The four remaining teams on the right side of your bracket, featured in the Hesburgh and Golden Dome Regions, have a pair of one and two seeds each while we also have a six and 11 seed trying to pull big-time upsets in the Sweet 16. Time to get voting:
Hesburgh Region:
1. 1993 Florida State vs. 5. 2002 Florida State
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One of these games was coined the “Game of the Century” as No. 1 came to No. 2 Notre Dame and got dealt a heavyweight blow. The other quieted a doubtful nation with a win that left Bobby Bowden and Florida State “bumfuzzled”.
2. 2012 Oklahoma vs. 11. 2012 Michigan
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Whenever Brian Kelly’s biggest win is brought up the conversation almost immediately goes to upsetting Oklahoma on the road in 2012. Almost nobody nationwide expected Notre Dame to go on the road and beat Oklahoma, yet they did. That one matches up with the Michigan game from that same year that offensively may have been a disaster, but defensively buried a the demons of all-time Notre Dame dreamcrusher, Denard Robinson.
Golden Dome Region:
1. 1988 West Virginia vs. 4. 1988 Michigan
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The national championship clincher over West Virginia meets the season opener from the same season against Michigan for a spot in the Elite Eight. You don’t get to the Fiesta Bowl without the win over Michigan to start the year, but the win over West Virginia is the only title-clinching game in this entire tournament, a rather impressive feather to have in your cap.
2. 1988 USC vs. 6. 2006 UCLA
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An all-LA meeting happens in our final battle for the Elite Eight. The win over USC was another one-versus-two battle and sent Notre Dame to the Fiesta Bowl where they would beat West Virginia and win the national championship. The ’06 victory over UCLA was a miracle win pulled off by the likes of Brady Quinn, David Grimes and Jeff Samardzija late and kept the Fighting Irish’s dreams of a second-straight BCS berth alive.
Voting will be open until Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET. Vote and share with your Notre Dame fan friends until then!