Mark Richt And Miami Renew Rivalry With Notre Dame
Mark Richt is planning on giving his Miami team a little history lesson this week.
Richt, a former Hurricanes quarterback, faced Notre Dame as both a player and assistant coach (when he was with Florida State in 1993).
His 4-3 Miami team now heads to South Bend on a three-game losing streak, but that doesn’t take away from the significance of the matchup for the first-year Hurricanes coach.
“It’s not like we’ve played Notre Dame every year,” Richt said at his weekly press conference. “Like I said, we haven’t harped on it. By the end of the week, we’ll give them a little bit of a lesson. But the reality is, their focus doesn’t need to be 20 years ago, and they understand that. We’re not trying to make it that, by any stretch.
“But I do think it’s important for them to hear why people get excited about the game beyond anybody’s record. We’ll do a good job of that before it’s over. But I’m glad they’re focused mainly on their assignments and what they’re going to be doing in the game.”
Miami and Notre Dame last played in 2012, a 41-3 Irish victory at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The two teams also played in the 2010 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, a 33-17 Notre Dame win.
Prior to that, the teams met almost annually throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including the famous 1988 Notre Dame win — which became known as the “Catholics vs. Convicts.”
“We’ll give them a little history,” Richt said. “I think it’s important to do that, for them to really understand. I’m not going to spend the whole week just harping on that, but I think it’s important for them to know the history of the series and some of the great games that have been played by two teams that have a national brand. That’s pretty impressive.”
Though the two teams enter Saturday’s matchup (3:30 p.m., NBC) with a combined record of 6-8, the game still holds importance.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing Notre Dame,” Richt said. “We know there’s a lot of history in this one. Regardless of the record, regardless of what anyone is doing, how we’re doing conference-wise — good or bad — this game kinds of stands alone, and we know that. So we’re looking forward to it.”
