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Catholics vs. Convicts

The Last Golden Age: The Lou Holtz Era Of Notre Dame Football History

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The glorious legacy of Notre Dame football history is no secret. Neither are the program’s current struggles, at least relative to the expectations of a traditional national power. That’s what makes Lou Holtz’s tenure in South Bend, from 1986-96, stand out. The Last Golden Age is a season-by-season narrative on each year of the Holtz era.

Lou Holtz Notre Dame

A program that rose to prominence in 1913 when they upset Army and introduced the forward pass, and produced legends with names like Rockne, Leahy and Parseghian, had its last real era of success when Holtz was at the helm. But The Last Golden Age is not a title that’s meant as prophecy or prediction.

I don’t believe that Notre Dame football won’t ever rise again. Alabama has gone through hard times. So has Southern Cal. Those two programs are now the most recent national dynasties in the early 21st century. It’s well possible Notre Dame could enjoy a similar revival. But for now, as a historical point of fact, Holtz’s era was the last time Notre Dame was golden on the football field and The Last Golden Age is intended to celebrate it and preserve it.

The format of this book is that of a collection of blog posts. Each season recounted exists on TheSportsNotebook.com as a separate article. They’ve been sequenced and edited to eliminate redundancy. All eleven seasons of the Holtz era are recounted. I’ve also included two important articles that serve as prologue—Holtz’s 1978 Orange Bowl win as head coach of Arkansas that put him on the national stage and paved the way to South Bend. And the 1985 season at Notre Dame that ended Gerry Faust’s tenure and officially brought in the Holtz era.

The Last Golden Age is a great way to stir the memories of a great era in Notre Dame football. It’s all here—from the epic Catholics vs. Convicts battles with Miami, to capturing the 1988 national championship over West Virginia, to the season-opening battles with Michigan, to dramatic games with USC, Florida State, Penn State, Texas and many more.

In The Last Golden Age, you’ll relive every great high and every bad low of the Lou Holtz era in South Bend. Click here to download it from Amazon and start reading today.   

 

Notre Dame-Miami: 1990’s Final Catholic Vs. Convicts War

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The Miami-Notre Dame rivalry had defined college football for the past two seasons, settling the national championship in both 1988 and 1989. But the bad blood emanating from the two schools persuaded administrators on both sides to drop the series.

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The bad blood even spilled into American culture, with a “Catholics vs. Convicts” paradigm, named after a T-shirt sold on the Notre Dame campus prior to the 1988 game and meant to further the White Hats vs. Black Hats image the two teams had—an image, that like most stereotypes wasn’t accurate on either side, but in which neither side—including black-hatted Miami—backed away from.

There was still one “Final War” to play and it would be on October 20, 1990 in South Bend. Notre Dame and Miami weren’t running away from the rest of country—in fact, neither would win the national championship. By October, each had lost a game. But when they met on the field, both were still alive in the title hunt and even had they not, the grudge match alone would have had the nation tuned in.

Notre Dame led 22-20 with a little more than six minutes to play. With the ball on the Miami 21-yard-line, Irish quarterback Rick Mirer founding running back Rodney Culver out of the backfield, and Culver moved up the sideline for a clinching touchdown in the 29-20 win.

The Irish would eventually get back up to #1 in the polls, but give it away with a home loss to Penn State where Notre Dame let a lead get away. They lost a heartbreaker in the Orange Bowl, when explosive punt returner Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, appeared to beat Colorado with a 92-yard punt return as his team trailed 10-9.

But the play was called back on a clip and Notre Dame lost for the third time, a number that was unacceptably high, given the standards Lou Holtz established with the program.

Miami did not lose again and finished the year ranked #3 in the final polls, but their season ended on a note that underscored what many believed about their football program and fit the black-hat imagery.

The Hurricanes went to the Cotton Bowl, ranked #4 at the time and meeting #3 Texas. The top two teams in the polls—Colorado and Georgia Tech—were in separate bowls, so if both somehow lost, it would open the door to winner of this game to be national champion.

