The two teams met on October 15, 1988, at Notre Dame Stadium north of
South Bend, Indiana. Both teams were undefeated going into the game. Miami, the defending national champions, came in ranked No. 1 holding a 36-game regular season winning streak while the Irish were ranked No. 4. The game, which was preceded by a fight between the two teams in the entrance tunnel, was named by
USA Today as one of the greatest college football games of the period 1982–2002. With Miami trailing 31–24 and facing a critical fourth-and-7 from deep in Irish territory midway through the fourth quarter, Hurricanes quarterback
Steve Walsh connected with Miami running back
Cleveland Gary streaking across the middle of the field inside the Irish 5-yard line for the first down. He caught the football, turned, was tackled and fumbled the ball at the one-yard line. Notre Dame inside linebacker
Michael Stonebreaker recovered the football. The referees ruled the play as a fumble and Notre Dame took possession at the 2-yard line where the ball was recovered. After the game, Johnson was adamant that Gary was down before the ball came loose and Miami should have retained possession since Gary was tackled and downed at the first down marker. Near the end of a closely contested game, Miami scored a touchdown with 45 seconds remaining on a 4th down 10-yard pass from Walsh to receiver Andre Brown to pull within one point of the Fighting Irish, 31–30. Rather than kick the extra point and likely end the game in a tie,
Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson decided to attempt a two point conversion, later reasoning that "We always play to win." However, Walsh's pass was batted down by Fighting Irish defender
Pat Terrell, and Notre Dame won 31–30, resulting in Miami's first regular season loss since losing to Florida on September 7, 1985. In the
ESPN 30 for 30 documentary
Catholics vs. Convicts, Notre Dame safety George Streeter claimed he knocked the ball loose from Gary's hand prior to Gary being down or across the goal line. In the same documentary, Gary disagrees with Streeter's account of events, claiming he was palming the ball with his right hand and the ball was across the goal line prior to his knee hitting the ground or the ball coming loose. The documentary also demonstrated that Andre Brown never had control of the ball on the touchdown catch that made the score 31–30. Walsh, former Miami offensive lineman
Leon Searcy, and
Dan Le Batard (who was a student at Miami at the time) all agreed that the ball was not caught. == Aftermath ==