Tag: Catholics vs convicts

Notre Dame to open 2025 season at Miami

Get ready to pack for South Beach.

Notre Dame and Miami always will be tied together by the Catholics vs. Convicts game in 1988. Despite the storied history of both programs though, they only have met 27 times and not at all since 2017. That will change in 2025, and we now know when, too.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald is reporting that the Hurricanes will host the Irish to kick off the 2025 season. While the exact date is not yet known, the game will take place on Labor Day weekend.

The last meeting between the teams also took place in Miami, and it wasn’t a great game for the Irish. The Hurricanes dominated, 41-8, ending a seven-game Irish winning streak.

This game will mark the beginning of a renewal of the rivalry between the programs. They are scheduled to meet seven times between then and the 2037 season. While it’s a far cry from the 19 meetings they had over 20 seasons beginning in 1971, it still is something to look forward to.

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Heather Dinich: Notre Dame will host Miami in College Football Playoff

A new generation of Catholics vs. Convicts?

Notre Dame and Miami are scheduled to face each other during the 2025 regular season, the first meeting between the schools since 2017.

But what if they meet each other sooner? Like in this year’s College Football Playoff?

Heather Dinich has unveiled her projections for the first year of the expanded playoff in a story available only to ESPN+ subscribers. She has the Irish as the seventh seed and hosting the Hurricanes at Notre Dame Stadium.

While it surely wouldn’t be as famous as the Catholics vs. Convicts game, both teams’ seasons would be on the line, so more definitely would be at stake here.

There have been several preseason projections for the playoff, but most of the ones we’ve seen so far have the Irish either going on the road or missing it altogether.

Whatever anyone thinks though, it’s ultimately up to the Irish themselves to make their case. The talent is there, but they have to win the games they’re supposed to in order to be considered. They can do it.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame-Miami game scheduled for 2024 pushed to 2026

Apologies to those who love to recall Catholics vs. Convicts.

Those who followed Notre Dame in the late 1980s remember the games against Miami all too well, particularly Catholics vs. Convicts. However, the programs haven’t met since the Hurricanes crushed the Irish, 41-8, in 2017. The good news is the rivalry finally will be renewed later this decade. The bad news is it now will take a year later than originally scheduled as reported by the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson:

This is perfectly understandable from the Hurricanes’ perspective. They aren’t going to drop any games against in-state rivals, and they sure won’t give up a home against Ball State just so they can go to South Bend. You don’t want to put yourself at any kind of scheduling disadvantage.

As for the Irish, they now need to find another home opponent for 2024. The remaining ones from the ACC are Louisville, Florida State and Virginia, and the Irish also play Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Pittsburgh and Wake Forest come to Notre Dame Stadium this upcoming season, so you can cross them off the list. 2025 will bring visits from NC State and Syracuse.

Maybe Boston College fills the spot since the Irish already are scheduled to travel to them in 2025? Or another Power Five school that has a 2024 opening? Perhaps a Group of Five school that’s never been to South Bend will get its chance? The speculation will run wild until a new opponent can be determined.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame Football: Iconic T-Shirt Gets Reworked to Benefit Charity

CATHOLICS VS. CONVICTS

Just reading the words brings back memories of one of the most-heated rivalries college football has ever seen and the 1988 classic that is on the short list of most exciting games anyone has ever seen.

Now the t-shirt is getting reworked in order to benefit the United Way COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.

It’s the most famous T-shirt in the history of college sports. Heck, perhaps all of sports for that matter.

CATHOLICS VS. CONVICTS

Just reading the words brings back memories of one of the most-heated rivalries college football has seen, and the 1988 classic is on the short list of most exciting games anyone has seen.

Now the T-shirt is getting reworked to benefit the United Way COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.

Started by four Notre Dame undergraduate students, the Catholics vs. Corona shirt is a fresh reimagination of a classic piece of college football history. It couples the lore of the Notre Dame-Miami rivalry with the altruism and solidarity so desperately needed in these difficult times.  CatholicsVsCorona.com

Shirts are available for $19.95 and benefit the United Way. If you want the new edition of the college football classic, you can purchase the shirt (s) and help a great cause in the process here.

 

Notre Dame Students Sell “Catholics vs. Corona” T-Shirts

The legacy of the iconic “Catholics vs. Convicts” T-shirt has taken on a life of its own and shows no sign of being forgotten anytime soon.

The legacy of the iconic “Catholics vs. Convicts” T-shirt has taken on a life of its own and shows no sign of being forgotten anytime soon. Nearly 32 years later, four Notre Dame freshmen have taken that legacy and applied it to a foe more dangerous than Miami ever was: COVID-19. Out of this pandemic, the “Catholics vs. Corona” T-shirt was born.

