November 13, 1993: Not every college football game billed as "The Game of the Century" lives up to the billing. This one did.
Florida State University, coached by Bobby Bowden, and quarterbacked by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, had gone through several near-misses for the National Championship. In 1993, they looked ready to go all the way. They won their 1st 5 games: 42-0 over Kansas in the Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands, 45-7 away to Duke, 57-0 home to Number 17 Clemson, 33-7 away to Number 13 North Carolina, and 51-0 home to Georgia Tech.
The 2 previous years, they had lost to one of their rivals, the University of Miami, on missed last-play field goals. This time, with Miami coming into Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee with the Number 3 ranking, the Seminoles left no doubt, winning 28-10. No last-play, or even last-minute, heroics necessary. They followed this with a 40-14 win home to Number 15 Virginia, a 54-0 home win over Clemson, and a 49-20 win away to Maryland.
That set up a meeting with the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish played about as tough a schedule as could be played without being part of a major conference, including 4 Big 10 schools. They opened the season by beating Northwestern at home, 27-12. The beat then-Number 3 Michigan away, 27-23; Michigan State at home, 36-14; Purdue away, 17-0; Stanford away, 48-20; the University of Pittsburgh at home, 44-0; Brigham Young University (BYU) award, 45-20; the University of Southern California (USC) at home, 31-13; and Navy at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, 58-27.
The Irish were also undefeated, and looked every bit as unstoppable as the Seminoles. With NBC having the contract to broadcast Notre Dame home games, they could hype this Number 1 vs. Number 2 matchup as "The Game of the Century."
Notre Dame outplayed Florida State the entire game, to the tune of a 31–17 lead in the 4th quarter. The offense had hung its shoulders around their junior running back Lee Becton, who had yet another 100+ yard afternoon.
With 1:39 left, Ward drove Florida State down the field, and hit Kez McCorvey on 4th-and-20 for a touchdown. The pass bounced off of Notre Dame safety Brian McGee and into McCorvey's hands.
Notre Dame then went three-and-out on their next possession, giving Florida State one last shot. In just 3 plays, Ward led Florida State to the Notre Dame 14 with 3 seconds to play. On the last play of the game, Ward rolled out, and had his final pass attempt batted down by Notre Dame cornerback Shawn Wooden, clinching the final score as Notre Dame 31, Florida State 24.
There was pandemonium in South Bend. Meanwhile, all of Florida, people were crushed. It looked like Florida State's best chance ever to win the National Championship had been lost. Not exactly "blown," as it was with the missed field goals of the preceding 2 years, but definitively taken away from them by a team which, if not necessarily better, was certainly good enough and had the home-field advantage.
Afterward, all Notre Dame had to do was beat Boston College at home the following Saturday, and theyvwould be able to play Nebraska for the National Championship in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day. That was all.
They didn't. BC were ranked Number 17, and David Gordon kicked a 41-yard field goal on the last play of the game, to give them a 41-39 win. It was BC's biggest win since Doug Flutie led them past Miami in 1984, and their biggest without Flutie since clinching a share of the National Championship in the 1941 Sugar Bowl.
Had there been a Bowl Championship Series or a National Championship Playoff at the time, Notre Dame would still have gotten into it. Instead, they dropped from Number 1 to Number 4. They ended up beating Number 7 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.
In contrast, losing away to Notre Dame by 7 points only dropped Florida State to Number 2. They beat North Carolina State, 62-3 at home, to clinch the Atlantic Coast Conference title, to retake the Number 1 spot. Then they beat Number 7 and arch-rival Florida away, 33-21, to set up a National Championship matchup with Number 2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Florida State won, 18-16.
In the final polls, both the Associated Pres (AP, the sportswriters) and United Press International (UPI, the head coaches) had Florida State at Number 1, and Notre Dame at Number 2.
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November 13, 1993 was a Saturday. These other major college football games were played that day:
* Number 3 Miami beat Rutgers, 31-17 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
* Number 4 Nebraska beat Iowa State, 49-17 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
* Number 5 Ohio State beat Number 19 Indiana, 23-17 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
* Number 7 Auburn beat Georgia, 42-28 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.
* Number 8 Florida beat South Carolina, 37-26 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.
* Number 9 West Virginia beat Temple, 49-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* Number 10 UCLA were upset by Arizona State, 9-3 at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California.
* Number 11 Texas A&M beat Number 20 University of Louisville, 42-7 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.
* Number 12 Alabama beat Mississippi State, 36-25 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
* Number 13 Arizona were upset by the University of California, 24-20 at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California.
* Number 18 Virginia were upset by Clemson, 23-14 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Number 23 Wyoming were upset by New Mexico, 10-7 at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
* Number 25 University of Washington were upset by the University of Southern California (USC), 22-17 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* In the "Little Brown Jug," Michigan beat Minnesota, 58-7 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* Army beat Lafayette, 35-12 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.
* Navy lost to Vanderbilt, 41-7 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.
In New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, lost to Woodbridge, 29-23 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.
Baseball was out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-86 at Madison Square Garden. John Starks scored 35 points.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-97 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls, 98-97 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Dallas Mavericks, 101-100 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns, 99-95 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 106-98 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 92-90 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 97-89 in overtime at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 12 games played in the NHL, with every team in action except the 2 new expansion teams, the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim:
* The New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals, 2-0 at the USAirways Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 5-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the San Jose Sharks, 4-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum. Dave McLlwain scored the winning goal with 1:38 left in overtime.
* The Edmonton Oilers and the Hartford Whalers played to a tie, 4-4 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-3 at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
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