FSU vs. Notre Dame harks back to 1993 'Game of the Century'
TALLAHASSEE — Chris Fowler vividly remembers the high grass at Notre Dame Stadium in 1993, intentionally kept unkempt to slow down the speedy Florida State Seminoles.
FSU reserve quarterback Danny Kanell recalls how close the Notre Dame fans got to the sideline, their toes nearly stepping on the field as the game progressed.
Lou Holtz still hasn't shaken the memory of a ball bouncing into an FSU receiver's hands and nearly costing his team the game, while the crushing pain after losing the Game of the Century still sticks with Bobby Bowden.
Around Notre Dame's campus, hype was building. The allure of the 1993 contest between No. 1 FSU at No. 2 Notre Dame attracted ESPN's College GameDay, marking the first time the pregame show went on the road for a regular-season contest.
"From a national perspective, that game had everything," Fowler said. "It was South versus North, the most traditional power versus an emerging power, a Heisman front runner and undefeated teams in November. We thought it would be an elimination game for a national championship.
"Little did we know that it'd work out very differently."
Neither program has truly been nationally relevant at the same time since the 1993 showdown, but that changes Saturday when No.2 FSU (6-0) hosts No. 5 Notre Dame (6-0). ABC's broadcast of the marquee matchup is set to begin at 8 p.m.
The rise
Bobby Bowden's teams had come close.
FSU developed into a legitimate championship contender by the time the 1993 contest was billed as the Game of the Century, but the Seminoles could not quite get over the hump.
The Seminoles, much like this season, controlled their own destiny going into the now fabled matchup against Notre Dame. FSU had future Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward at quarterback and every reason to believe it could notch the road win at the end of the regular season.
Notre Dame, the perceived underdog, led 31-17 in the fourth quarter. In the game's final minutes, FSU drove down the field and scored on a fluke fourth-down play in which Ward's pass bounced off a Notre Dame defender's helmet and landed in Kez McCorvey's hands for a touchdown.
The Fighting Irish got the ball back, ran on three consecutive plays and had to punt.
"It was disappointing, it was frustrating, it was scary," said former Notre Dame offensive lineman Aaron Taylor, who is now a college football analyst on CBS Sports. "Because we had an opportunity run [the clock] out and they had flipping Charlie Ward on their team."
Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz dialed up a prevent defense that allowed FSU to again enter the red zone but took away the chance of a big play.
With three seconds remaining, FSU took the game's final snap. Ward was flushed to his left and forced to throw on the run, leading to a soft pass that was deflected before it ever reach the end zone.
Notre Dame 31, FSU 24.
"Time ran out," Bowden recalls. "We were broken hearted because we felt Notre Dame would win the national championship."
Notre Dame was upset by Boston College the following week, putting FSU back in the national title picture. The Seminoles went on to beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to win their first of three national championships.
Despite the final score, the game signified the start of FSU's dominance and the end of Notre Dame's place atop college football food chain. FSU and Notre Dame each averaged 10.6 wins per year in the five seasons leading up to the Game of the Century, with the Fighting Irish winning its 11th national title in 1988.
Notre Dame would not reach double-digit wins again until 2002. Around that same time, FSU's era of dominance also came to an end.
The revival
FSU was supposed to be fast.
In fact, the fastest.
Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Moore gathered the dozen or so players he was responsible for in a separate room at the beginning of the week. Moore sensed fear and apprehension from his group as he began to install the Irish's game plan for the 1993 showdown with the Seminoles.
"'These guys are fast. As fast as we've ever seen, sideline to sideline,'" Moore told his linemen, according to Taylor. "'So let's see how fast they are when we punch them in the [expletive] mouth. Let's see how fast they are when we run downhill on them."
Along the line is where Notre Dame and Florida State established the foundation for their success during the late '80s and early '90s. Both teams fielded dynamic skill-position players, but the ability to churn out burly and nimble linemen is what made them elite.
Notre Dame has had 60 offensive tackles alone taken in the NFL Draft, according to DraftHistory.com. Only one program, USC, has more. FSU, having access to smaller yet quicker players in the Southeast, has had 23 defensive ends taken in the NFL Draft, the second most of any college program.
Pinpointing the exact reason for Notre Dame's and FSU's decline is difficult, but recruiting played a major factor.
With strict academic standards, the Fighting Irish had a smaller talent pool to pick from. On top of that, Notre Dame did not keep up in the arms race of college football and was slow to upgrade its facilities.
FSU also relied on its reputation to carry its recruiting and routinely reeled in highly-touted players during its lean years, but the Seminoles could no longer pick and choose whoever they wanted when the losses started mounting.
"The luster of Florida State or Notre Dame wasn't as high as when they were winning. And it was used against them," Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said of each team's ability to bring in top-ranked linemen. "People would say Notre Dame hasn't won anything of value since the '80s and that was used against them. With Florida State, people would say the game was passing Bowden by. The negative recruiting certainly hurt them."
In 2010, the schools appointed new coaches. Jimbo Fisher was brought in to replace Bowden after 34 years at FSU, while Brian Kelly is the fifth coach Notre Dame hired since Holtz stepped down in 1997.
The first order of business, for both coaches, was to again load up on blue-chip recruits. Fisher and Kelly placed an emphasis on getting bigger and quicker, especially in the trenches, and were successful in doing so.
FSU and Notre Dame met in the Champ Sports Bowl in 2011. They were incomplete teams, still in transition from previous regimes. FSU won in a sloppy 18-14 contest, but there were glimpses of what each program could become.
"When we both played, you could tell that both teams were definitely ascending, and then better things were definitely in front of us," Kelly said. "It was definitely going to be what's next for these programs moving forward in a positive way."
Notre Dame went on to play in the national title game in 2012, although it lost to Alabama 42-12. FSU went undefeated in 2013 en route to winning the national championship.
The buildup for Saturday's contest may not match the excitement that preceded the Game of the Century. Notre Dame lacks the same star power it had in 1993 and most pundits are skeptical of whether each team should truly be considered a title contender.
But for the first time in 21 years, Notre Dame and FSU meet with championship aspirations at stake.
"I don't know if I'd compare the backdrop [to the 1993 game,]" Fowler said. "But it's more like when those two teams get together, you get to look back at that game and reflect on one of the best regular-season matchups this sport has ever seen."
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