Irish Ride Their Rocket as Miami Sputters, 29-20

When pressed earlier last week, Miami Coach Dennis Erickson predicted that the loser of Saturday’s game against Notre Dame could kiss its chances for a national championship goodby.

Well, pucker up, Hurricanes and plant a nice wet one on that dream of defending a title won a year ago. Notre Dame ended those hopes with a 29-20 victory that even made Irish Coach Lou Holtz, the consummate worrywart, gush with goodwill.

“It’s a game our players will remember for the rest of their lives,” Holtz said. “I know I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

So will Erickson, who became the first Miami coach since 1984 to watch a Hurricane team lose two regular-season games. He also has the distinction of possibly being the last Miami coach to lose to the Irish, whose athletic department chose not to renew the series any time soon, at least not until 2005, when Notre Dame has its next schedule opening.

Of course, don’t bother asking to see the slide show of Erickson’s first trip to Notre Dame. After what he saw Saturday, Erickson should request that the negatives be destroyed.

Click . There’s Miami, the nation’s second-ranked team, committing two turnovers in the fourth quarter. Grateful Notre Dame converts the mistakes into 10 points and a victory.

“You just can’t make the mistakes we made in the second half of the football game and still expect to beat Notre Dame on the road,” Erickson said.

Click . There’s Miami, ahead, 17-16, at halftime, adding only one field goal in the final 30 minutes.

“We didn’t show them much in the first half,” Notre Dame linebacker Michael Stonebreaker said. “But we put in more blitzes and man coverages in the second half.”

“Coverages they’d never seen before,” cornerback Todd Lyght added.

Click. There’s Notre Dame’s Raghib (Rocket) Ismail turning on afterburners all afternoon. Ismail contributed 268 all-purpose yards to the Irish cause, including a 94-yard kickoff return that Erickson still can’t believe.

“We plan against that,” he said. “We work like heck against it all week and then on game day, all of the sudden there’s a hole and he’s gone.”

Click. There’s Lyght and Ismail embracing Erickson as the Miami coach leaves the postgame news conference. It is a heartfelt gesture and a classy one, at that.

Maybe Erickson ought to save this slide, after all.

With the victory, sixth-ranked Notre Dame (5-1) zooms back into the national championship picture. The Irish are almost guaranteed to move up to third, maybe second place in the polls this week.

Meanwhile, Miami (4-2) falls out of title contention. The Hurricanes might play on New Year’s Day, but it won’t be for history. All that ended when quarterback Craig Erickson lofted a pass into the hands of Lyght midway through the fourth period. Down, 22-20, at the time, it crippled the Hurricanes’ comeback chances.

And if that didn’t do it, Miami running back Leonard Conley’s fumble at the Notre Dame two-yard line did. Greg Davis applied the hit and Stonebreaker cradled the loose ball as if it were precious metal.

But for all the Miami mistakes--two lost fumbles and two interceptions--it was Ismail who may have caused the most damage. Ismail would win the Heisman Trophy if the Hurricanes had votes. They watched him weave his way around and past Miami tacklers all afternoon.

“Today, I honestly saw some respect in their eyes,” Ismail said.

And fear, too. Each time Miami kicked off, the ball was sent toward the corners and squibbed up the middle.

Except once. And Ismail made Miami pay for the error.

“I remember thinking, ‘Why did he kick the ball down the middle?’ ” Ismail said.

Ismail took the kickoff at the Irish six, nearly fell, caught his balance and then cruised through the coverage. Suddenly a 10-3 Miami lead became a tie score.

“Once I saw the kicker, I knew I had a good chance to take it to the house,” he said.

That’s Ismail-ese for end zone. It marked the fifth time Ismail has returned a kickoff for a touchdown. One more and he will tie USC’s Anthony Davis.

Soon after the score, Ismail disappeared from the Notre Dame lineup. Apparently, his pregame meal of waffles wasn’t enough to sustain him. He became dizzy and disoriented. At one point, he ran across the field to block a Miami player who didn’t exist.

“An image,” Ismail said.

Trainers stuck an intravenous needle into his arm at halftime, loaded him up with saline solution and then sent him on his way. Ismail finished with 108 rushing yards, 24 receiving yards and 144 yards in kickoff returns.

“What can you say about him?” Holtz marveled. “He’s the best football player in the country.”

There were other Notre Dame standouts. Kicker Craig Hentrich set a school record with five field goals. Sophomore quarterback Rick Mirer withstood the pressure applied by a strong Miami defense. He completed only eight of 16 passes, but one of them went for a back-breaking touchdown to Rodney Culver with 6:16 to play. Culver curled around Miami’s blitzing linebacker, caught the ball in stride at the Hurricane 15 and ended the scoring run by dragging safety Darryl Williams into the end zone.

“The touchdown play we kind of made up at breakfast today,” Culver said.

That’s the kind of day it was for Notre Dame: waffle and syrup strategy sessions, Rocket returns, the luck of the Irish.

“We would like to have the opportunity to play them again,” Dennis Erickson said. “It’s just too bad that it’s over with.”

Erickson was talking about the rivalry, but he could have been referring to the Hurricanes’ season. After all, two losses is the kiss of death.