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Alabama Crimson Tide © |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
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Played November 14, 1987 at Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, Indiana |
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Teams' Belt Records
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Team |
Belt Reigns |
Overall Record |
Home Record |
Away Record |
Neutral Record |
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W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
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| Alabama © | 4 | 20 | 5 | 0 | .800 | 9 | 4 | 0 | .692 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 |
| Notre Dame | 1 | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .625 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Previous Belt Meetings
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Sugar Bowl |
Notre Dame © |
24 |
Notre Dame |
10 |
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Alabama |
23 |
Alabama © |
28 |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
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Alabama |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
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Notre Dame |
3 |
17 |
3 |
14 |
37 |
The 7th ranked, 7-1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish of coach Lou Holtz hosted the 10th ranked, 7-2 Crimson Tide of coach Bill Curry for The Belt. In the previous year’s match-up in Birmingham, Alabama rolled to a 28-10 win & the Irish hoped to avenge that loss. The Notre Dame defense dominated Alabama holding them to 185 total yards while the Fighting Irish offense rushed for 348 yards & held the ball for 33:12 of game time in posting a 37-6 win claiming their second Belt reign. The game stayed close in the 1st quarter with Alabama getting a 34-yard field goal from PK Phil Doyle while Notre Dame got a 49-yard field goal from PK Ted Gradel. The 2nd quarter was where the Notre Dame offense took control of the game with QB Tony Rice running for a 12-yard touchdown & finding TE Andy Heck on a 3-yard touchdown pass after Alabama had been penalized for being offsides as Notre Dame was trying a field goal attempt giving the Fighting Irish a chance for the touchdown. The pass to Heck put the Fighting Irish ahead 17-3 before Gradel hit a field goal from 21 yards making the lead 20-3. Doyle connected on a field goal from 28 yards as Alabama closed to 20-6 at the half but Notre Dame controlled the rest of the game. Gradel converted a 22-yard field goal for the only points of the 3rd quarter while the Fighting Irish's defense held the Crimson Tide to no 1st downs in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter saw 2 long touchdown runs by the Fighting Irish with RB Mark Green scoring on a 74-yard touchdown run & RB Ricky Watters scoring on a 75-yard touchdown run to complete the rout. Rice finished with 117 yards passing, Green added 149 yards rushing to his score, & Heisman Trophy winning, All-American WR Tim Brown had 4 catches for 114 yards. Three Alabama quarterbacks combined to threw for just 50 yards in the loss. The Crimson Tide finished the season 7-5 while the Fighting Irish finished 8-4 & ranked 17th nationally. Alabama would played for The Belt again in 2007.
