Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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though the Irish defeated No. 1 Colo- rado in the Orange Bowl (21-6), the Hurricanes beat the Irish head to head in November. Alas, it wasn't even close. In the Associated Press poll, Florida State out-pointed Notre Dame 1,532 to 1,478, receiving 46 first-place votes to just 12 for the Irish. There was even more disparity in the USA To- day/CNN poll with FSU getting 1,523 points and Notre Dame 1,441. Bowden finally won his long elu- sive national title. Yet one couldn't help but wonder if the score had re- mained 31-17 without the fortunate bounce, would the vote have been different? "I congratulate Florida State on winning the national championship," Holtz said. "I did not think there was any way possible that we would not win it, not after what happened in '89 and reading all the comments by coaches and writers. "I was blasted in '89 for complain- ing that we beat No. 1 decisively in the Orange Bowl and didn't win the national title. At that time, nothing else mattered except [head to head]. "… I hurt. I hurt as bad as I ever hurt for our players." Nothing has ever been the same since. For now, Nov. 13, 1993 against Florida State remains Notre Dame's last epic football victory. ✦ A Special Week How anticipated was the 1993 "Game Of The Century" Nov. 13, 1993 contest between No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Notre Dame? • For the first time ever, ESPN moved its "Game Day" show from its studio in Bristol, Conn., to an Randy Kinder dove into the teeth of the vaunted Florida State defense during the 1993 game. Kinder, a freshman at the time, occassionally carried the ball in lieu of starter Lee Becton. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS EPILOGUE No rematch was in the offing when No. 1 Notre Dame suffered the ulti- mate letdown. The Irish concluded their regular season the following week with a gut-wrenching 41-39 loss to a Boston College team that won its eighth in a row when David Gordon's game-winning field goal cleared the uprights as time expired. Florida State returned to No. 1 with victories against North Carolina State (62-3) and at No. 7 Florida (33-21), and was paired with No. 2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. As a consolation prize, No. 4 Notre Dame would play No. 7 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. On New Year's Day, the Irish ral- lied to defeat the Aggies, 24-21, while a missed Nebraska field goal on the game's final play allowed Florida State to escape with an 18-16 win. The choice for No. 1 was either 12-1 Florida State or 11-1 Notre Dame. The Irish won the head-to-head meeting in November, so the Irish coaches and players went to bed that night believ- ing that, at worst, they would split the national title, just like Georgia Tech and Colorado did in 1990 and Miami and Washington did in 1991. Furthermore, 12-1 Notre Dame lost the 1989 national title to 11-1 Miami at the end of the year because even 32 JANUARY 2012 on-campus site, Notre Dame. • A loose and confident Irish head coach Lou Holtz hosted the media in his own home the Thursday night before the game. • Notre Dame issued 810 press passes, even though the press box seated only 300. It broke the 1988 Miami game record of 650, and no other game has come close since then despite the 1997 expansion of Notre Dame Stadium and its press box. • On the Friday afternoon before the game, the saxophone section of the Notre Dame Marching Band played the "1812 Overture" on the roof of O'Shaughnessy Hall. • The JACC closed an hour and a half before the 7 p.m. pep rally that already had an overflow. It fea- tured a mesmerizing speech from Irish women's swimmer Haley Scott, who was temporarily paralyzed in a tragic bus accident a year earlier but came back in 1993 to win her first meet. • Later that night, a group of band members visited Knute Rockne's grave for a midnight prayer vigil. — Lou Somogyi Future All-Pro Bryant Young chased down Seminoles quarterback Charlie Ward from his spot along the defensive line. Notre Dame's toughness in the trenches shocked the speedy Florida State team. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED