Skip To Main Content

Fiesta Sports Foundation

Fiesta Bowl History

18th Annual Game, 1989

  • Teams West Virginia vs. Notre Dame
  • Score 34-21, Notre Dame
  • Date January 2, 1989
  • Attendance 74,911

Biography

The 1989 Fiesta Bowl featured top-ranked Notre Dame and No. 3 West Virginia, the second game in three years that decided college football's national championship. The Fiesta Bowl was back in the spotlight.

The Fighting Irish exploded to a 23-6 halftime lead over the Mountaineers and never looked back, recording a 34-21 victory and the national championship.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 16-0 lead and didn't let West Virginia closer than 13 points the rest of the game, as the Irish captured their 11th national title.

Billy Hackett began the game's scoring by kicking a 45-yard field goal on Notre Dame's first possession. The Irish scored on a one-yard run by Anthony Johnson and added a five-yard run by Rodney Culver to take the 16-0 lead.

The Mountaineers got on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Charlie Baumann. But "Rocket" Raghib Ismail caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Tony Rice to increase the Irish lead to 23-3. Baumann kicked a 32-yarder as the half ended.

The Mountaineers scored 15 second half points, but Notre Dame scored 11 points of their own to claim the victory. The Irish racked up 455 total yards to West Virginia's 282.

  • Stadium:

    Sun Devil Stadium

  • Attendance:

    74,911

  • Offensive Player of the Game:

    Tony Rice, QB, Notre Dame

  • Defensive Player of the Game:

    Frank Stams, DE, Notre Dame

  • Sportsmanship Award:

    Chris Parker, DT, West Virginia

  • Head Coaches:

    Don Nehlen - West Virginia, Lou Holtz - Notre Dame

  • Weather:

    55 degrees, cloudy, light rain

Quarter Scores

Scoring 1 2 3 4 F
West Virginia 0 6 7 8 21
Notre Dame 9 14 3 8 34

Yardstick

WVU ND
19 First Downs 19
37-108 Rushes - Yards 59-242
174 Passing Yards 213
14-30-1 Passes 7-11-1
7-316 Punts - Yards 4-147
0-0 Fumbles - Lost 2-0
3-38 Penalties - Yards 11-102

How They Scored

WVU ND
0 3 Billy Hackett 45 yd field goal
0 9 Anthony Johnson 1 yd rush (Peter Graham rush failed)
0 16 Rodney Culver 5 yd rush (Reggie Ho kick)
3 16 Charlie Baumann 29 yd field goal
3 23 Raghib Ismail 29 yd pass from Tony Rice (Reggie Ho kick)
6 23 Charlie Baumann 31 yd field goal
6 26 Reggie Ho 32 yd field goal
13 26 Grantis Bell 17 yd pass from Major Harris (Charlie Baumann kick)
13 34 Frank Jacobs 3 yd pass from Tony Rice (Tony Rice rush)
21 34 Reggie Rembert 3 yd rush (Reggie Rembert pass from Greg Jones)

Individual Statistics

Rushing
WVU Anthony Brown 11-49, Rico Tyler 2-21, Craig Taylor 6-12, Major Harris 13-11, Eugene Napoleon 3-7, Undra Johnson 1-5, Reggie Rembert 1-3-1TD
ND Tony Rice 13-75, Mark Green 13-61, Tony Brooks 11-35, Anthony Johnson 5-20-1TD, Rodney Culver 4-20-1TD, Braxton Banks 5-12, Steve Belles 3-10, Ricky Watters 3-5, Pat Eilers 1-2, Ryan Mihalko 1-2
Passing
WVU Major Harris 13-26-166-1TD-1INT, Greg Jones 1-4-8
ND Tony Rice 7-11-213-2TD-1INT
Receiving
WVU Grantis Bell 4-44-1TD, Craig Taylor 3-34, Keith Winn 3-31, Reggie Rembert 2-40, Anthony Brown 1-17, Rico Tyler 1-8
ND Derek Brown 2-70, Ricky Watters 1-57, Mark Green 1-35, Raghib Ismail 1-29-1TD, Anthony Johnson 1-19, Frank Jacobs 1-3-1TD