Since 1942, the University of Michigan football team has played at Notre Dame Stadium during the afternoon 12 times — and actually owns a winning mark of 6-5-1 in such outings.
Ah, but when Michigan plays at night in Notre Dame Stadium, the Fighting Irish boast an “electrifying” 5-0 record, which they will try to boost to 6-0 this weekend.
Long-time college football analyst Beano Cook used to refer to LSU as "the Count Dracula of college football" because they do their greatest damage at home in the night. It's been the same with Notre Dame hosting Michigan in prime time.
Our week-long five-part series chronologically reviews each of those conquests. Part III was the 1990 opener that matched No. 1 vs. No. 4.
Sept. 15, 1990: Notre Dame 28, Michigan 24
Back Drop: Ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press, Notre Dame was coming off back-to-back 12-0 and 12-1 regular seasons that produced a school record 23-game winning streak, with a national title in 1988 and No. 2 finish in 1989.
Meanwhile, two-time reigning Big Ten champion Michigan was at No. 4. It was the first and only time the two have met (to this day) in Notre Dame Stadium with both ranked in the Top 5.
The Electricity: Notre Dame had a dynasty in the making while Michigan was aching to not be the first senior class to go 0-4 versus the Irish, especially after heart-breaking losses in 1988 (19-17) and 1989 (24-19). The Wolverines were also under new head coach Gary Moeller, who was anointed the successor after Bo Schembechler’s 21-year reign from 1969-89.
In some ways, Notre Dame also was starting over on offense and defense. On offense, sophomore quarterback Rick Mirer succeeded Tony Rice, and the passing attack was expected to be upgraded with the future No. 2 NFL pick. On defense, coordinator Gary Darnell from Florida replaced Barry Alvarez, who was named head coach at Wisconsin.
Outcome: Wolverines running back Jon Vaughn shredded the vaunted Irish defense — featuring three consensus All-Americans in nose tackle Chris Zorich, linebacker Michael Stonebreaker and cornerback Todd Lyght — for 201 yards on 22 carries rushing while No. 4 Michigan built a 24-14 second half advantage. Junior receiver Desmond Howard, who would win the Heisman the following year, also grabbed 44- and 25-yard touchdown passes from Elvis Grbac.
From there, an “Immaculate Reception” by freshman Lake Dawson that gained 41 yards set up a Notre Dame touchdown, an end zone interception by Stonebreaker thwarted another Michigan score, and with 1:40 left, sophomore Rick Mirer threaded the needle on an 18-yard scoring pass to Adrian Jarrell. Seconds later sophomore cornerback Reggie Brooks, who would finish 5th in the Heisman balloting two years later as a running back, picked off a Grbac pass.
In his first career start, Mirer made the cover of Sports Illustrated as Notre Dame’s “Golden Boy.” Remarkably, the Irish senior class graduated with a 4-0 ledger against Michigan — the first time the Wolverines lost four in a row to one team since 1962-66 versus Purdue.
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