On Tuesday, Pete Sampson of The Athletic published a story describing how four of the most recent Sorin Hall residents, Jackson Mallot, Mitchell Johnson, Matt Englehart and Leo DePole, came together to design this shirt. It continues to be sold for $19.95, and roughly $14 from that is donated to the United Way and evenly split between the local and national organization. The students are hoping to raise $10,000, and as of Monday night, they had sold 420 shirts. That brought them more than halfway to their goal at $5,880.

Major props must go to these young men for coming up with such an idea during this time of crisis. If they’re lucky, just as many people will pack Notre Dame Stadium wearing their shirt as people wearing The Shirt. Of course, that depends on whether they and the rest of the student body will even be able to return to campus for the fall semester. Until then, they’re making a difference in one of the best ways anyone could have thought of under the circumstances.

FIW Tournament Championship: Notre Dame vs. Miami in ’88 Rolls as Expected

In the finals it was a match-up we were all expecting to see and despite even getting the publicity of Notre Dame’s Athletic Department replaying the game this weekend, it wasn’t enough for the 1993 Florida State game to even put up a fight as “Catholics vs. Convicts” won going away.

That’ll do it for our first tournament on Fighting Irish Wire.  Sometimes tournaments that are single elimination allow for some classic moments and great upsets, other times a powerhouse destroys everything in it’s path, blowing out every taker-on in it’s way.

That’s exactly what happened in our inaugural Fighting Irish Wire Tournament to decide the best Notre Dame game since Lou Holtz took over in 1986.

In the finals it was a match-up we were all expecting to see and despite even getting the publicity of Notre Dame’s Athletic Department replaying the game this weekend, it wasn’t enough for the 1993 Florida State game to even put up a fight as “Catholics vs. Convicts” won going away.

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There is talk from some writers for this very website to do our own live watch party for this game at some point in the not-so distant future so we’ll save showing a replay of it here.  However, enjoy the intro from that day, complete with Jim Nantz doing studio work and Harry Caray throwing out a first pitch before Notre Dame and Miami met in baseball the night before.

Spoiler alert:  the football team wasn’t the only Irish team to pull an upset that weekend!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqVzlqvSVz4&w=560&h=315]

What is crazy to me is that as classic as this game was, one of the most famous in the history of college football, is that it wasn’t even the most-memorable thing to happen in the sports world that day, October 15, 1988.

That belongs to Kirk Gibson, whether you’re a Los Angeles Dodgers fan or not.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4nwMDZYXTI&w=560&h=315]

Thanks for participating and playing along the last few weeks in our tournament.  Hopefully it got you to think a little bit and take a trip down memory-lane.

2020 FIW Best Notre Dame Game Tournament Results/Finals Voting

What was 64 submissions has gone all the way down to two now as we’re set to vote on our championship match-up.

This weekend was supposed to bring the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament with the Final Four on Saturday and the college basketball national championship game on Monday night.  Instead we’re not getting that because we got no tournament at all.

At least basketball tournament.

As you’ve seen if you’ve visited here often, we’re in the middle of our own tournament as we decide the best Notre Dame football game since 1986 (Lou Holtz’s first year as head coach).

What was 64 submissions has gone all the way down to two now as we’re set to vote on our championship match-up.

First though, we need the results of the Final Four games:

It was the one of one’s, 1988 Miami again plowing through the competition as it destroyed one of the best and most exciting Notre Dame games I’ve ever watched, the 1992 Penn State affair.  Miami won with an 87-13% difference.

I thought going in it would be difficult for any other game we listed to even make things compelling with “Catholics vs. Convicts” but if there was one, that’s the one we get in this final as the win of No. 1 Florida State in 1993 rocked two-seed ’88 USC, 79-21%.

So there are our finalists, the clear-cut number one and two ranked games according to the selection committee who we must say again, did a fine job seeding this entire bracket.

So who moves on?  You and your friends you share this with will determine that.  You have until Midnight E.T. on Sunday night to get them in.

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Thanks for visiting and go Irish!

Notre Dame Greatest Game Tournament – Final Day of Elite Eight Voting

Last call for voting in the Elite Eight of the greatest games tournament is here. Check it out and get your votes in. Will any 1 seed fall?

We’re into the closing minutes (hours, actually) of the Elite Eight round in the 2020 Fighting Irish Wire Tournament.  In determining the greatest Notre Dame football games since 1986 we’ve gone from 64 to eight and will be into our Final Four later tonight.