While neither of the top teams would lose, if we backtrack to New Year’s morning, neither the Buffaloes or Yellow Jackets were highly regarded, and the notion that they might lose to Notre Dame and Nebraska respectively, was hardly out of the question. In short, Miami-Texas was a big game.

Instead, game would be a travesty. Miami dominated every which way and won 46-3. But they also drew repeated taunting penalties and piled up over 200 yards of yellow flags, heavily on unsportsmanlike conduct calls. It brought down a lot of heat on the Hurricane program.

To the ‘Canes supporters, it was people overreacting to kids having fun. To critics, it was another case of kids being apologized for solely because they were good football players and being allowed to act in a way that would be permitted of no other college student.

The Miami and Notre Dame football programs might not be playing each other anymore—they wouldn’t meet again in the regular season until 2012—but the Catholics vs. Convicts cultural divide raged on.

The Catholics Vs. Convicts Sequel Highlights 1989 College Football

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The Notre Dame-Miami game that ultimately decided college football’s 1989 national championship game wasn’t the epic battle it had been the prior year. It wasn’t as clear-cut that these were the best two teams. The sequel to Catholics vs. Convicts was much like Godfather II—it was pretty good, but it could never measure against the standard set by the original.

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Notre Dame played a brutally difficult schedule that started with a 24-19 win at Michigan, a 1 vs. 2 battle in Ann Arbor to start the season. Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame’s electrifying kick returner and receiver, brought back two kickoffs for touchdowns to make the difference. Michigan head coach Bo Schembecler was in his final season and this loss—the only one his team suffered prior to the Rose Bowl—ended any hopes for a national title.

The Irish would win games against Top 10 opponents Pitt and USC, and also ranked foes in Air Force and Penn State. Notre Dame arrived in Miami for Thanksgiving weekend ranked #1 in the country and locked into an Orange Bowl date with unbeaten Colorado.

Miami had a good year, but their title hopes seemed to come undone when they were beaten at Florida State, a 24-10 game that didn’t even feel that close. For the Seminoles’ part, they were playing as well as anyone in November, but had lost their first two games—including a big upset loss to Brett Favre’s Southern Mississippi team—and were out of the national discussion.

The Hurricanes did what they could to help themselves. Their speed dominated Notre Dame, who looked and played tentative. Miami had control of the game from the early going and when they did the impossible and converted a 3rd-and-44 in the third quarter (yes, 44 yards), you knew where this game was going. The ‘Canes won 27-10 and kept the national championship race alive.

Miami was going to the Sugar Bowl to play Alabama, and now, in the ironic plot twist that a good screenwriter loves, had to become Notre Dame fans. Colorado was #1 in the country, and it was the Irish who had to take them out.

Notre Dame did their part, taking control in the second half and winning 21-6. Miami got a good test from Alabama, but the Hurricanes kept it in reasonable control during the second half and won 33-25.

The Hurricanes were voted national champions for the third time in seven years, and each was under a different coach—Howard Schnellenberger in 1983, Jimmy Johnson in 1987 and now Dennis Erickson in 1989. They had won the sequel to the great Catholics vs. Convicts movie.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1989 MIAMI HURRICANES
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 FLORIDA STATE FOOTBALL
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL

 

The Great Catholics Vs. Convicts Battle Defines 1988 College Football

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It had been 11 years since Notre Dame won the 1977 national championship, but Lou Holtz was in his third year in South Bend, and had restored the program to contention. Miami was the defending national champion, had finished #1 twice in five years and lost another winner-take-all battle at the goal line in 1986. Their 1988 battle, legendary for its Convicts label, was one of the greatest college football games ever played.

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The battle got its nickname from T-shirts reading “Catholics vs. Convicts” that were a hot item on the ND campus. A pregame brawl broke out in the tunnel when the teams crossed paths. Miami’s public reputation left them perceived as guilty, but Notre Dame defensive tackle Chris Zorich freely admitted the Irish had picked the fight.

