And later that very night, Kirk Gibson hit his amazing pinch-hit homer for the Dodgers against Oakland in the World Series...
DJ | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:04 pm | #

I attended this game with my brother.

After the conversion attempt was thwarted, I turned to look at my brother and found him hugging the deaf priest sitting in the row behind us. They were both crying.
Hal | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:13 pm | #

Hey, there I am, across the field!! Right there! Cool!
t2irish | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:13 pm | #

I was 8 years old and my dad took me...we sat on the 35yd line, just to the right in this photo...i've still got the photo of he and I on the field after the game. I'll remember it FOREVER!!!
ndgenius | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:28 pm | #

no matter what tix i ever get in the lottery, i won't complain. 4 yrs out of school and got 2 on the 50, 15th row, right behind miami bench. it was almost surreal.
yz | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:31 pm | #

ndgenius and others...

I would love to see these photos you guys took at this game too, can you link them for us?
Craig | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:35 pm | #

I was in the front row, right behind the band. Section 4. And one of the first to jump over the wall & go onto the field. I will never forget that day.

I was also at the ND - Oklahoma game in Norman in 1957. This was better.
gwzimm | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:51 pm | #

one other thing that strikes me about that game ... why the hell can't any network find someone, anyone other than pat haden to do color for nd home games? even after 20 years he's still the same.
yz | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 4:57 pm | #

I believe Carlos Huerta is still the Miami kicker right?
Greg | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 5:04 pm | #

I was right above the tunnel for the ND vs USC game in 05. That was the greatest game that I have ever attended (and the loudest).

I still have nightmares of Wooden.
Chris | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 5:11 pm | #

chris: same here. i've never sworn so much or so colorfully as i did on the walk back to my car.

also, the best part of that video, in my estimation, wasn't the play on the field, but the looks on the dudes' faces at the end when lou tells them to shut up.
tyler | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 5:21 pm | #

I sold programs at this game. Frickin' incredible!!
true2nd | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 5:25 pm | #

Slaying. The. Dragon.
Kevin | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 5:42 pm | #

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O...h? v=OI3kQtDxHHg
DCDomer | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 7:18 pm | #

Another one I never tire of watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N...h?v=NwFPnm- FiUo
DCDomer | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 7:19 pm | #

Watched this game on DVD the other night. How come players don't tie up the front of their shirts like they did in the 80's?
GO IRISH!!! | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 7:38 pm | #

Still like the 73 Sugar Bowl New Years Eve ND -Alabama as my top one, Ara vs the Bear National Championship.
Dana Payne | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 7:56 pm | #

Dana, I am in agreement with you. I think that ND-Bama '73 is one of the five greatest games of all-time. The Miami game makes the top ten.
Doug | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 8:07 pm | #

Wow. Two things that stick out about Jimmy J.
He was having a bad hair day.
When he walked across the field with the sour look, he must have been thinking, “Why didn’t I kick the extra point?”
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 8:24 pm | #

Go Irish-

NCAA rules now prohibit the torso being shown. Players have to have their jerseys tucked in (if it comes out during a game, it still must cover their stomachs).
Champ | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 8:58 pm | #

Was in England and missed this game, so 1973 Bama is still my #1. Was in my newly-purchased (tiny) townhouse in DC and had a dinner party for six, including my future bride. Dessert was cherry cheesecake with Barsac wine, followed by fricasse of Bear! Have seen this one on DVD.
ND67Aquajock | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 9:44 pm | #

SBT reports Yeatman is suspended for the rest of the season and bowl game but seems to be available in the spring for lacrosse and spring practice pending legal charges.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/...341/1021/ Sports
GB | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 11:43 pm | #

What a game! I can only imjagine what it felt like to be there. 20 years - Boy, do I feel old. Thanks, Jay, for the clip. Loved Lou's comments at the end about the Notre Dame spirit. And I agree with ranking this one as the greatest win AT ND STADIUM.

But I'm with Dana and Doug that the '73 win over Bama was ND's all-time greatest game, if only because the stakes were as high as they get in college football, because these two legendary programs had never played before, and because Clement's throw from his own end zone was the ballsiest call I've ever seen. And maybe because I was 13 years old and would have cried myself to sleep for a month if we had lost.

