1990 #4 Michigan @ #1 Notre Dame No Huddle

[@timgreen2764]

What a game. I remember it like it was yesterday. Watched the whole thing on TV with my Dad through every excruciating minute. Both solid ground teams in a hard-fought battle, tons of running yards, grinding out short-yardage first-downs, huge tackles, key interceptions. Love hearing the names of my childhood again - Mirer, Watters, Ismail, Brooks, Zorich, Stonebreaker, Culver, other Brooks, Brown, DuBose, Jarrell, Hentrich. Rick Mirer was just so steady - a natural winner. Even after that killer 4th-Q interception he just hung in there and led one of the all-time great comeback wins for the Irish. Many thanks for the upload!

[@ls2goat406]

These were the glory days of Notre Dame football. I truly understand why my dad is such a big fan after watching many of these late 80’s early 90’s games. This team has so much history.

[@tmarsh0307]

I really miss football from this era. Two talented, well-coached programs with physical offenses and defenses going after each other. The play calling had evolved enough by this time that passing attacks were dangerous, but running the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage and field position were the best ways to win. And this - a 28-24 come from behind win - was the definition of a good game in the 1980's and 1990's. Plus, there's no apparel war, unless you consider whether or not your team wore Russell Athletic, like Michigan, or Champion, like Notre Dame. I miss these days, except I do love High Definition broadcasts of today.

[@cmc5394oparva]

The number of players on both of those teams that went on to the pros is just ridiculous.

[@patoconnor9600]

Could not agree more, I hardly pay attention to college football any longer.

[@allengreene9954]

@@patoconnor9600 The Super Conferences have truly screwed things up. Plus the lack of parity also has made it boring. The talent was spread out everywhere but now you got all the talent only going to like 4-5 Schools and its thrown off the balance. Just like KD going to GSW threw off the balance of the NBA🤢🤢🤢🤢

[@melbonejosiah4827]

So much excitement back then. Hyped all week for the games

[@BlorbusUnimax]

evolved enough? you must be new to football or 110 years old

[@nawfsideslim]

Thank you so much bro... These early to mid 90s games bring back so many memories ✊🏿💯

[@mikeroagreschen5350]

Thank you for editing and uploading. This was the game that got me hooked on Notre Dame football. Before this year, I didn't really care much about football. But this night, my dad allowed me to stay up late to watch this. And I was hooked.

[@bobbymccarthy2174]

Just one game of many why I fell in love with ND football 🏈 loved the backfield of culver,brooks and waters,favorite backfield of all time of any team in history.love ND football 🏈 GO IRISH ☘️

[@DonRamiro1]

And to think, they had Jerome Bettis the year before. ND would regularly go into the state of Michigan and take whoever they wanted back then. Todd Lyght, Pete Chryplewicz, Scott Kowalkowski and Randy Kinder were others along with Culver who went to Detroit DePorres.

[@vincentgirardi401]

one thing i loved about Holtz era ND is how guys played different positions - Watters and Ismail played RB and WR, Reggie Brooks and Jeff Burris played RB and DB, Andy Heck moved from TE to RT as a senior. Bob Dahl played OL and DL.

[@ericmeeuwsen2226]

That's one of the marks of a great coach, position changes. I'd also add great Special Teams play to that. As much as I liked Bo, he didn't emphasize Special Teams play as much as he should have and I think it may have cost him 2 to 3 National Championships. On a side note, I was in the ND student section for this game (it was my 1st time at ND) and it was hands-down the rowdiest and most wild student section I've ever been in.

[@ericmeeuwsen2226]

But Harbaugh seems to have learned as he also, as Holtz did, has many successful position-switch guys and usually good Special Teams.

[@schumi9xwdc]

Rest In Peace Mr an Mrs Rodney Culver!

[@mikeroagreschen5350]

Horrible and completing preventable plane crash.

