“To me, the mystique of Notre Dame is faith in belief. The biggest problem with this team, I thought, was getting them to believe.”
That was Lou Holtz after his No. 2 Irish topped No. 1 Florida State, 31-24, back in 1993. Always the master motivator, Holtz had taken a reverse psychology approach to try to get Notre Dame to believe ahead of time.
“Florida State is the best college football team I’ve ever seen,” Holtz said before the top-two matchup. “I’ve been in the game a long time. They’re an awesome team. They’re capable of beating anybody in the country by 40 points.