See the Observer article starting on the back page at the link. I don't see a box score though.
I wonder how Kevin McDougal would have done with the talent in the '92 backfield. I recall him getting more reps in games after the Stanford loss, and performing quite well. If there was a ever a time Holtz should have benched Mirer, it was that game. ND needed a lift. Perhaps #15 could have provided that spark.
I think that'd be a very "outside the box" kind of idea, candidly.
after leading 16-0 when Mirer’s pick in the endzone occurred. The air went out of the stadium. So yes, I believe putting McDougal in at that point would have been warranted. Not for the season mind you. Just the remainder of that game.
We fumbled 4 times that day. None of those were Mirer's fault. Waters' mishandling of the punt was more egregious. And after Mirer's Interception, the Stanford coach made adjustments as if he were a Hall of Fame Coach who had won multiple Super Bowls, had analyzed every play Notre Dame had run for the past 2 years, and coached a defense led by a future Hall of Fame Safety and GM.
In hindsight McDougal was a better fit for Holtz's offense. But McDougal was not a known commodity at the time. His performance in '93 was surprising to most even within the program.
Watters was in the NFL by 1992. I was sitting in the end zone corner where Mirer threw the interception. FWIW, the Stanford DB was the only available receiver and he drilled him in the numbers.
Watters had fumbleitis in the 1990 Stanford home game,
Bettis fumbled twice in the 1992 game.
The Interception you alluded to was made by John Lynch on a pass intended for Irv Smith.
Mirer was awful that day. But so was the entire offense. To have Stanford score the last 33 points was unforgivable.
The 1992 team really under-achieved. The Michigan tie was another brutal reminder.
is that Mirer shouldn't have been yanked even if he did hit Lynch in the numbers. And we fumbled 4 times in '92.
But you and Seamus are correct. Waters was '90. '92 was my senior year and I was at both Stanford games. It seems my recollection of those games has blended into one. I just remember us shitting the bed both times. I was also told my friends and I heckled Janet Evans at one of the 2 games.
I used to have every issue ever made of BGI* up until 2004- when I threw them all out in utter disgust. 23 years worth of Issues. Thanks Monk and Ty.
* Before it was BGI, it was called The Football Report in the initial season, 1981. Gerry Faust was on the very first cover. I think in the second year they renamed it to Go Irish and then it evolved into Blue & Gold a few years after that.