[@walterlv01]

The 1990 Irish are still the best 3-loss team I have ever seen in 40 years of watching college football. Played a schedule with 7 of the top 15 teams and were 3 plays from going undefeated: Derek Brown dropped the winning TD pass on the final play against Stanford, Penn State beat them with a field goal at the buzzer and the BS clipping call versus Colorado in the Orange Bowl.

[@bennyrobinson1935]

they actually beat miami as well

[@holidayeveryday550]

The rocket had to leave both the Stanford and the Penn state game with injuries. And all Irish fans of that era remember the phantom clip.

[@bobnellis375]

Penn State really whipped their hineys good on their own field

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

Cry for me 😂

[@irishcole3516]

@@bobnellis375 whipped u dope? ND broke your hearts in the snow bowl and then whipped u again in 2006🤣🤣

[@DonRamiro1]

I vividly remember watching this game. There was this girl I knew from my neighborhood in southwest Detroit who had moved to Ionia, Michigan. I was a junior at Michigan State and she came over for the weekend. I hadn't seen her in about 4 years or so. She was a Notre Dame fan and we watched the game together with a few of my roommates at the house we rented by Dooley's in downtown East Lansing. A week later she came back and somehow I scored her a ticket for the Notre Dame vs MSU game. Notre Dame won that game on a miracle. Fondle Mammaries of those times. Anyway, this ND team was STACKED and this was a donnybrook of a game. The hatred for michigan is very real at MSU so we were all cheering for ND that night, since ND helped MSU get into the Big Ten way back when by putting us on their yearly schedule. The presidents of both schools were good friends and that gesture gave MSU legitimacy during a time when michigan would do everything it could to sabotage MSU.

[@ericmeeuwsen2226]

The hatred for Michigan was indeed very real at MSU, but you failed to mention the real reason. It's because of inferiority complex, plain and simple. There are always incidents between schools and there always will be -- maybe that ADDED to the hatred for Michigan. Guess you should have studied harder.

[@ericmeeuwsen2226]

Ps - despite not getting into Michigan at first, I eventually did get into, went there and then graduated from U of M. I suppose I could have played the 'hater' role that so many people choose to do -- I went with the better option of improving MYSELF. Go figure...

[@leoderosia9279]

Nd and Michigan have had some real wars over the decades , nd fan. Holtz really brought back toughness and physical play which was missing in Faust years

[@vincentgirardi401]

@32:20 Bills assistant scouting director Lake Dawson with one of the great plays in ND-Michigan history. Down 10, 3rd and 15, ND on the ropes.

[@stephaniegormley9982]

Video footage of this game was used in the 1997 action movie "Air Force One'

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

I was thinking that too lol

[@shortalpha2734]

I remember when CBS first started playing that opening music. One of the first games televised with it was Bama vs Tenn 87.”

[@SeveredLegs]

This is back when well-timed draw plays were a thing of great beauty. ND would put anyone in that backfield and it usually worked.

[@TheSBleeder]

The game that made me a die-hard Domer for life. RIP Rodney Culver... and Demetrius Dubose (although he died while trying to cripple a pair of police officers).

[@ericmeeuwsen2226]

This was a really good game, despite Michigan losing. We didn't sit in our assigned seats, but the ND student section instead. Holy shit, what a scene! Hands down the wildest student section (at least that night) of all. For context, ive been to OSU and MSU many times for Michigan games and Penn State once. MSU atmosphere was tacky and not very good, OSU and PSU were better than that, and the atmosphere at ND was the best of the road venues for Michigan.

[@dominictant]

Ricky Watters and the Rocket !!... Badass

[@vincentgirardi401]

Reggie Brooks with the game clinching INT - two years later he'd score the "unconscious touchdown" in the infamous UM-ND 17-17 tie.

[@felixwilliams1559]

Wow. This game was a classic. I remember it like it was played yesterday

[@patoconnor9600]

Oh yeah, '87, '88,' 89, '90 - the awesome streak!

