USC’s visit to Irish is reminder of ‘93 Florida State team

In 1993, Florida State had that air of invincibility Southern California now possesses.

The top-ranked Seminoles were 9-0 when they played No. 2 Notre Dame on a gray November day in South Bend, Ind. With Charlie Ward, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner, directing the offense and Derrick Brooks anchoring the defense, Florida State was tearing through opponents by an average of 44-6.

But Florida State’s 16-game winning streak ended in Notre Dame Stadium as Lou Holtz’s Fighting Irish took an early lead against Bobby Bowden’s first national title team and held on for a 31-24 win.

The victory over Florida State was the eighth and last time Notre Dame defeated a No. 1 team.

Charlie Weis goes for No. 9 today against a USC team that has won the last two national titles and is averaging 51.6 points.

Heisman winner Matt Leinart and the Trojans are 11 1/2 -point favorites, but they certainly wouldn’t be the first “unbeatable” team to be done in by the Fighting Irish. In 1957, Notre Dame beat Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma dynasty to snap the Sooners’ NCAA-record 47-game winning streak.

With all the attention focused on USC-Notre Dame, you might not have noticed that four other games match ranked teams today, not including Penn State vs. Michigan in the Big House.

The Big Ten race could look a lot clearer after today. If the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions win, No. 15 Ohio State beats No. 16 Michigan State and No. 22 Minnesota knocks off No. 23 Wisconsin, Penn State would grab firm control of the league.

And if the opposite happens – which wouldn’t be the least bit surprising in this topsy-turvy Big Ten season – the top of the conference becomes a muddled mess.