Miami had the superior talent and with Steve Walsh at quarterback, always seemed on the move offensively. But the Notre Dame defense was opportunistic. They forced seven turnovers, including an interception brought back to the house, and the Irish led 31-17 in the fourth quarter.

Walsh brought Miami back and on fourth down, trailing 31-24 in the final minute, completed a pass to the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Hurricane coach Jimmy Johnson opted to go for the win, and another pass went to the same spot. This one was batted away and Notre Dame prevailed.

Miami continued to win against an exceptionally good schedule, hammering a good LSU team and then surviving a tough fight from Cotton Bowl-bound Arkansas. The ‘Canes desperately wanted a rematch, but West Virginia was also undefeated.

No one really believed the Mountaineers, and their electrifying quarterback Major Harris could beat Notre Dame or that they were better than Miami. But given that the Irish and ‘Canes had already played, how could you deny West Virginia their day in court?

Thus, the Fiesta Bowl matched up Notre Dame and West Virginia, while Miami went to the Orange Bowl and played Nebraska. Both games were mismatches, with the Irish rolling 34-21 and the Hurricanes cruising 23-3. Notre Dame and Miami ended up 1-2 in the polls. The real national title game had been October 15 in South Bend and it had been played to a virtual draw.

That October afternoon remains one of the greatest college football games of all time and the high point of the Catholics vs. Convicts rivalry that really only had four noteworthy games (from 1987-90), but generated such heated emotions that it seems to have lasted for decades.

You can read the season-long narrative of both teams, along with West Virginia, at the links below…

READ MORE ABOUT 1988 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1988 MIAMI HURRICANES
READ MORE ABOUT 1988 WEST VIRGINIA FOOTBALL

 

1990 Sports: NFL Upsets & College Football Chaos

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The San Francisco 49ers looked destined to win a third straight Super Bowl, an unprecedented achievement. Or, rather than destined, the Niners looked too good to be stopped. The New York Giants got in the way.

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Bill Parcells took his Giants’ team west for the 1990 NFC Championship Game and in a dramatic finish, got a 15-13 win without scoring a touchdown and winning on a last-second field goal. The three-peat bid was denied and still waits for the first team to pull off the feat.
Parcells’ team then matched up with the Buffalo Bills, who had an explosive offense and even the bad weather in their home city hadn’t stopped the Bills from dropping 95 points in two playoff wins. Buffalo was favored by more than a touchdown. Once again, New York pulled a rabbit out of their hat, this time watching an opponent miss a last-play field goal attempt to win or lose.
Read more about the 1990 New York Giants
College football didn’t have a heavy favorite the way the NFL did with the 49ers, but the collegiate year was even more chaotic. Teams got multiple chances at being #1 and a crazy New Year’s Night ended up with a disputed penalty call and a split national championship.
The ending might have been bizarre, but the ride was great, and the college football season was marked by the last installment of the great Notre Dame-Miami rivalry, with both schools involved in the national title discussion all year long. Their final game was a good one and the aftermath showed that the bad blood between the fan bases wasn’t going away just because the games were
That final Notre Dame-Miami game took place on the last night of the World Series. In a year where the NFL season was marked by consecutive big upsets and where the college landscape went into complete upheaval, can you blame baseball for wanting to get in on the upset fun? The Oakland A’s came into the 1990 World Series a heavy favorite to win a repeat title, and indeed the Fall Classic ended up in a sweep…only it was the Cincinnati Reds who won in four straight.
Read more about the 1990 college football season
Read more about the last Notre Dame-Miami rivalry battle
Read more about the 1990 World Series
The Edmonton Oilers had traded Wayne Gretzky after a Stanley Cup run in 1988 and a coaching change followed the 1989 season. The Oilers still had a lot of the same cast from the team that won four Cups in six years, but the changes were significant. Edmonton’s remaining players, starting with team leader Mark Messier, showed what they were made of when they won Cup—the fifth for the dynasty, but the first without Wayne.
In the NBA, the Detroit Pistons were another team with something to prove, but for different reasons. The Pistons, like the Oilers were a recent champion—in this case, the defending NBA champ. But Detroit wasn’t seen in the same light as their predecessors, Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers or Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics. Nor are the “Bad Boy Pistons” seen in the same light as their successor, Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
But the Pistons did show they weren’t a flash in the pan, not when they eliminated Chicago for the second straight year and not when they won a second straight NBA title by winning three straight road games in Portland.
Read more about the 1990 Edmonton Oilers
Read more about the 1990 Detroit Pistons
The NCAA Tournament had some great moments along the way—notably the East Regional, where UConn first won a Sweet 16 game on a last-second shot and then lost the regional final when the same was done to them. It was a heady finish to UConn’s first year as a serious contender for a national title.
But there was no drama in the championship game, only the celebration of greatness. UNLV won the first national title for head coach Jerry Tarkanian and did it by destroying Duke, 103-73.
Read more about 1990 UNLV basketball
Read more about 1990 UConn & The East Regional Drama
A footnote to the year that was 1990 sports was that two Rustbelt cities saw their teams make a big impact, and that was the Buffalo Bills reaching the Super Bowl and the Pittsburgh Pirates reaching the National League Championship Series. It looked like both teams were here to stay for a while as contenders, and that’s exactly what happened.
But unfortunately, neither would get the past level reached in 1990, as the Bills would continue to win AFC Championships (a record four straight), yet continue to lose in the Super Bowl. And the Pirates reached three consecutive NLCS’, and lost all three, each one more painful than the one that became before it.

