Notre Dame vs Miami Means A Return Of An Irish Arch-villain originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
We’re under two months to go until the 2025 college football season kicks off and the wait and anticipation is beginning to build. This will be one of the more high octane week one slates in recent memory with Texas traveling to the Horse Shoe to square off against Ohio State. LSU travels to Clemson in a battle of Tigers and Death Valley’s and Notre Dame travels down to face the Miami Hurricanes in a rivalry renewed.
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The Irish and the Hurricanes have squared off in some instant classic matchups. In 1988, Notre Dame’s last national championship season, Lou Holtz and Jimmy Johnson squared off in a thriller in South Bend in a game that ended 31-30. Fast forward 36 years and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and Miami head coach Mario Cristobal will bring these programs together on the gridiron for the first time since 2017.
ESPN believes that this Miami team will be Notre Dame’s archvillain this upcoming season.
“No Notre Dame players were alive for the 1988 clash with Miami, and Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman was only 2 years old. But longtime Domers will always view the U as a true villain, and new Miami quarterback Carson Beck, the transfer from Georgia, sparks a range of reactions. Notre Dame scored a signature win in the CFP semifinal at the Sugar Bowl against a Georgia squad that had lost Beck to injury. When healthy, Beck is talented enough to villainize a Notre Dame defense replacing standouts Xavier Watts, Jack Kiser, Rylie Mills and others and appearing in its first game under new coordinator Chris Ash. Early season games are one of the only knocks against Freeman, who has dropped at least one September game in each of his three seasons as Irish coach. Notre Dame needs a strong start with its two most talented opponents — Miami and Texas A&M — leading off the schedule.” – Adam Rittenberg, ESPN
These programs met for the first time in 1955 and the Irish emerged victorious 14-0 down in Florida. Notre Dame leads the all time series 18-8-1 but Miami won their most recent matchup in a 41-8 blowout win over the Irish in 2017. Freeman and the Irish were able to exercise from demons with their Orange Bowl win this past season down in Hard Rock Stadium, but they’ll have to finish the job on August 31st when these two historic programs meet down in South Beach.
Both teams will be featuring a new starting quarterback with the experience advantage clearly in the favor of Georgia transfer Carson Beck and the Hurricanes. However, Notre Dame will have star running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to lean on while their new starter gets his feet under him. Pass catchers Malachi Fields, Jaden Greathouse, Jordan Faison, Will Pauling and Eli Raridon will also help the young quarterback’s maturation process.
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Defensively, the Irish return a host of talent players that include cornerbacks Leonard Moore and Christian Gray, safety Adon Shuler, linebackers Drayk Bowen and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and a smattering of talented defensive lineman headlined by Jason Onye, Josh Burnham and Bryce Young. The Hurricanes will have one of the best offensive lines Notre Dame will face in the regular season, but their receiving corps is relatively inexperienced.
This is poised to be another high octane matchup between these two historic programs; Notre Dame will look to add a huge week one win on the road to boost their playoff resume while Miami looks to remind Irish fans why Hard Rock Stadium is a hard place to play. Whoever emerges victorious will likely cement themselves as early playoff bids.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
