Tune in to Comcast SportsNet Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. for a Notre Dame football classic: The 1993 "Game of the Century" which pitted No. 2 Notre Dame against No. 1 Florida State in South Bend. Also, be sure to check out a look back on the game here. Below are some quotes from right after the game and from players who spoke to CSNChicago.com this week about their experiences in it.
"It's one game that I think lived up to all the hype." -- Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz (NBC broadcast)
"Those defensive backs they got back there, whenever they finish, and I hope it's soon, they'll be NFL." -- FSU coach Bobby Bowden (Sports Illustrated)
"I'd like to be Lou Holtz tonight. He'll have a good time." -- Bowden (SI)
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"He's supposed to fall down on the other side of the field, but he comes all the way across and makes my block. He was moving pretty good for a man of his obesity." -- Notre Dame offensive lineman Todd Norman, on Aaron Taylor's block on Adrian Jarrell's touchdown run (SI)
"If we missed 100 tackles, I would not be surprised." -- FSU defensive end Derrick Alexander (SI)
"That was one thing coach Holtz taught us, not to worry about the defense. If we watch enough film, and he's going to put in the right plays it's just we have to execute. So it wasn't so much Derrick Brooks, it was what we as a team had to do. And it was like that all year, and we felt that we had a great team and if we executed our plays that no one could stop us." -- Notre Dame QB Kevin McDougal, on facing FSU's defense (CSNChicago.com)
"I just remember coming into the huddle and being like, uh, what did coach call my number? We have all these other guys in the backfield, Lee Becton had a tremendous game that day. And after scoring, I just remember turning around and seeing Oscar (McBride) and seeing Aaron Taylor and seeing Tim Ruddy and just hugging all those guys and just seeing the elation just from my teammates. Just a great moment. But the first thing I would say is, my thought was 'coach, you sure you want me running the ball in this situation?'" -- Irish DB Jeff Burris, on his thoughts when he found out his was going in to run the football (CSNChicago.com)
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"None of us ever questioned whether or not we could count on Jeff in that situation. He was a captain, he had more than proven himself on both sides of the ball and with his character on and off the field. It's a really unique situation in a game that big, to have a guy to come in on your side of the ball that doesn't normally play there. It's like, you don't call that and think you're going to get a one-yard gain." -- Offensive lineman Aaron Taylor, on Burris getting the call to run (CSNChicago.com)
"When you talk about poise and just precision at that position -- just, you name it, he did it. If they needed 10 yards to run, he could scramble and look like, okay, he only went five yards but he probably went 20. He was that smooth with the ball in his hand. When you have an opportunity to play against guys like that and you come out and you play well as a team. As a team, as a defense, we clicked for it. For that day, we clicked completely. And those are the type of games you don't forget." -- Burris, on facing 1993 Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward (CSNChicago.com)
"The inference was, of course, that we were whooping his ass and he went out of the game. That's a very biased Notre Dame perspective -- I have tremendous respect for Derrick, I've know him pretty well, I played against him a lot when I was with Green Bay and he was with Tampa." -- Taylor, on Derrick Brooks missing some of the game with an ankle injury (CSNChicago.com)
"I just remember, we felt like we were on top of the world. That moment, and going over the student section. My roommates ran on the field, I remember, my old roommates from freshman year and came and gave me a big hug -- just those small things that you're just like man, we did it. It wasn't a team thing. It was a school thing at that moment. I remember Brian Hamilton, Bryant Young, and Bobby Taylor and I all stayed in the same dorm, and when we got back to the dorm we got an ovation just from our dorm-mates. It was overwhelming, overwhelming to say the least." -- Burris on his memories of after the game (CSNChicago.com)
"There's a picture I have, it's among my favorites. It's not even a picture of me, it's a picture of Justin Goheen, but I'm in the background and you can kind of see my head -- and you know, I'm maybe four, five feet behind him. But I keep it because it captures, for me, the emotion in that moment, and I look very juvenile, like I had this look of joy and pleasure and wonder, almost like a little kid.
"I see myself as a little kid in that picture, and the further that I went on in my career, and the higher up the levels I went, football became pressure-filled. Games were a relief. Rarely did you enjoy the game -- you always wanted to win, but it was more about sweet, we got that one under our belt, let's go on to next week. That one was special, and we had just beaten the No. 1 team in the country, it was a complete team effort, our playmakers stepped up." -- Aaron Taylor, on the postgame celebration (CSNChicago.com)