We have reached the Elite Eight in determining the greatest Notre Dame football game since 1986. As we said upon selection, there were some great ones that didn’t end in Notre Dame’s favor, no doubt. We did decide make the requirement that Notre Dame did in fact need to win in order to garner consideration for a tournament berth.
In the Grotto Regional Final we get an Orange Bowl win that ruined Colorado’s national championship hopes matched up with an all-time Senior Day, as Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks pulled off a last-second win over Penn State in the 1992 Snow Bowl.
Tale of the Tape:
1989 was another great year for Notre Dame, it just wasn’t as great as the year before. The Irish took an 11-0 record into Miami the final weekend of the year but got rolled by the Hurricanes, 27-10. Unfortunately that loss would end up being too much for Lou Holtz and company to overcome for a second-straight title, but after a slow start offensively, Notre Dame rolled to 21-6 win over No. 1 Colorado to ruin the Buffaloes title dreams as the Irish would finish the year ranked second.
1992 was another great year but a hiccup against Stanford during mid-terms week kept the title from title contention late. In what would be the final game played at Notre Dame Stadium by Jerome Bettis, Reggie Brooks and Rick Mirer, the Irish came back late against a Kerry Collins quarterbacked Penn State team, capping the victory with a two-point conversion late to seal the victory in what’s known as the Snow Bowl. The win helped send Notre Dame to the Cotton Bowl where they would dismantle Texas A&M and ultimately finish ranked fourth nationally.
So who goes to the Final Four? Time for you to decide:
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