Here they go again: No. 1 Miami, No. 4 Notre Dame set for showdown on Saturday in South Bend

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The year was 1988. Miami was ranked No. 1. Notre Dame was ranked No. 4. They squared off in South Bend, playing a game that ultimately went a long way toward deciding who would win that season's national championship.

Here they go again. A showdown awaits.

No. 1 Miami (8-0) will play at No. 4 Notre Dame (7-1) on Saturday night, not just a rematch of a Week 1 game from last season but somehow also a rankings reenactment of when the teams met in one of the rivalry's most talked-about games 38 years ago.

“Looking forward to the opportunity,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said after the Hurricanes escaped with a 38-35 win at North Carolina.

This Miami-Notre Dame game has been circled on a whole lot of calendars since the season started — or earlier. Miami got the final at-large berth into last season's College Football Playoff, edging Notre Dame for that spot largely because the Hurricanes beat the Irish 27-24 in the season opener for both.

Not long after the CFP field was announced on Dec. 7, 2025, the Irish decided to end their season. They saw no point in going to a bowl game. And now, the Irish face Miami again, knowing a loss could put this year's CFP hopes in serious peril.

“It means a lot going forward (after) what happened last year on December 7th," Notre Dame defensive end Boubacar Traore said after the Irish beat Navy on Saturday. “That means a lot, but just like every other game, it means a lot. This game just doesn’t mean more than every other game. I feel like we take every game that we play serious. But Miami’s definitely a great opponent, great opportunity, and I feel like the whole team is going to be ready for that opportunity.”

Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr had a similar perspective.

“It means a lot for our team obviously, and we can make it some big thing,” Carr said. “But at the end of the day we got to come in and we got to prepare and we got to do what we do throughout the week and then attack on Saturdays, which is what we’re hoping to do.”

Notre Dame has dominated the all-time series — it has gone 18-9-1 in the 28 meetings between the schools — but Miami has won seven of the last 12 matchups, including the last two.

And while there has been a slew of we-hate-them-and-they-hate-us moments that both fan bases cling to, there's probably been no game more debated than the 1988 contest.

Notre Dame won 31-30. And a debated fumble by Miami's Cleveland Gary near the goal line in the fourth quarter — the Hurricanes say it clearly wasn't, the Irish say it clearly was, television footage is grainy and nobody will ever agree — still has the Hurricanes insisting that it decided both the outcome of the game as well as gave Notre Dame that season's national championship.

Hard as this may be to believe, this is going to be the first AP top five matchup for Miami in exactly 22 years and two days. The most recent such game: No. 5 Miami won at No. 3 Virginia Tech 27-7 on Nov. 5, 2005. (It should be noted that Miami wasn't ranked in the top five when it played Indiana in last season's College Football Playoff national championship game.)

Record in top five games: 12-6.

When those games are on the road: 4-2.

The Irish will be part of an AP top five matchup for the 41st time. Only Ohio State (51), Oklahoma (49) and Alabama (43) have played in more such games. And it'll be the first top five game at Notre Dame Stadium in exactly six years; the No. 4 Irish beat No. 1 Clemson 47-40 in double overtime on Nov. 7, 2020.

Record in top five games: 22-15-3.

When those games are at home: 9-5.

This will be the first top five regular-season game that doesn't involve Ohio State or Georgia since Oct. 9, 2021, when No. 3 Iowa beat No. 4 Penn State.

Each of the last 12 regular-season games between top five teams has featured either the Buckeyes (nine instances) or the Bulldogs (three).

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