1989 Fiesta Bowl

August 2023 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl 18th Fiesta BowlNational championship gameThrough luck and fortuitous scheduling, a "national championship game" was occasionally able to settle the matter on the field, as described in some contemporaneous reports.Barbati Carl Cannizzaro Mark January 3, 1988 Should there be college Super Bowl? https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111956213/should-there-be-college-super-bowl/ The Courier–News Bridgewater, New Jersey October 24, 2022 Only luck ensures one of the many current bowl games gets the No. 1 and No. 2 teams to play each other. October 25, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221025034152/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111956213/should-there-be-college-super-bowl/ live Despite the promotional billing, in several instances there were plausible scenarios for a third team to be selected as national champion by the major selectors, depending on outcomes of other games.:1988 Winner would be the season's only undefeated team; one-loss No. 2 Miami held out slim hope to be voted No. 1 in the case of a West Virginia win.Wine Steven Associated Press January 2, 1989 'Canes need big win to have shot https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119215157/canes-need-big-win-to-have-shot/ The Times–News Miami Twin Falls, Idaho February 19, 2023 Monday afternoon's Fiesta Bowl between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 3 West Virginia, both 11–0, is billed as the national championship game. February 20, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230220174232/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119215157/canes-need-big-win-to-have-shot/ live Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Arizona.jpg Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, hosted the Fiesta Bowl. 1988 West Virginia Mountaineers West Virginia University Notre Dame Fighting Irish University of Notre Dame 11–0 Independent 11–0 Independent Don Nehlen Lou Holtz 3 3 1 1 0 6 7 8 9 14 3 8 January 2 Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona Tony Rice4(QB, Notre Dame)Frank Stams (LB, Notre Dame) Notre Dame by 5 points https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VgQOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3259%2C120694 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The latest line January 2, 1989 27 Frank Shepard (SWC) 74,911 NBC List of announcers of major college bowl games Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen 17.0 National championship game:1988 1988 1993 (BowlCoalition) The 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl, played on Monday, January 2, was the 18th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. It featured the top-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. With both teams undefeated, the Fiesta Bowl was the stage for the "national championship" for the second time in three years. However, it was not a matchup that featured the top two teams in the rankings as the team that was second at the time, the defending national champion Miami Hurricanes, was selected to play in the Orange Bowl against the Nebraska Cornhuskers; this opened up the possibility for a split national championship were West Virginia to win the game. As in 1987, the Fiesta Bowl featured two independents squaring off for the national title. It was also played on January 2, as in 1987; unlike that game, which was purposely moved to January 2 to take advantage of a large national television audience, this edition of the Fiesta Bowl was played on January 2 as New Year's Day fell on a Sunday in 1989 and practices dictated that all of the major bowl games taking place on that day under normal circumstances would be pushed back one day so as not to compete with other organizations such as the National Football League, which conducted its Divisional Playoff round that particular weekend. The Fiesta Bowl was televised by NBC as part of its contract with the bowl organizers. Traditionally, the game had been the first of the day to begin, preceding the network's telecast of the Rose Bowl Game. However, since NBC was no longer carrying the Rose Bowl after being outbid by ABC, it simply moved the start time of the game to 2:30 p.m. MST,https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VgQOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5627%2C94706 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Today's games January 2, 1989 21 which put it directly against the Rose Bowl telecast on ABC. Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen, NBC's lead broadcast team for NFL football at the time and who had called the Rose Bowl for the previous several years, were on the call for this edition of the Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame emerged victorious, winning their first consensus national championship since 1977. As of , this is the most recent national championship won by the Fighting Irish. This was the last national championship game before the start of the Bowl Coalition system in 1992, which was intended to ensure that the national championship would be decided on the field in bowl games such as this one. It would later be replaced by the Bowl Alliance and Bowl Championship Series, both of which took greater steps to prevent a split national championship from ever happening again; despite these steps, there were four more instances of split championships before the start of the College Football Playoff, which was designed to guarantee a consensus champion. Game summary After West Virginia quarterback and Heisman candidate Major Harris separated his shoulder on the third play of the game, Notre Dame took control to claim their record eleventh national championship. Though Harris would return to the game he was severely hampered by his injury.