1989 Sports: Michigan's Miracle, A Series Earthquake & Gretzky Changes Sides

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The state of Michigan brought home basketball championships at both the college and NBA level, and nothing in 1989 sports was more dramatic than the way the Michigan Wolverines won the 1989 NCAA Tournament.

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Michigan saw its head coach, Bill Frieder, leave for the Arizona State job prior to March Madness. Frieder was then told he didn’t need to bother coaching the team in the tournament.
Steve Fischer took the team over on an interim basis and promptly won six games in a row, culminating with last-second wins against both Illinois and Seton Hall at the Final Four.
The Detroit Pistons ride to the NBA title seemed almost pre-ordained, as the Pistons had waited their turn, in suffering crushing losses to the Boston Celtics in 1987 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988. The Pistons produced the best record all season long, rolled through the playoffs and beat an injury-depleted Laker team to win the championship.
Read more about 1989 Michigan basketball
Read more about the 1989 Detroit Pistons
The good people of Michigan weren’t the only regions to have a great sports year. How about the Bay Area? The Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants each made it to the World Series, and the A’s won in a four-game sweep, a Series marred by the tragedy of an earthquake right before Game 3, that did immense damage and put baseball on hold for ten days. Like so many cities, before and since, the Bay Area was able to find some escape in sports.
Baseball in general had a bit of a down year, at least in the excitement department. Three of the four division races lacked drama and neither League Championship Series made it past five games. The one exception to the no-excitement rule came in the American League East, when the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles
In the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers were already in the discussion for Team of the 1980s, along with the Washington Redskins, with each having three Super Bowl titles. San Francisco broke the tie, and not only that, did with the best team produced in the Joe Montana era—indeed, it was a team that was probably the greatest 49ers team ever and on the short list of best Super Bowl champions of all time. The 49ers went 14-2 and steamrolled three postseason opponents, including John Elway’s Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, 55-10.
Read more about the 1989 Oakland A’s
Read more about the 1989 AL East race
Read more about the 1989 San Francisco 49ers
One of the most ballyhooed trades in sports history took place in the NHL, when the Edmonton Oilers dealt the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings. The two teams ended up facing each other in the playoffs and Gretzky got the best of his former employer.
But the Calgary Flames got the best of everyone. Calgary and Montreal met in the Stanley Cup Finals and the Flames won their first and only championship.
Read more about the 1989 NHL Playoffs
The Notre Dame-Miami rivalry was at its zenith in college football, and the “Catholics vs. Convicts” war had a sequel to its dramatic 1988 game. Miami got the better of the Fighting Irish this time around and the Hurricanes won the national championship.
The constancy of these two powers at the top was a source of stability on a college football landscape that saw the end of the “lock” Nebraska and Oklahoma had held over the Big Eight since 1976.
Read more about the 1989 Notre Dame-Miami Rivalry
 

