No. 7 Canes Have Eyes Set on No. 3 Notre Dame
By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Third-and-43.
It’s been nearly thirty years since Miami quarterback Craig Erickson hit Randal “Thrill” Hill on a go route for 44 yards to convert a seemingly impossible third down in the 1989 Miami-Notre Dame game.
The No. 7 Hurricanes went on to beat top-ranked Notre Dame, 27-10, to snap The Fighting Irish’s 23-game winning streak and then defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to claim the program’s third national championship.
“This one is going to haunt us the rest of our lives,” Notre Dame linebacker and 1989 team captain Ned Bolcar said after the loss. “I hate this damn place.”
Saturday will be the first time since that 1989 matchup that Miami (8-0, 6-0 ACC) and Notre Dame (8-1) will meet on the Hurricanes’ home field. And much like so many of the historic contests between the Canes and Irish, Saturday’s primetime game will have major implications on the college football landscape.
“We like it when we’re competing in games like this, late in the year, that are that meaningful,” Miami head coach Mark Richt said. “It’s what you hope for, it’s what you work towards. It just so happens this Saturday night is going to be very meaningful to both teams.”
Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in every major poll, with Miami at No. 7 in the Associated Press rankings and No. 6 in the Amway Coaches Poll. Notre Dame is third in the AP poll and fifth in the Amway Coaches poll.
“It’s huge,” linebacker Zach McClore said. “It’s a rivalry game. They are a team that a lot of people in the country see as one of the better teams. It’s us against them and we have to man up and do what we have to do.”
The Hurricanes and Fighting Irish are in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings for the second straight week. Miami climbed three spots to No. 7 after an impressive win over Virginia Tech, while Notre Dame is third for the second consecutive week.
“It just makes this game even more important in some cases,” linebacker Shaquille Quarterman said of the rankings. “It’s a big rival, it has been, due to the past and being undefeated and them having the season that they have been having. It’s just an exciting game that’s coming up that’s going to be held at Hard Rock.”
Hard Rock Stadium was electric a week ago in Miami’s 28-10 victory over Virginia Tech. The Canes will look for an even bigger and energetic crowd attending this weekend’s top 10 matchup between two legendary programs.
“It’s another big weekend, another big Saturday night, which is wonderful,” Richt said. “We had a chance to have a great crowd a week ago, or a few days ago. That was just so impressive to me and our players and even, I’m sure, the fans in the stands were enjoying it. It’s amazing what happens when everybody gets together and starts yelling at the same time. They really created a great atmosphere for us. It did start the minute our buses rolled into the stadium. First of all, having to fight the traffic to get in – normally we don’t have to do that, so that was a good sign. Then just all the tailgating going on was fun to see. The Cane Walk was big and students, band, everybody did a wonderful job. We’re figuring we’ll have a good crowd.”
Jaquan Johnson was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week after tying for the team lead with seven tackles and wore the famed “turnover chain” twice against Virginia Tech – once for a forced fumble in the second quarter and another for an interception in the third quarter. The junior safety felt the energy coming from the stands last week and believes Miami’s fans can make an even bigger impact on Saturday.
“Our crowd is going to play a big factor,” Johnson said. “They’re behind us 100 percent. It’s home, we’ve been playing at home and we’ve done well at home so it’s going to give us a slight advantage.”
Miami and Notre Dame have faced off just three times since ending their annual meeting following the 1990 season, but that has not diminished the importance of the rivalry.
“It’s absolutely a rivalry,” offensive lineman Kc McDermott said. “It’s Miami-Notre Dame. They made a 30 for 30 about this. This is a rivalry – no questions about it – and we are going to be ready for it. It’s the same question as if someone said we are going to play Florida this week. It’s still a rivalry, there are no changes.”
“It’s like Florida State,” Johnson said of the rivalry. “We have to beat them. We have to find a way to win. That’s our mentality; we have to find a way. It’s a big rivalry and we want to win. We want it for us and we want it for the city.”
There is plenty of history between the two college football titans. Notre Dame is one of the winningest programs in college football history, earning 11 national titles from 1924-1988, while Miami burst on the scene as a national powerhouse in the 1980s and has won five national championships.
“It’s a really big game,” McDermott said. “Every single time we go out there to perform, we have to do it to the best of our ability because college football is an up-and-down trend. As you have seen this year, teams that have not supposed to lose have lost, teams that are supposed to win, lose. College football is a really tough game and we have to come out prepared every single week, no matter who the opponent is.”
A year ago, Miami was down 20-0 at Notre Dame before scoring 27 unanswered points to take a 27-20 lead with 6:49 remaining in the game. But the Irish tied the game less than a minute later and hit a field goal with 30 seconds left in the game to steal a 30-27 victory.
“Last year happened, and we didn’t come out with the results we wanted, but this year we can’t lose to them,” Quarterman said. “It’s just the standard that was set before us.”
That standard was set by the many great Hurricanes who built and established the legacy of Miami football. And it’s those Hurricane legends that have helped educate the current crop of Canes on the importance of any meeting with the Fighting Irish.
“Once a Cane, always a Cane,” Quarterman said. “I know they are looking at us, Ed Reed was out here today just watching practice. It’s a Canes family, so whenever it comes to Florida State or the Fighting Irish, we have to win.”
