If you are at least 40 years old, you very probably remember the 1993 Florida State-Notre Dame football game, one of several “Game of the Century” regular-season mega-events in college football’s 150-year history. The first “Game of the Century” many historians point to is the 1946 Army-Notre Dame game in Yankee Stadium, a clash of titans in the first full year after the end of World War II. The next Game of the Century also involved Notre Dame, in 1966 at Michigan State. That was the infamous 10-10 tie which lives on more than 50 years later.
In 1993, Notre Dame was once again part of a Game of the Century. The Irish built a substantial lead, but Florida State refused to quit under future Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward. FSU was in the red zone with a chance to score a touchdown and either settle for a 31-31 tie or go for two and the win.
Five years before that 1993 game, Miami scored a late touchdown in South Bend, went for two, and lost 31-30, in another one of college football’s most celebrated regular-season epics.
Imagine for a moment how powerful it would have been for Florida State to win that game, 32-31. Imagine how much that game — which is already immortal — would have grown in stature had the Seminoles rallied to win.
Well, 27 years later, Florida State did rally late at Notre Dame. The sport wasn’t football, however.
FSU trailed the Irish, 61-51, with under eight minutes left in regulation. Florida State had just lost to Clemson on one of those classic March sequences (yeah, the game was February 29, but it felt like March) in which young athletes feel the pressure of the moment and freeze instead of continuing to play. Florida State lost focus and attention on defense, allowing Clemson to go coast to coast for a layup with one second left. The loss was the kind of loss which typically ruins a bid for an ACC regular-season championship. Clemson isn’t a terrible team, but it isn’t an NCAA Tournament team. Florida State needed to win that game.
Yet, the Seminoles received a reprieve when Duke lost to Virginia.
Reprieve? Sound familiar? One week after Florida State lost to Notre Dame in 1993, Boston College stunned the Irish on a last-second field goal. Florida State got a second chance, and used it to win Bobby Bowden’s first national title. The Noles played an ugly Orange Bowl against Virginia, but did just enough to win. No one really cared how ugly that game was. Florida State did something special for the first time.
Huh.
Go back to the final seven minutes of Wednesday night’s basketball game in South Bend.
Florida State’s listless offense came alive. Trent Forrest made the huge plays he has been making all season long. Notre Dame — which had allowed late scoring runs to opponents all season — once again let down its guard. The Irish are a Midwestern ACC version of what North Carolina has been this basketball campaign.
Forrest was there to hit the game-winner at the end of regulation. The Seminoles completed a rally.
Now, just as Notre Dame had to play Boston College after winning a massive game against Florida State, the Seminoles must also turn around and play Boston College after a memorable, defining game against Notre Dame.
If the Seminoles win on Saturday, they will do something they have never done before: earn the No. 1 seed at the ACC Tournament. Doing that would, moreover, solidify the Seminoles for another first-time accomplishment in school history: gaining a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. (If FSU can win the ACC Tournament, it might get a No. 1 seed.)
Florida State completed a rally at Notre Dame this time. The ripples through the pages of history will be enormous if FSU can finish the task against Boston College.
