Nearly four decades after the fact, Pat Terrell's game-saving pass breakup in the end zone against the University of Miami remains one of the most iconic defensive plays in Notre Dame football history. The play occurred on October 15, 1988, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, during the nationally televised showdown between the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish and the top-ranked Miami Hurricanes.
With Notre Dame clinging to a 31-30 lead late in the fourth quarter, Miami quarterback Steve Walsh drove the Hurricanes to the Irish 6-yard line. On fourth down, Walsh targeted tight end Leonard Conley in the end zone. Terrell, wearing number 15, leaped to deflect the pass, preserving the victory for head coach Lou Holtz's squad.
The win snapped Miami's 36-game regular-season winning streak and propelled Notre Dame toward a 12-0 season and the consensus national championship. Holtz, in his third season at the helm, later called the victory the turning point for his program.
Terrell, a senior safety and team captain, earned All-American honors that season. He was selected in the second round of the 1989 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams and played seven professional seasons.
The 1988 "Catholics vs. Convicts" matchup, as it was dubbed by the media, drew a then-record television audience for a regular-season college football game. The photograph of Terrell's deflection, captured by John Biever for Sports Illustrated, has been reproduced countless times in Notre Dame lore.
