Long before “Catholics vs. Convicts” became the shorthand for this rivalry, Miami and Notre Dame were just two programs meeting for the first time at Burdine Stadium on Oct.
7, 1955. The No.
15 Hurricanes lost that day, 14-0, to an unranked Irish team, and nobody in the building could have known how much history was waiting ahead.
What followed was a slow burn that turned into one of college football’s most recognizable grudges. The teams met 18 more times before the famous 1988 showdown, and for much of that stretch Notre Dame had the upper hand.
Miami’s breakthrough came in 1983, a game that helped push the Hurricanes toward their first national title. Notre Dame entered that matchup at No. 13 with eight national championships already in tow, while Howard Schnellenberger’s Miami team was starting to look like something bigger than a rising program.
The Hurricanes blanked the Irish 20-0, only their third win ever in the series. Later that season, No.
5 Miami beat No. 1 Nebraska 31-30 in the Orange Bowl to capture the program’s first national championship.
The rivalry got even sharper in 1987. By then, Jimmy Johnson and Lou Holtz were in their fourth and second seasons, respectively, and both programs had plenty of momentum. When they met on Nov. 28 at the Miami Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes didn’t just win - they shut out Notre Dame 24-0.
That set the table for 1988, when the rematch became bigger than a game. On Notre Dame’s campus, students started selling unauthorized T-shirts after the 1987 loss, with slogans including “Even God Hates Miami,” “Canes Blow” and “Catholics vs.
Convicts.” The last one stuck.
It was a stereotype built around the perceived identities of the two teams, and an alleged reference to two Miami players who were arrested and subsequently dismissed from the team that year. The shirts were created by Notre Dame undergraduates Joe Frederick, Michael Caponigro and Pat Walsh.
The slogan gave Notre Dame the image of a disciplined, religious institution and cast Miami as its wild opposite. For Hurricanes players and fans, though, it landed differently, reinforcing ugly stereotypes about a team whose roster included many Black athletes. By the time the teams took the field, the tension had spilled far beyond football.
It showed up immediately. The game began with a fight in the tunnel before the first snap, and the mood never really cooled.
No. 1 Miami came into South Bend on Oct. 15, 1988 riding a 36-game regular-season winning streak.
No. 4 Notre Dame was undefeated too, and both teams were staring at a matchup loaded with everything that had built up over the previous few years.
The finish was as dramatic as the buildup. Miami scored a touchdown with less than a minute left to cut the deficit to 31-30, then Jimmy Johnson chose to go for two instead of settling for the extra point.
Overtime did not exist in college football yet - it wouldn’t arrive until 1996 - and Johnson clearly preferred a win over a tie.
The gamble failed. Notre Dame broke up Steve Walsh’s pass in the end zone and held on for the 31-30 victory, handing Miami its first regular-season loss since 1985. The Irish finished undefeated and won the national championship.
The teams met again in 1989 and 1990, the last regular-season meetings between them for two decades. Even after the series cooled off, the 1988 game never really left the sport’s memory.
ESPN revisited it in a 30 for 30 documentary, Catholics vs. Convicts, in 2016, directed by Notre Dame alumnus Patrick Creadon.
Last season brought another chapter. No.
10 Miami hosted No. 6 Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium in front of more than 65,000 fans and won 27-24.
The Hurricanes led 21-7 entering the fourth quarter, watched the Irish tie it at 24, then answered with a late field goal to finish it off. For a younger wave of Miami fans, it was a chance to see a rivalry they had mostly heard about.
Now the teams are headed back to South Bend. Miami travels there Saturday for the first time since 2016, with Notre Dame holding the all-time series edge at 18-9-1. The setting may be different, but the history is still doing plenty of the talking.
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