[@bobbyray9825]

Thanks for posting. Great memories.

[@ivancockburn7535]

Best lighting ever

[@maxfranklin7752]

Rodney Culver was great in this game!

[@jasonpaul5]

I first saw this during the movie Air Force One. Okay, replayed in watching that movie.

[@TheSBleeder]

Yeah, and Michigan won that "game" .

[@stevekov6740]

@@TheSBleeder Funny you say that, as that movie was released in 1997. Michigan won their matchup that year and had won the previous meeting in 1994.

[@williamwestrate9633]

This was a great game, my daughter is very good friends with Tony Brooks daughter.

[@truthbetold9987]

I’ll watch this over the shit they throw out today. College and Pro football.

[@uncklebuckle6859]

Mercy there were a lot of stars out that night!

[@chrishamilton5181]

I remember watching this game as I was wasting my time in the SAE house in Tuscaloosa, AL in the fall of 1990. Going to the University of Alabama was the worst mistake of my life...should have stayed in South Carolina.

[@aaronrider4051]

Don't like either team, though I like Lou Holtz. Tremendous game in any case. Thanks for posting. Not many teams have pulled off 1990 ND's feat of being ranked #1 twice and then losing it twice.

[@broaddusmarines]

On PAPER, this was Lou Holtz’s best team he had. To ME, the 1993 team that dog walked Florida State was the best team he ever had. Results wise, the 1988 team is obviously his best team. How Holtz only won one championship with probably the best talent in the nation for six years is beyond me.

[@PeteyThePanda]

The amount of players in this game who eventually went on to play in the NFL is absurd. I count 5 players on each teams offense alone (UM: Grbac, Bunch, Howard, Everett, Alexander. ND: Mirer, Watters, Culver, Ismail, Brown)

[@LVM5584]

Frozen Lake Dawson and Ricky Running Watters. Would go on to the NFL.

[@eddieg.aoe-4482]

I remember watching this game live🏈 Notre Dame was good enough that year to have been National champs if not for choking against Stanford,Penn State,and against Colorado in the Orange bowl SMH

[@mikegroat7732]

Their defense was not what it had been the previous couple years. When you give up that many points per game, you are going to trip up.

[@ericdaniel323]

I don't care what anyone says - they won that Orange Bowl game. It was just in the stars for Colorado that year with the 5th down game and the phantom clip.

[@aaronrider4051]

@@ericdaniel323 Agreed. Notre Dame beat Colorado. And in fairness (and this is coming from a PSU fan), they lost Rocket Ismail about halfway through that PSU game, at which point their offense went into a tailspin and PSU came back. Mirer threw a back-breaking interception that set up State's game-winning field goal.

[@gregrice1532]

Big time chokers that year

[@gregrice1532]

@@ericdaniel323 the phantom call on Greg Davis

[@stephenmauriellomortgage]

Defense really took at step back after Barry Alvarez left to become WIsconsin HC. Lou hired Gary Darnell and then ended up firing him (Darnell) at the end of the1991 regular season. Lou Holtz took over the defense for the famous 1991 Sugar Bowl "Cheerios" game. When ND upset the #3 UF Gators and Steve Spurrier.

[@perserverance333]

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da....da,da....da, da, da, da...🍀☘️🍀😊,,

[@LetsPlayPC]

The first of many choke jobs by Moeller. They had ND dead to rights in this one and they completely gacked it up in the fourth quarter. They did it again two years later.

[@jasonpaul5]

Gary was probably drunk to be honest.

[@ericdaniel323]

Following in the footsteps of his mentor, although Moeller was much better in Bowl games.

[@SeveredLegs]

You're right, I don't know why Moeller told Grbac to throw that interception in the end zone. WHAT BAD COACHING!

[@SeveredLegs]

@Cavalcade of Fred Couples that's what happens when you play top 5 teams. Sometimes they beat you. Can't win them all.

