Notre Dame And Florida State Could Play In 2014
By Kyle Kensing
Dec 29, 2011; Orlando, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback EJ Manuel (3) takes the snap during the fourth quarter of the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl at the Citrus Bowl. Florida State defeated Notre Dame 18-14. Mandatory Credit: Douglas Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Rivals network Florida State site Warchant.com reports Notre Dame and Florida State are nearing completion on an agreement to rekindle their past gridiron rivalry. The Fighting Irish would visit Tallahassee in 2014, as part of Notre Dame’s new partnership with the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Notre Dame is scheduled to play five ACC programs a season, and will face each of the league’s current 14 members at least once in a three-year rotation. The new arrangement is not too much of a deviation from Notre Dame’s recent scheduling. Last season before the agreement began, the Fighting Irish played Wake Forest, incoming ACC member Pitt, Miami and Boston College.
The pairing of Florida State and Notre Dame once again is one of the marquee pieces to this coexistence. Both programs are steadily returning to past, national prominence, each coming off BCS bowl appearances in 2012. Both inked top 10 recruiting classes this past National Signing Day.
The two tradition-rich programs have met seven times previously, with Florida State extending its record to 5-2 in the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl. Their most celebrated and perhaps most important meeting came in Nov. 1993, when the Seminoles traveled to South Bend in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 “Game of the Century.”
It lived up to its billing. The Irish started strong before a raucous home crowd that had been fueled both by Seminole players wearing green-and-gold hats in the week leading up to kickoff, and the first on-campus broadcast of College Gameday.
Florida State rallied in the second half. FSU had an opportunity to win on the game’s final possession, but Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward’s effort was for naught. FSU would get the last laugh when Notre Dame lost to Boston College the next week, opening the door for the Seminoles to win a somewhat controversial national championship.
We can only hope the next meeting is the same kind of instant classic.