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 Hesburgh Region we have our third of four 1 vs. 2 match-ups to decide who goes to the Final Four. In it we get the last time Notre Dame knocked off number one, 1993’s Game of the Century that saw the Irish beat Florida State in a thriller.
In the Hesburgh Regional Final we see the ’93 Florida State game meet up with what most people consider Brian Kelly’s biggest win to date at Notre Dame, the 2012 win at Oklahoma.
Tale of the Tape:
1993 Notre Dame got off to a hot start upsetting a top-five Michigan team in September but a large chunk of the nation didn’t buy in that they could compete with Florida State’s team-speed by the time November rolled around. Not only did they compete, they physically dominated the Seminoles for the majority of the afternoon until eventual Heisman Trophy Winner Charlie Ward led Florida State on a late run that got them deep into Notre Dame territory before Shawn Wooden batted Ward’s final pass attempt away as time expired for a 31-24 win over Florida State, vaulting the Irish to number one.
2012 saw Notre Dame complete a 12-0 regular season but most of the nation still wasn’t sold on them as being anything special when they rolled into Norman, Oklahoma with a 7-0 mark in late October. The Irish entered as a 10 point underdog but quickly proved they belonged on the same field as Oklahoma with Cierre Wood breaking free for an early score. Tied at 13 in the final frame, Everett Golson found Chris Brown for huge yards to set up the go-ahead score before a Dan Fox deflection wound up intercepted by Manti Te’o to set up a 15 yard touchdown run by Theo Riddick to essentially end things and show that Notre Dame was deserving of a top-five ranking.
So who moves on? It’s up to you…
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Also vote in the other regional final match-ups if you haven’t already:
Basilica Region: ’88 Miami vs. ’91 Florida
Grotto Region: ’89 Colorado vs. ’92 Penn State
Voting will close Monday evening at 10 p.m. ET so get it done now and share with your friends until then.