Last-Second Field Goal Ruins 1994 Home Opener

September 10, 1994

Notre Dame Michigan Final Stats

By T. Ryan Kennedy, The Scholastic 1994 Football Review

Michigan struck like lightning, furious and without warn­ing. Earlier, Notre Dame, led by a young and inexperienced quarterback, marched downfield like an attacking army. Derrick Mayes reached for the sky and came down with the touchdown in the back of the end zone. Notre Dame led, but not by enough.

But the frenzied fight which filled the last seconds of the game was just the climax of the great drama which had been building explosively since the kickoff of the 26th meeting between the Fighting Irish and the Wolverines.

Notre Dame looked too strong in the beginning. Powlus, a sophomore Heisman candidate, dodged the Michigan blitzkrieg with the composure of a senior, out-maneuvering sometimes three Wolverine defenders at a time. Stefan Schroffner blasted a 32-yard field goal through the uprights to put the Irish up 3-0. Ironically, it would be Schroffner’s longest field goal of the season –  a deceptive display of strength at a position which would bring defeat to the Irish more than once in the future.

Then came the omen, the play that came to epitomize the game and the season for Notre Dame football. On fourth-and-one, still in the first quarter, Bobby Taylor blocked a 29-yard field goal attempt by Remy Hamilton at the line of scrimmage. Enter Michigan’s Che’ Foster, who snatched the ball out of the air and carried it two yards to Notre Dame’s 11 for a Wolverine first down. All the Irish momentum was gone. It was an unlucky break which could have happened to either team – but this time, and throughout the season, it happened to Notre DaMe: Tim Biakabutulca inevita­bly barreled into the end zone two plays later as the Irish defense stood befuddled about how this came to be.

The Irish responded and charged downfield. Powlus did it all, scampering out of a heavy Michigan rush, gaining 11. Powlus kept it on the option, broke a tackle and was pounded after a 14-yard gain. Two plays later, Powlus threw oyer the middle to Mayes who was run out of bounds at the Michigan one after picking up 33 yards – a foreshadowing of the most potent scoring strategy that Notre Dame would have all season.

A struggle with the goal-line offense forced Notre Dame to go for it all on fourth down and goal-to-go. A Becton touchdown catch on the ensuing play was one of a few times that Notre Dame would win the year-long battle with itself in goal line situations.

The stadium erupted into jubilant celebration as the fans wit­nessed what they thought could be the birth of a championship season. In the press box a man exclaimed, “This will be another game to remember!” Though it was only 10-7 in the first quarter he continued, “It will be won in the fourth quarter,” but there was an ominous glint in the man’s eye- he was the former Michigan athletic director.

In the second half, the likes of senior linebackers Jeremy Sample and Justin Goheen thrashed Biakabutuka, with Taylor containing the explosive Amani Toomer. But on the other side, the Notre Dame offense withered and died. With time winding down, Becton fumbled his second time of the game and the outlook appeared bleak for the lrish. Becton had not fumbled in two years. Hope for the Notre Dame cause diminished quickly until the mo­mentum appeared to turn on the ensuing kick. Michael Miller took a high-Hamilton kickoff and zipped 55 yards down the right sidelines.

Under a blue autumn sky, Ron Powlus faced a 23-17 deficit from the Michigan 36 with 2:15 remaining. Here was the test of the phenom who had played only one football game in two years. The quiet star delivered, rising to the occasion in a mo­ment of Irish desperation. Resembling greats of the past, Powlus drove Notre Dame downfield with everything on the line and pressure at its greatest. A Michi­gan interference play on third and six from the 15 put Notre Dame at the Michigan 2-yard line. A done deal. But the Notre Dame touchdown on the next play was called back to the 7-yard line because of an illegal shift by the lrish. So with first down and seven yards to go, Powlus called the signals, dropped back and unloaded for no one other than Mayes deep in the end zone. Mayes had sacrificed everything to put Notre Dame ahead 24-23 and Powlus helped carry him from the field with a sprained ankle

Notre Dame’s kickoff coverage unit, which had yielded big numbers earlier to Walter Smith and particularly Mercury Hayes worked like a machine on that last kickoff. The Irish stuffed the Wolverines on their own 17 and all looked well. Too well.

Fifty-two seconds was too much time to leave on the clock. A mad rush ensued. Led by senior quarterback Todd Collins, the Michigan battalion hurled itself headlong down the field. One year earlier Collins had been named the scapegoat in a disastrous loss to the Irish. Now he was to be the hero. The Irish fell back in the face of the advancing Wolverines, making increasingly desperate and ineffective attempts to keep Michigan out of field goal range. The Wolverines fought in a nearly confused frenzy, controlled only by the cool determination of Collins. And then the whole game was decided in one fell swoop.

Collins’ protection broke down and the Michigan quarterback watched helplessly as a rabid Bert Berry took hold of him and pulled him to the ground. But as he fell, Collins let fly one desperate  pass which found its way safely into the hands of Seth Smith for a 9-yard gain and a first down on the Irish 33. “He (Berry) was hanging on me and Seth was just in the right place,” said Collins. “I just got it off somehow. I didn’t see him until he was in my (helmet) earhole.” Collins slipped through the dime defense (six, defensive backs) oh the next play with a pass to Jay Riemersma.

Seven seconds and 42 yards was all that Michigan had to work with. The scene was one of utter chaos as players ran on and off the field while the play clock ominously ticked away against Michigan. But as Michigan’s time-out-less coach Gary Moeller watched in horror as three, then two, then one second remained of the 25 seconds left on the play clock, Lou Holtz gave Moeller the biggest break the Michigan coach would get all year. Notre Dame called time out. The Irish gave the Wolverines all the preparation time they needed.

Michigan kicker Remy Hamilton, who had a “fifty percent chance of starting that day,” booted the ball through the uprights for the winning, dream-crushing field goal. It made up for the final kick in 1988 that had sailed wide. And just as that victory propelled Notre Dame to the national crown, this defeat made that achievement nearly impossible.

“It was just like the Boston College game all over again,” said Holtz after the game with a sullen look on his face. “I’m con­cerned where we go from here.”

Had Notre Dame defeated Michigan, they would have had the motivation, the confi­dence and most importantly the momentum to defeat Boston College, Brigham Young and probably even Florida State and USC. But this game was one of momentum lost and won that would epitomize Notre Dame’s difficult season. Then again, it was just another chapter in the battles of college football’s greatest, Michigan and Notre Dame.