ND vs Virginia 1989
- Thread starter IrishBlooded
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I remember watching that game as a senior in high school and afterwards thinking that nobody was going to beat them the rest of the year. that team should've won the title again that season if it wasn't for that head scratcher game that we had against the canes down in miami
I went to that Miami game and it was the roughest and worst crowd I'd ever seen. But Miami had a great team that year and was loaded with NFL players. As was ND and FSU. It was just the matter of home field.
ND beat Miami in 88 & 90 at ND.
ND beat Miami in 88 & 90 at ND.
That was a great team. The only real difference between '88 and '89 was the location of the Miami game. Unfortunately for the '89 team, playing them at night in the Orange Bowl (where Miami hadn't lost in years) was tougher. Miami was also out for revenge. Fortunately, we did get them back in '90 though, to close out the series.
My first ND game in person was the '89 SMU game. 59-6 and it could've been a lot worse. Ricky and Rocket both ran back punts/kickoffs for TDs, although one of them got called back (Rocket's, I think). SMU was really bad, having just come off the death penalty.
My first ND game in person was the '89 SMU game. 59-6 and it could've been a lot worse. Ricky and Rocket both ran back punts/kickoffs for TDs, although one of them got called back (Rocket's, I think). SMU was really bad, having just come off the death penalty.
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The '89 team was deeper and more experienced than the '88 team, but Lou made a rare mistake that night in Coral Gables. He had the team stand down during the pre-game when Miami was hollering. The players just stood there and watched as Miami taunted them.
Holtz didn't want a repeat of the fight the year before, or even earlier in the '89 season vs. USC. The orders probably came from higher up. Regardless, ND came out flat and never seemed to find its rhythm.
Holtz didn't want a repeat of the fight the year before, or even earlier in the '89 season vs. USC. The orders probably came from higher up. Regardless, ND came out flat and never seemed to find its rhythm.
what hurt our irish in the Miami game was not having frank stams rushing off the end. stams was in the backfield all day frustrating the Miami qb in 88 while we didn't have that in the 89 game
However, our D gave up 3 fewer points in '89. The real problem was our lack of offense. Our offense only scored 3 points (the other 7 were on a pick-6). That was a great offense, but it wasn't their night.
The gameplan on offense was too vanilla. You could tell Lou thought the running game was so strong that he thought they would just run Miami over. FSU had success running the ball on Miami that year. It was Miami's only loss. Notre Dame had new LBers and that played a role. They were not as strong there as the three amigos from the previous season. Miami was able to run the ball with success at them with Mcguire. Miami also had the emotional edge having loss the previous season to ND costing Miami back to back MNCs.
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