the original.
As the Catholics vs. Convicts moniker suggests, the two programs had completely contrasting public images, with Notre Dame perceived as the good guys, and Miami as the bad.
Notre Dame has produced some great running backs in its heralded football history over the years, going all the way back to the days of George Gipp and before him The Four Horsemen. The modern history isn’t quite that dramatic, but what the 1992 Notre Dame football team put out in the backfield was awfully good. The tandem of Reggie Brooks and Jerome Bettis led the way on a season that came out of a midseason valley and finished strong.
The 1984 Orange Bowl—following the 1983 college football season–was arguably the most seminal game in college football history, when the heavily favored Nebraska Cornhuskers met the up-and-coming Miami Hurricanes.
Faust’s enthusiasm, his devout Catholicism and his record of winning seemed to make him a dream choice for Notre Dame. But the first four years hadn’t gone well—no major bowl appearances—and 1985 was his last chance to make it work
The 1995 Nebraska football team was the defending national champion, having finally broken through in 1994 and ending a 23-year title drought for the program. They were hunting for bear in 1995 and they found what they were looking for.
Nebraska’s offensive line was its traditionally powerful self, with soon-to-be Outland Trophy winner Zach Wiegert, along with All-American Brandon Stai. On the defensive side, linebacker Ed Stewart keyed up a unit that would earn itself the nickname “The Black Death”.
On November 8, Nebraska went to Missouri. It was a huge day for college football, with showdown matchups among unbeaten in the Big Ten (Michigan-Penn State) and ACC (Florida State-North Carolina).
In any telling of the history of Penn State under Paterno, the 2008 season will likely get lost in the shuffle, but it holds its own unique place in history. The 2008 Penn State football team was the last group that Paterno ever took to a major bowl game.
The 1975 Notre Dame football team has been immortalized in Hollywood, as the climactic year of Rudy, the partially true/partially mythical story of undersized Dan Ruettiger, who fought for a roster spot with the program he loved. On the field, 1975 Notre Dame football didn’t quite meet expectations.
The 1980 Notre Dame football team began the season with some built-in motivation. Head coach Dan Devine, who had led the school to a national title in 1977, and enjoyed prior success coaching Missouri and the Green Bay Packers, announced he would retire at the end of the season. Notre Dame looked like it might ride the motivational wave all the way to another national championship, before coming up short in the end.
The 1993 Notre Dame football team was coming off a Top 5 finish in 1992, where the Irish finished 9-1-1 in the regular season and then blasted Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Under the leadership of head coach Lou Holtz, Notre Dame had been to a major bowl game every year since 1987, won the national title in 1988 and finished #2 in 1989. Even though expectations weren’t high for 1993, that’s all relative and “low expectations” still meant a Top 10 preseason ranking.