Anyway, back to the Miami game. Here's my story. I was attending a conference at the University of Chicago on game day. 5 or 6 of us (ND fans all, altho I was the only alum) really wanted to watch the game, but didn't know how we were going to sneak out. We found an old rabbit-ear TV in a lounge directly beneath the stage of the conference room, and we would slip out every few minutes to get updates. By the fourth quarter, we were glued to the TV. When Terrell slapped down that pass, we were screaming at the top of our lungs. I heard later that the attendees at the conference were puzzled when the speaker was interrupted by a loud roar that seemed to be coming from somewhere beneath the stage. They didn't know we had just witnessed history.
Mike81 | Email | Homepage | 10.15.08 - 11:47 pm | #

I met Pat Terrell about 5 or 6 years ago when he was in training for the company I worked for at the time. When he heard that I am a big Irish fan, he gave me an autographed photo of the 2-point conversion he knocked down. What a heck of a nice guy! He couldn't say enough about the team and the university. He was surprised that more people talk about that play than the interception he returned for a TD.
Doug | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 12:35 am | #

Awesome game, as was the '73 game vs Bama and '05 game vs USC (never quite came as close to smashing a TV as that game.) But my fav is '66 vs MSU - what a war that was, every player left every ounce of energy on the field.
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 12:52 am | #

Had Notre Dame defeated USC in 2005, where would that game rank?
NDdallas | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 12:54 am | #

My favorite game was the '66 ND-MSU game. It was the last (or second to last in ND's case) game of the season and both were undefeated. Both were loaded with All Americans. Everyone was bewildered at the end but the next week's 51-0 pasting of a good USC team guaranteed ND as NCs. The '64 USC game and '93 BC game were the 2 biggest heartbreaks.
GB | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 1:13 am | #

The '66 game versus MSU still seems to be up there with "The Beatles arrive in America", 'JFK is shot', and just a little bit bigger than the moon landing. And it made me think of one of those schools as where I just might like to go to college.

'73 versus Alabama was simply incredible, what with the NC on the line, the first time the two greatest CFB teams ever met, God and The Bear on the same field.

SI had perhaps it's most poignant post-game descriptor:

"Number 1, by the number one."

I remember HB Al Hunter telling me at a basketball game, just before Christmas break: "I can see me get the kickoff. I can see me running away from everyone. Then, just as I get close to the endzone, I'm looking up and I see all these white hoods!"

America was a little different back then. The Klan was still openly revered in New Orleans and the South.

And in that great game, Al Hunter returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
FightingGrandmoms | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 1:33 am | #

'88 Miami was without a doubt the greatest GAME in my time as an ND fan/alum. I was in 7th grade in Florida, and going to school on the following Monday was one of the most pleasurable experiences of my young life. The Sugar Bowl win against Florida and the 93 FSU game were both sweeter in the sense that I was in Jacksonville area, so more of the misguided idiots at school were fans of those teams, but '88 Miami was the greatest game of them all, by far.
Nate | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 1:54 am | #

Although I was only a senior in HS for the '88 Miami game (and had just sent in my application to the Dean of Admissions), my sister was already a student at ND for the game. To this day, she still considers that the greatest ND game of her time.

Years later, as a wedding present, my father game my sister a print of the final ND-Miami '88 play where Terrell bats down the 2-point conversion play. The crowd is going nuts. It is a great picture, and is prominently displayed in her house. I consider it her best piece of artwork in her house.

I tried to google the picture, but I can't find it. Needless to say, I may have to steal the picture from my sister one of these days.
chrisnd | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 9:26 am | #

It was an incredible game.

If I recall correctly, it was the Catholics versus the Convicts as Jimmy Johnson was running the asylum at that point. We actually passed the the Miami buses on the turnpike coming into the game and Jimmy was standing in the front of the bus holding court. Let's hope that we can return to winning those kind of signature games!

Go Irish!
Paul | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 10:53 am | #

We should resume the series with Miami. We desperately need another marquee opponent on our schedule (home & home) and it would be great for recruiting to play a game in Florida every two years.

Nearly 2 decades have passed since the last Miami/ND game. The Orange Bowl is gone, and so is the rather ugly atmosphere that led to us leaving this rivalry for dead. The Hurricanes now play in Dolphins Stadium and we should pay them a visit.

Who's with me ?
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 12:14 pm | #

I was a sophomore at ND that year and working as a student manager as well as a sportswriter at The Observer. The two weeks leading up to the game were indescribable; it was almost as if the entire heartbeat on campus ebbed and flowed with the collective media outpourings. It was one of the greatest days of my life.

My only reget was for the students who chose to leave for Fall break instead and make a few bucks off their student ticket.
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 12:47 pm | #

I was 6 years old when this game happened and it was one of the first times I watched the Fighting Irish. I became I die hard fan the next year and Tony Rice was the greatest player ever in my eyes!

Jesse W.
http://www.churchofcowherd.com
Jesse Wojdylo | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 1:38 pm | #

I think Tony Rice is maybe the most underappreciated former ND player. I'm not sure why. Maybe because he was an option QB and Irish fans aren't sure how to place him in the pantheon. But just look at the highlight films from 1988. The guy was a winner.
Mike81 | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 1:53 pm | #

I was dating a girl from Wellesley College in the Boston area. She had never been to a football game in her life. This was her first (and most likely, last) game.