Thoughts on the tournament so far?

Mine are that the seeding committee did too good of a job to date.  With eight “teams” remaining, all are the 1 and 2-seeds in their respective regions.  Sure we’ve seen a few upsets but there is no Cinderella in the round of eight.

So who moves on?  That’s up to you and you have until 10 p.m. ET Monday night to get it done.  Vote here for the Elite Eight match-ups:

Basilica Regional Final:
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Grotto Regional Final:
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Hesburgh Regional Final:
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Golden Dome Regional Final:
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Voting will close again at 10 p.m. ET and we’ll know our Final Four then.  Based off the time of posting (just after 3 p.m. ET) we already seem to know one of your regional winners as ’88 Miami has a 97-3% lead in voting over the Sugar Bowl upset of Florida.

FIW Notre Dame Tournament – Basilica Regional Final Voting

In the Basilica Region we saw the top overall seed, ’88 Miami roll into the Elite Eight with a destruction of the ’93 Michigan game.  That game will meet Notre Dame’s upset win over No. 3 Florida to cap the 1991 season in the Sugar Bowl.

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 Basilica Region we saw the top overall seed, ’88 Miami roll into the Elite Eight with a destruction of the ’93 Michigan game.  That game will meet Notre Dame’s upset win over No. 3 Florida to cap the 1991 season in the Sugar Bowl.

Tale of the Tape:

The Catholics vs. Convicts is an iconic sports t-shirt that became what this game was as known for as anything.  An upstart Notre Dame team in Lou Holtz’s third season ended with a Notre Dame win over defending champion Miami that had everything from a pre-game fight between the teams, Holtz wanting to kick Jimmy Johnson’s butt and a slew of turnovers that led to the last-second win and led to Notre Dame’s 1988 National Championship.

The 1991 season started with the Irish going 8-1 before stumbling late against Tennessee and at Penn State.  Notre Dame ultimately finished the regular season 9-3 after winning at Hawaii yet earned a berth in the Sugar Bowl, much to the chagrin of the nation.  Holtz claimed before the game that a stranger asked him the difference between Cheerios and Notre Dame and told him that “Cheerios belong in a bowl.”  Notre Dame, led by three Jerome Bettis second half touchdowns pulled the upset over No. 3 Florida in what remains the only ever meeting between the two programs.

So which upset win over a Florida based school do you have moving on to the Final Four?

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The winner will meet the winner of ’89 Colorado and ’92 Penn State who are meeting in the Grotto Regional Final.

2020 FIW Tournament – Sweet 16 Completed – Who Moves on?

So here they are, your Sweet 16 results in the Fighting Irish Wire Tournament.

The debut tournament here at Fighting Irish Wire has moved on to the Elite Eight and without spoiling the results, let me just say what a tremendous job the selection committee did.  Think they know a thing or two about the history of Notre Dame football?  Clearly you do because your votes reflected their thinking a couple weeks back.

(@nickshepkowski and @jf_fey on Twitter if you’re looking for a few folks to follow 😉

So here they are, your Sweet 16 results in the Fighting Irish Wire Tournament.

Basilica Region:

’88 Miami rocked ’93 Michigan like a hurricane, 97-3%.  Frankly, we’re a bit surprised it was even that close.  Catholics vs. Convicts now meets up with the Sugar Bowl win over Florida to end 1991 as the “Cheerios Bowl” escaped with the closest win in round-three, a 57-43 victory over ’18 Michigan.

Grotto Region:

The 1989 season ended with Notre Dame knocking off No. 1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl and ruining the title dreams of the Buffaloes.  Notre Dame’s last Orange Bowl win moved on with a 67-33 win over the ’17 destruction of USC.  The second-seeded “Snow Bowl” over Penn State in ’92 moved on as well as it won nearly 80% of the votes against the ’02 thriller at Michigan State.

Hesburgh Region:

Many think the only game that could potentially play with Catholics vs. Convicts is the ’93 win over Florida State.  The ’93 version of “The Game of the Century” rolled in round-three, a 93-7 winner over ’02 Florida State.  It meets ’12 Oklahoma who won easily over ’12 Michigan, 82-18.

Golden Dome Region:

The ’88 team concluded with a Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia that clinched the title.  That victory understandably rolled the ’88 opener, an escape over Michigan, 75-25.  On the bottom part of the Golden Dome region it was the ’88 regular season finale beating up the ’06 comeback against UCLA, 78-22.

The eight remaining contests now fight for their chance to reach the Final Four.  Voting starts Thursday night and will go through Sunday.