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VwQOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5675%2C285812 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette White Mike Notre Dame blasts WVU, 34–21 January 3, 1989 17 Coach Nehlen later admitting that WVU had to abandon a large portion of its gameplan due to the injury of Harris.https://www.onefootdown.com/2021/12/30/22856284/throwback-thursday-notre-dames-1989-fiesta-bowl-victory-vs-west-virginia-national-championship-nd Throwback Thursday: Notre Dame's 1989 Fiesta Bowl Victory VS West Virginia 30 December 2021 WVU also suffered the loss of three other starters during the 1st half which did not help matters. They were NG Jim Gray, OG John Stroia, and productive reserve running back Undra Johnson also left the game early with a knee injury on his first carry.https://www.bdtonline.com/sports/sports_columns/column-nehlen-rates-undra-johnson-something-special/article_cf054201-b4c0-5058-8b7e-12822bd09d7d.html Column: Nehlen rates Undra Johnson 'something special' July 2, 2013 Johnson had rushed for over 700yds and 11 TDs during the 1988 season.https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/west-virginia/1988.html 1988 West Virginia Mountaineers Stats WVU had already went into the game without its starting FS Darrell Whitmore who was injured in the final game of the season.http://66.118.64.36/125/JA-52716.html #Wvu125 Billy Hackett started the scoring with a 45-yard field goal to give Notre Dame an early 3–0 lead. Running back Anthony Johnson then scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, but the ensuing extra point missed, and the score remained 9–0. Early in the second quarter, Rodney Culver added a 5-yard touchdown run to increase Notre Dame's lead to 16–0. Charlie Baumann of West Virginia scored on a 29-yard field goal to cut the lead to 16–3. Later in the second quarter, Tony Rice threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Raghib Ismail, to extend the lead to 23–3. Mountaineer Charlie Baumann added a 31-yard field goal before halftime to make it 23–6. Early in the third quarter, Reggie Ho added a 32-yard field goal to increase the Irish lead to 26–6. WVU quarterback Harris hit Grantis Bell for a 17-yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead to 26–13. He later left the game with an injury. Rice threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Frank Jacobs. Rice later took it in himself for the 2-point conversion, giving Notre Dame a 34–13 lead. WVU scored with a 3-yard touchdown run by Reggie Rembert, who also converted the 2-point conversion, making the score 34–21. Notre Dame sealed the win by intercepting a pass in the end zone.https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-defense-rice-lead-ir/140097345/ Detroit Free Press Defense, Rice lead Irish to 8th title January 3, 1989 February 2, 2024 Newspapers.com Notre Dame retained its top ranking in the final AP poll and West Virginia fell to fifth. As of 2025, this remains the most recent national championship for the Irish. Scoring summary Scoring summary Score 1st Quarter ND – Billy Hackett 45-yard field goal ND 3–0 ND – Anthony Johnson 1 Yard rush (pat failed) ND 9–0 2nd Quarter ND – Rodney Culver 5-yard rush (Reggie Ho kick) ND 16–0 WV – Charlie Baumann 29-yard field goal ND 16–3 ND – Tony Rice 29-yard pass to Raghib Ismail (Reggie Ho kick) ND 23–3 WV – Charlie Baumann 32-yard field goal ND 23–6 3rd Quarter ND – Reggie Ho 32-yard field goal ND 26–6 WV – Major Harris 17-yard pass to Grantis Bell (Charlie Baumann kick) ND 26–13 4th Quarter ND – Tony Rice 3-yard pass to Frank Jacobs (Tony Rice run) ND 34–13 WV – Reggie Rembert 3-yard rush (Greg Jones pass to Reggie Rembert) ND 34–21 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VwQOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4009%2C295466 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fiesta Bowl (box score) January 3, 1989 20 Statistics {| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Statistics !! West3Virginia3 !! 4Notre4Dame |- |align=left|First downs || 19 || 19 |- |align=left|Rushes–yards|| 37–108|| 59–242 |- |align=left|Passing yards || 174 || 213 |- |align=left|Passes || 14–30–1 || 7–11–1 |- |align=left|Total yards || 282 || 455 |- |align=left|Punts–average ||7–45|| 4–37 |- |align=left|Fumbles–lost ||0–0|| 2–0 |- |align=left|Turnovers by||1||1 |- |align=left|Penalties-yards ||3–38|| 11–102 |- |align=left|Time of possession ||23:17||36:43 |} Source: Notes References Fiesta Bowl Category:Fiesta Bowl Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football bowl games Category:West Virginia Mountaineers football bowl games Fiesta Bowl Fiesta Bowl