A seven pack of memorable Top 10 games for Notre Dame football

SOUTH BEND − Seven times over the last 30 seasons, it’s happened at Notre Dame Stadium. Saturday is No. 8 for No. 9 Notre Dame football when it hosts No. 6 Ohio State in a matchup of two Top 10 teams in the Associated Press poll.

What about those other seven showdowns between two Top 10 teams in South Bend since 1993? Where do they rank? Here’s NDI’s list from forgettable to memorable. There should be zero doubt/drama about No. 1.

Pod of Gold: Setting the table for Ohio State with guest Malik Zaire

7: No. 4 Ohio State 29, No. 5 Notre Dame 16 (Sept. 21, 1996)

Coming off a 45-26 pounding the previous year in Columbus, Notre Dame was pounded again. Dimitrious Stanley set the tone by returning the opening kickoff 85 yards (Notre Dame won the coin toss and deferred) to set up the first of three first-half scores. The Irish trailed 22-7 at halftime as Notre Dame Stadium became a house of horrors for Irish quarterback Ron Powlus, who finished 13-of-30 for 154 yards and two interceptions. He admitted afterward that the Buckeye defense was “confusing.”

Ohio State started blitzing him and never stopped. He never figured it out.

As for the Ohio State offense, it again ground down Notre Dame. A year after Eddie George ran for 207 yards and two scores in C-Bus, Pepe Pearson finished with 173 yards on 29 carries. Future Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell also blocked a point-after attempt in this one.

6: No. 7 Cincinnati 24, No. 9 Notre Dame 13 (Oct. 2, 2021)

Speaking of Fickell, he returned 25 years later with the Bearcats and left with another rather convincing win on a day where chants of “Let’s Go Bearcats!” danced around the concourse hours before kickoff and never really stopped until an hour afterward.

Behind quarterback Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati jumped to a 17-0 halftime lead and kind of controlled everything. He fileted the Irish defense for 390 total yards. Notre Dame couldn’t get any rhythm with any of its three quarterbacks (Jack Coan, Drew Pyne, Tyler Buchner) and was doomed by three turnovers.

Notre Dame would rebound to win its last seven before Brian Kelly, the former Cincinnati head coach, left at season’s end to take the job at LSU leaving first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who had been hired away from Cincinnati, as the successor.

5: No. 6 Michigan 26, No. 3 Notre Dame 24 (Sept. 10, 1994)

This still should be remembered as the Derrick Mayes game after the wide receiver gave Notre Dame a 24-23 lead with under a minute remaining with a leaping, twisting, turning, falling, ridiculous one-handed catch in the back of the end zone that set the stadium into full-on tilt mode.

Instead, it’s remembered as the second straight home game (off the heels of the 1993 finale against Boston College) that Notre Dame had its collective football hearts shattered by a decisive field goal after Remy Hamilton booted the game-winner from 42 yards out with two seconds left.

With Michigan lining up for a field goal attempt on the previous play, the play clock was on the verge of expiring when timeout was called … by Notre Dame. Seems an Irish player thought they had 12 men on the field. They didn’t. It was only the second win in the previous eight meetings for Michigan in a series that would go on hiatus for three seasons following this one.

4: No. Notre Dame 38, No. 7 Stanford 17 (Sept. 29, 2018)

Notre Dame had heard and seen enough about how Stanford had become the new Notre Dame. How the rivalry had slid to being so one-sided. The Cardinal had won three straight, four of five and seven of the previous nine dating back to 2009, so the Irish decided it was time to do something about it against an undefeated Cardinal team that came to town ranked one spot higher.

Statement made.

Tailback Dexter WIlliams returned from his never-explained absence (Free Dexter!) the first four games to run for 161 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Ian Book threw for 278 yards and four touchdowns while wideout Miles Boykin caught 11 passes for 144 yards and a score. Notre Dame racked up 29 first downs and 550 yards of total offense as the Irish tallied their most lopsided series win since 2006.

Defensive tackle Jerry Tillery tied the school record with four sacks. The Irish defense was dominant, holding what was a feared Cardinal ground game to 55 rush yards.

The win pushed Notre Dame to No. 6 in the national rankings, where it climbed as high as No. 3 and eventual College Football Playoff berth.

3: No. 4 Notre Dame 47, No. 1 Clemson 40 2OT (Nov. 7, 2020)

Sure, this one should be ranked better after Kyren Williams ran for 140 yards and three touchdowns and quarterback Ian Book threw for 310 yards and found Avery Davis for a touchdown to tie it at 33 with 1:20 left in regulation, but there was too much weirdness around it to shoehorn it into the top two.

Thanks, COVID-19. Playing this one during the pandemic season meant the stadium crowd was capped at just over 11,000, most of those students. All-American quarterback Trevor Lawrence missed the game after testing positive for the virus. His backup, D.J. Uiagalelei, completed 29 of 44 for 439 yards and two scores.

Most of us watched Notre Dame register its ninth program win over a No. 1 team on TV. The game seemed almost surreal, right on down to the students absolutely rushing the field when the four-plus hour game finally went final.

Imagine what this would’ve been like with a full house? Us too.

2: No. 1 USC 34, No. 9 Notre Dame 31 (Oct. 15, 2005)

A game that started under a cloudless blue fall sky and ended with a full moon rising to the east will forever be known as the “Bush Push,” game because, well, Reggie Bush pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone with three seconds left for the winning touchdown.

Don’t forget Leinart finding Dwayne Jarrett for a crusher 61-yard gain on fourth-and-nine from USC’s 26 earlier in the drive. Or Tom Zbikowski’s magical 60-yard punt return earlier in the day. Or that the teams combined for 23 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 893 total yards.

If you’re an Irish fan, what do you remember more? Irish head coach Charlie Weis and his runny nose as NBC’s cameras zoomed in on him repeatedly during the closing minute or how he received a 10-year contract extension from athletic director Kevin White in the days that followed this one?

If Notre Dame had snapped USC’s consecutive game win streak, which hit 28 straight, this might’ve jumped to the top spot. It was that memorable.

1: No. 2 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Florida State 24 (Nov. 13, 1993)

It delivered. A game that was hyped for days lived up to everything. All the commotion, all the pre-game storylines, all the features and sidebars, all the intrigue. Even the mid-November weather (59 degrees and partly cloudy) cooperated as a team that many figured was too deep and too talented and too driven to lose actually did.

Florida State had eventual Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward and tailback Warrick Dunn and playmakers at seemingly every position. But Notre Dame had quarterback Kevin McDougal and versatile Jeff Burris and cornerback Shawn Wooden, in the right place in the north end zone at the right time as the clock expired.

Notre Dame distributed 810 media credentials for this one. No closing that press box an hour after those press conferences. The media hoard included the NBC announcing team of Charlie Jones and Todd Christensen and sideline reporter O.J. Simpson in his pre-Kato Kaelin days (Google him).

Dubbed the “Game of the Century” it still holds up three decades later. If you were there, you know. This one might live at No. 1 forever.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Another game between two Top 10 teams beckons for Notre Dame football