I lost touch with her years ago. However, I can only imagine her relaying her story of going to ND for a game. As it turns out, it happened to be the Miami game.

I think it's rather neat. She may not care, but I get a kick out of it.
Tommy Brown | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 3:47 pm | #

...is this the game that Brown dropped that 2-point conversation...or did imagine it?...
jim/redondo beach | Email | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 10:46 pm | #

How I long for those days again for ND football!
azjimbo | Email | Homepage | 10.17.08 - 11:57 am | #

By the way, to those of you extolling the greatness of the 1973 Sugar Bowl...you can download a fairly nice version of the original ABC broadcast via the Ten Yard Torrents Tracker (just google it). Well worth having in one's library of great games.

You'll need to register with Ten Yard Torrents (it's free) and have a torrent client installed (I use uTorrent), but it's fairly simple after that.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 10.17.08 - 12:45 pm | #

Is that the one with Chris Schenkel and Howard Cosell announcing?
Mike81 | Email | Homepage | 10.17.08 - 1:22 pm | #

Yes. Schenkel & Bud Wilkinson on the call...with an out-of-place Howard Cosell as the third wheel. He never worked college games, so it was odd to have him in there.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 10.17.08 - 2:53 pm | #

I was 16 and a Junior in High School. My Dad and I had field seats in the Northwest corner right underneath the Student Section. Had a pretty good view of the pre-game scuffle, too.

When Terrell knocked down Walsh's 2-point attempt, I spontaneously ran out onto the field. I think I got to about the 25 yard line before I realized there were still 42 seconds left and I was going to be in a load of trouble, so I turned and ran back to my seat.

I had always wanted to go to ND, but that day sealed it. There was no way I could have gone anywhere else after experiencing that sunny day.

Best game I've ever seen.
sagcat | Email | Homepage | 10.18.08 - 2:06 pm | #

Great of you to post these videos, but I believe the overall survey is flawed by the fact that even today internet participation skews rather younger than older - and that accounts for the really flabbergasting facts that no Notre Dame game on the list is earlier than 1952, only three from the 60s, and a really disproportionate number of games from the 80s and 90s, neither of which decade compares in ND dominance to (probably in order of importance) the 1920s, the 1940s, the 1930s, and the 1970s, all of which saw multiple NCs, larger numbers of AA players, and a whole host of "greatest games."

The fact that three of those decades are pre-TV accounts for some of this, I guess - but it still stuns me that the '74 Sugar Bowl (after the '73 season) against Alabama isn't on the list at all, much less #1 or 2, where I'd argue it properly belongs. As a game, it had all the drama of this one but was played against a far more significant all-time college power, and relatively in their own back yard. Clements to Weber from the end zone......in the play that decided the NC.

And how could a greatest games list not include 1957's 7-6 win over Oklahoma that stopped their 47 game win streak? 1946 0-0 vs. Army, still regarded by many as CFB's all-time greatest game? Bill Shakespeare's TD 1935 ND 18-Ohio State 13?

And where is the 1988 ND27-USC10, the ONLY time in the series history that the two teams faced each other ranked #s 1 and 2 and undefeated?

I'd also pick as IMHO a different number of big game losses, notably 1978 USC26-ND24 after Montana's incredible comeback.........

It's understandable that we all respond to things we've seen and known first-hand, but along with many of the other changes at Notre Dame since my time there in the 60s that unsettle me, the lack of a sense of our school's history (especially from the times that in fact made it "storied")and the general dimming of historical consciousness is troubling.

And..uh..oh...do I need to add another IMHO here?
JimK | Email | Homepage | 10.18.08 - 6:35 pm | #

JimK,

All of those great games you just mentioned took place somewhere other than Notre Dame stadium, the main criterion for the survey.
Smooth Jimmy Apollo | Email | Homepage | 10.18.08 - 10:36 pm | #

OOOOOOPS! I should read more carefully - and thanks for the kindly correction, Smooth Jimmy!
JimK | Email | Homepage | 10.18.08 - 11:17 pm | #

You're references maybe associated with your age, Jay.
I remember ND 7- OU 0 in '57
ND and MSU 10-10 in '66, maybe the greatest number of future pro players in one game. And MY all time favorite.
ND v. Alabama for the Nat'l Championship in '73 and Ara's last game in '74.

The one great thing among many in the '88 game was the beating of Johnson and his band of outlaws. It may have been the one game that everyone rooted for the Irish.
Johnson ruled by the Machiavellian theory of it is better to be feared then loved. As one can always buy love.
He was a First Class Pri** then and remains so today.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 10.19.08 - 5:46 pm | #

Will we ever see the likes of games like this again?
Suki | Email | Homepage | 10.21.08 - 7:06 pm | #