1993 Florida State vs. Notre Dame football game

The 1993 Florida State vs. Notre Dame Game was a regular season college football game between the unbeaten Florida State Seminoles (ranked #1 in the nation), and the unbeaten Notre Dame Fighting Irish (ranked #2 in the nation). The game took place at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The game is one of the 20th Century college football games to be coined a Game of the Century.^[1]

The build up

Florida State entered the game as the #1 team in the country, led by quarterback Charlie Ward who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy that season. Notre Dame came into the game ranked #2 in the country. Though Notre Dame was home they entered the game as the underdog to a powerful Bobby Bowden led Florida State Squad. Notre Dame was led by head coach Lou Holtz. This was the fourth time that Notre Dame had taken part in a Game of the Century. Notre Dame's 1935 showdown with Ohio State was their first appearance in one of these historic games. Their 1946 match up against the Army Black Knights was the second instance; and their 1966 match up against the Michigan State Spartans was the third.

Television coverage

NBC had exclusive rights to all Fighting Irish home games, and marketed the game as a "Game of the Century." The game was also hyped on ESPN, to the point that College Gameday had its first ever on-campus broadcast at Notre Dame Stadium. ESPN also showed footage in the week leading up to the game of FSU players touring the Notre Dame campus wearing green hats with shamrocks and gold-embroidered FSU initials on the front.

The game

Notre Dame outplayed Florida State the entire game to the tune of a 31-17 lead with 1:39 to play in the fourth quarter. The offense had hung its shoulders around their jr. back Lee Becton who had yet another 100+ yd afternoon. With 1:39, Ward drove Florida State down the field, and hit Kez McCorvey on 4th-and-20 for a touchdown. The pass bounced off of Notre Dame safety Brian McGee and into McCorvey's hands. Notre Dame then three-and-out on their next possession, giving Florida State one last shot. In just three plays, Ward had led Florida State to the Notre Dame 14 with three seconds to play. On the last play of the game, Ward rolled out and had his final pass attempt batted down by the Notre Dame defense; giving the Irish a 31-24 victory.

Aftermath

Notre Dame found itself atop of the polls after the victory, and would only need to defeat Boston College in the next week to earn a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. Its opponent in the Fiesta Bowl would have been Florida State, which surprisingly was only dropped to #2 in the polls.

The rematch was never to take place, though, as Boston College stunned Notre Dame, 41-39 on a last-second field goal, knocking Notre Dame from #1, and effectively knocking it out of the national championship picture. After the loss, Florida State retook the #1 spot in the poll and Nebraska became the new #2, setting up a #1 vs. #2 match up for the National Championship in the Orange Bowl. Florida State would go on to win the game 18-16 on a last second field goal miss by Nebraska.

Notre Dame fans felt stifled by the polls, claiming that the Irish should have been given the Orange Bowl berth because of their win over Florida State. Notre Dame wound up earning a berth in the Cotton Bowl where it would defeat Texas A&M 24-21 and finish second in the polls.

See also

Game of the Century (college football)

References

1. ^ Fighting Irish Win Game of the Century The Tech (MIT newspaper) Mike Duffy and Andrew Heitner. Volume 113, Issue 59 : Friday, November 19, 1993

Further reading

• Whittingham, Richard. (December 1985). Saturday Afternoon: College Football and the Men Who Made the Day: Workman Pub Co. ISBN 0-89480-933-4 (Synopsis of several of the listed games)