Rivalry Renewed

By foxsports
Published

By Andrew Jones
FOXSportsSouth.com
Dec. 31, 2010

Notre Dame Stadium has welcomed some of the greatest teams, games, players and coaches in college football history through its fabled doors, but rarely has it embraced a game with such nasty and vitriolic buildup as when Miami visited 22 years ago.

It was Oct. 15, 1988, and powerhouse programs No. 1 Miami and No. 4 Notre Dame were set to square off in a game billed as the Catholics (Dame) vs. the Convicts (Miami). It had all of the elements of what makes a rivalry last.

Dame was the anchor program for its sport, and it carried a reputation that the football gods truly looked after its well being, and that donning an Irish jersey on Saturdays put you in a different, unreachable stratosphere.

Miami was the upstart, a newcomer to the national scene from the crime-filled parts of South Florida. The hit television show at the time, "Miami Vice," didn