[@me36391]

Absolute classic of men. Too bad its full of soft flakes now.

[@dominictant]

That number 3 Jersey belongs to Joe Montana.....PERIOD.

[@Born8etter]

Arnaz Battle!!!! ☘️ 🏈

[@stevekov6740]

For sure!

[@themariofan03]

Is that Jim Nantz announcing

[@shawnyoung8752]

Brooke,culver,the rockets. Why are you not pounding the ball. If in recall Bettie is sitting on the bench

[@ericdaniel323]

This was the first game of Bettis's freshman year.

[@vincentgirardi401]

The backfield talent ND that year was insane. Between Bettis, Watters, Reggie Brooks, and Dorsey Levens - that's 18 1000 yd seasons in the NFL. And yet their top rusher was Rodney Culver, and Tony Brooks had more yards at ND than any of them.

[@SteveMullen-lh2rc]

Go Irish, see ya Michigan.😂

[@jonlandry3751]

Rick Mirer....the darling of Seattle!! What a bust!!!!!

[@TheSBleeder]

Not a bust. He was an option quarterback. I could have told you that he wouldn't translate well to the NFL. Seattle was stupid.

[@holidayeveryday550]

@@TheSBleeder I amna huge notre dame fan. I saw every college game he ever played and I couldn't believe he was drafted that high. He had no consistency with his accuracy.

[@bobnellis375]

Mirer was even mocked in South Bend LOL

[@shawnyoung8752]

Was was 1st or 2nd all American as a sophmodet. Got arrested for possession of pot. Kicked off team. Student have th own board? That determine if the fellow students should be expelled. He had to miss his jr. Year came back but was never the same. Kid was a natural linebacker. P!us had a few nem

[@mjfm4]

RiP Demetrius Dubose

[@frankmilitary]

How about some crowd control in the end zones?

[@TheVCRTimeMachine]

Michigan is almost ALWAYS overrated.

[@stevekov6740]

Yeah and so is Notre Dame. However last year neither of them were.

[@TheRodFarva]

Michigan losing a big game on the road, weird.

[@abercrom21guy]

1996 in the shitshoe. Yep I was there

[@TheRodFarva]

@@abercrom21guy 25 years ago 😂.

[@abercrom21guy]

@@TheRodFarva still felt good seeing those grown ass suckeyes cry. Ruined your season

[@TheRodFarva]

@@abercrom21guy Kinda like we did yours in 2001? Then 2004? Then 2006? Then 2016? Then 2018?

[@stevekov6740]

In those days it was rare. Bad news for you though Officer, we don't make Litera Cola here. Large Farvas are what we serve.

[@wjm5972]

a nail biter

[@tetekofa]

Somebody remind me of why Stonebreaker was a linebacker at Notre Dame

[@randyware9645]

Is there not a better name to have at linebacker than STONEBREAKER

[@dasboot5387]

What should he have been?

[@tetekofa]

@@dasboot5387 Warming the bench.

[@keithdoherty9155]

culver killed in plane crash

[@keithdoherty9155]

thats when nd got 5 star recruits----i don;t think they will ever win it all again......good kids but not great athletes....

[@otisgreer8429]

Derrick Alexander was a better receiver than Desmond Howard

[@johnmanning4097]

Michigan's quarterback was horrible Michigan was kicking Notre Dame's ass

[@Zapp__Brannigan]

Yes, Michigan was kicking Notre Dame's ass so hard they lost 28 - 24.

[@stevekov6740]

Vaughn was kicking ass and so was Desmond. I wouldn't call Grbac 'horrible' but he did throw some BAD balls at ND in this one and of course in 92 (especially the one leading to the tie). These were two teams that finished in the top 10 pretty regularly in those days. This was the third season in 5 straight years Michigan would so so and the third in a row in a 5 of 6 years span for ND as well.

[@JANDEBND]

Zzzz😎

[@packman0439]

Both QB’s were ass.