Friday Flashback: 1993 Florida State-Notre Dame Rematch That Wasn’t

News surfaced today that ESPN College Gameday was packing up its road show and hitting Ann Arbor for the Sept. 10 clash between Michigan and Notre Dame. In honor of the occasion, let’s reflect on Gameday’s trip to another Notre Dame game — namely, the program’s first to South Bend. The decision to broadcast live from the location of The Game of the Century was a no-brainer. Subsequent matchups since have matched hype and the trash talk leading up to No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 2 Notre Dame. Few have delivered the on-field product to match, and no regular season game since has matched this one’s intensity. The Seminoles nearly rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the third quarter, which lead to a classic finish and ND win.

But this discussion isn’t just about the happenings of Nov. 13, 1993.

The Letdown Game; it’s an inevitability of each college football season. The degrees are varying, but perhaps none is as famous as Notre’s Dame 41-39, regular season ending loss to Boston College. The Irish went from literally the top of the mountain to erased from the national championship picture in the time it took David Gordon to hit a 41-yard field goal. Had Lou Holtz consulted kindred spirit in speech Admiral Ackbar, the Mon Calamari would have flailed his fishy arms wildly and proclaimed BC a trap.

ND falling from No. 1 and its ensuing championship game snub remain sources of consternation for Irish fans, and rightfully so. Had an number of things gone differently, that season’s national championship scene would have played out much, much differently. The entire season was the perfect storm of controversy. The obvious item from which to begin is Gordon’s kick. A bad snap, a slight hook, anything to set off course a not easy kick gives Notre Dame a 39-38 victory and a spot in the national championship game. There’s no need to leave it to a vote, as Nebraska and Notre Dame would have been the sole eligible unbeatens left; more on that later. A Husker-Irish Orange Bowl would then be an inevitability. Maybe. Again, more on that later.

But other “what ifs” come into play beyond Gordon’s kick as far as the BC-ND game. Boston College was no slouch, make no mistake. The Eagles came into South Bend ranked 15th and finished the season No. 12. Had that game been played in Chestnut Hill, perhaps then ND gets it title game shot. Losing at home softened ND’s case to remain in the top 2, despite defeating FSU head-to-head. A single digit road loss to the No. 2 was deemed less indicting than a home loss to the No. 15 team.

Now, here’s where it gets even more convoluted. The Irish’s regular season wrapped up with the BC loss, on Nov. 20; a week before the Thanksgiving weekend. Had Notre Dame’s bye week come earlier, the Irish just might have received the votes necessary to stay ahead of FSU. ND played every Saturday from Sept. 4 through Oct. 30, and then just twice more after Halloween. Meanwhile, he Seminoles had two opportunities to remain in the public eye following the ND loss. First was a rout of NC State to secure the ACC championship, followed by a two-touchdown victory at Florida in the final week of the regular season. The validity of the old mantra “out of sight, out of mind” was proven true.

Losing to BC would not have been such an onion in the oinment had Nebraska not gone undefeated. Pundits seemed to agree in the days immediately following the ND-FSU collision that a championship rematch was in order. In fact, so unconvinced of Nebraska’s strength were pollsters, the Huskers never reached No. 1, even as the Seminoles and Irish were losing. This mindset proved ridiculous, as the Huskers came a missed field goal away from becoming national champion.

The knock against the Huskers was that while Notre Dame was playing BC, FSU and Michigan and FSU, Florida, North Carolina and ND, Nebraska drew just two ranked opponents. Early season oppnent UCLA would reach the Rose Bowl, but was unranked at the time of their meeting. Those same Bruins can be blamed for ND and FSU not drawing a rematch, too. UCLA recovered a Nebraska fumble late in the fourth quarter, trailing 14-13. The Bruin offense stalled though, having to abandon the run game that had it in contention to begin with. The decision was one of three single digit contests the Huskers won that season.

Yet, heading into the bowl season, Nebraska wasn’t the sole unbeaten. Told ya we’d delve more into this. Bobby Bowden’s 1993 season would culminate in a national championship; Terry Bowden would boast the sole perfect record. The Tigers had an incredible season, finishing a perfect 11-0. Among the Tigers’ wins were a 38-35 shocker of No. 4 Florida and 22-14 defeat of 11th ranked rival Alabama. However, Terry Bowden’s Tigers were paying for the crimes of Pat Dye. Not only was Auburn removed from the bowl picture, but the Tigers were banned from TV. To make this discussion even more confusing, let’s hypothesize for a moment AU played on national television.

The Tigers would have still been banned from the postseason, but were more voters exposed to AU’s exploits on the field, the ensuing perfect record might have forced a split championship. The argument in favor of Auburn was the same some were pushing for USC before last season. But the Trojans remained in public consciousness — again, out of sight, out of mind.