Editor’s note: Al Lesar was the Notre Dame football beat writer, then later columnist and Assistant Sports Editor during his 32 years at “The South Bend Tribune.” He retired in 2017 and is now a freelance writer near Knoxville, Tenn. He will occasionally contribute a historical perspective on different Michiana issues.
When the Notre Dame football team steps onto the field the next time, it will be part of history.
After an 11-1 regular season, the Irish are part of the College Football Playoff’s first 12-team field later this month. Notre Dame will be chasing its first national championship since 1988.
At least, that’s what the history books say.
In reality, there’s a different scenario.
That Irish team in ’88 was something special. Besides the swagger that guys like quarterback Tony Rice, speedster “Rocket” Ismael, and bigger-than-life defensive standouts like Mike Stonebreaker, Wes Pritchett, Chris Zorich, Frank Stams, Todd Lyght, and Pat Terrell brought to the unit, Lou Holtz was the right coach at the right time.
From the outset, that team was destined to win the title.
However, 1993 was another magical year that didn’t happen.
Blame Pete Bercich, David Gordon, Bob Davie, and the “Aw shucks, I’m just bumfuzzled” endearing demeanor of Bobby Bowden.
If all was fair, I’m convinced Notre Dame should have been able to hoist a national championship banner in ’93. Even after a hiccup, everything fell into place, but it still wasn’t enough.
The sequence of events that led to the miscarriage of justice started 10 games into the 11-game schedule when No. 2 Notre Dame hosted No. 1 Florida State in that season’s “Game of the Century.”
It became obvious early in the game that the Seminoles knew the Irish were better when they ran three double-passes that all came up empty. Holtz was convinced that a team that is better doesn’t need trick plays.
The Irish were dominant and won, 31-24.
The regular season, though, was hardly over. Notre Dame got to strut its new No. 1 ranking against No. 17 Boston College. The Eagles weren’t awful — plus, the Irish lost its best cornerback, Shawn Wooden, with a knee injury during the celebration after the last play of the Florida State game.
Notre Dame led BC 39-38 late, but the Eagles were driving. They were in Notre Dame territory when Glenn Foley threw a pass over the middle that hit Irish linebacker Bercich in a bad place — right in his hands. It fell to the ground.
Had Bercich held on, the game would have ended and the Irish would have finished unbeaten.
Instead, David Gordon was set for a 41-yard field goal as time expired and the Irish lost, 41-39.
Instead of No. 4 Notre Dame heading to the Orange Bowl to play Nebraska, the Irish were sent for a Cotton Bowl re-match with No. 7 Texas A&M, while Florida State, the new No. 1, was paired with Nebraska.
Confusing the matter was Auburn, which was unbeaten but banned by the NCAA from postseason play.
The media’s perfect scenario for Notre Dame to win the national title was for the Irish to dominate the Aggies like they did after the ’92 season (28-3), and for Florida State to barely get by Nebraska.
It all fell into place — almost.
Notre Dame beat Texas A&M, but Aggies’ defensive coordinator Bob Davie (who later became the Irish head coach), figured out the Notre Dame offense. The Irish struggled a bit, but survived on Kevin Pendergast’s late field goal, 24-21.
Later that night, the Seminoles, a 17.5-point favorite, had trouble with the Cornhuskers. It took a field-goal attempt sailing wide left for FSU to escape with an 18-16 win.
Irish fans tasted the title. They knew what had to happen and saw it unfold — sort of.
Once all the games had finished, the Notre Dame team hotel in Dallas was in chaos. More than 20 floors of circular hallways looked down on an area in the middle. Irish fans hung over the railings of every floor, chanting cheers and occasionally breaking into the fight song.
At the bottom was Holtz, doing every TV interview he could possibly do to lobby on behalf of his team. Without social media, stating his case to the voters who would decide the fate of the Irish wasn’t easy.
By the end of the evening, we in the media concluded that having Notre Dame and Florida State share the national title would be the most appropriate way to go. Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden, who was seeking his first title, was a likable sort, but the asterisk that would go along with it would be worthy.
Instead, 46 of the 62 Associated Press voters felt Florida State had earned the title on its own. Notre Dame was given just 12 first-place votes and Auburn got four.
Eight hours after Holtz’s pep rally, the rotunda was a morgue. The early morning pity party was quiet and subdued as the players climbed into buses to the airport.
I spoke with Bercich a bit, who was always a stand-up guy. He was drained.
“Pete, could you play another game against Florida State for the title?” I said.
“No way,” he said. “I’ve got nothing left.”
Earned on the field, but the history books say otherwise.
Who knows? Maybe history will be on Notre Dame’s side this time.