1988 Sports: A College Football Culture War, A Guarantee Made Good & A Super Bowl Drive

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A single college football game highlighted what was, top to bottom, a very good year in 1988 sports. That game took place in South Bend in mid-October and it defined not just that season, but became caught up in a national culture war.

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The game was Notre Dame and Miami, and with the Fighting Irish perceived as the white hats and the Hurricanes perceived as the black hats, everyone was set for battle. Notre Dame won an epic game 31-30 and that game proved to decide the national championship.
Read more about Notre Dame-Miami
The state of California produced three championship teams at the pro level, two from SoCal and another from the Bay Area. Each was thrilling, but for different reasons.
The Los Angeles Lakers became the first NBA team in nineteen years to win consecutive championships. The Lakers got everything they could handle and then some from the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas, had dethroned the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals—although not before Larry Bird first led the Celtics into the conference finals by winning an epic Game 7 scoring duel with Atlanta Hawks’ forward Dominique Wilkins.
It was Detroit’s time in the East, but Los Angeles still had Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. They trailed the Finals 3-2, but won came from behind in the closing minute of Game 6 and then held off a furious Piston rally to win Game 7, fulfilling head coach Pat Riley’s guarantee of a repeat NBA championship.
More last-minute dramatics were on display at the Super Bowl, as was a championship for a 1980s dynasty. The San Francisco 49ers, led by Joe Montana, scored the winning touchdown with 34 seconds left in their victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Montana’s drive culminated a NFL playoffs that was filled with interesting storylines, but for reasons both on-field and off, desperately needed this kind of an ending.
And in baseball, we’re back down in Los Angeles. The World Series itself was not thrilling. The Los Angeles Dodgers jumped out on the Oakland A’s and won in five games. But the manner it went down has still captured the heart of the nation to this day.
The Dodgers, heavy underdogs to the A’s of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco won a shocking Game 1. Los Angeles outfielder Kirk Gibson, barely able to walk because of an injury, came off the bench to pinch-hit and took the best closer in the game, Dennis Eckersely, deep for a home run. Los Angeles never stopped winning and took an unlikely World Series title.
Read more about the 1988 Los Angeles Lakers
Read more about the 1988 NFL playoffs
Read more about the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers
College basketball didn’t lack for its own drama, this time in America’s heartland. Danny Manning led the Kansas Jayhawks on an improbable ride as a #6 seed, in which they combined catching bracket breaks with having a singular superstar and took a national championship.
The 1988 NCAA Tournament also saw two respected coaches, who never made the Final Four, have their best chances. John Chaney of Temple and Gene Keady at Purdue each had excellent teams and were #1 seeds. But Temple come up short to Duke in a regional final, while Purdue lost in the Sweet 16. Each would have other chances, but never a better one than existed in 1988.
In that, they shared a common bond with Michigan football coach Bo Schembecler. Bo never won a national title and while 1988 wasn’t his only shot, it was certainly one of his best. Michigan took both Notre Dame and Miami to the bitter end before losing heartbreakers. Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be, as Keady and Chaney lived through at the NCAA Tournament.
Read more about the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks
The Edmonton Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup in five years behind the leadership of Wayne Gretzky. The regular season didn’t go as smoothly as had been in the case in recent years, but the postseason was their most dominant. Edmonton rolled to a 16-2 record to add another jewel to their Gretzky-era treasure chest.
Read more about the 1988 Edmonton Oilers