The 1989 Sunkist

Sunkist Growers, Incorporated

Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is a citrus grower's non-stock membership cooperative composed of 6,000 members from California and Arizona. It is headquartered in the Sherman Oaks district of Los Angeles.-History:...

 Fiesta Bowl

Fiesta Bowl

The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...

, played on January 2, 1989, was the 18th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish

1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1988 college football season. The Irish, coached by Lou Holtz, ended the season with 12 wins and no losses, winning the national championship...

, and the West Virginia Mountaineers

1988 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 1988 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the regular season with a 11–0 and traveled to the Fiesta Bowl to decide the National Championship, where they lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34–21.-1988 Schedule:-1988 season:...

.

Billy Hackett started the scoring with a 45 yard field goal to give Notre Dame an early 3–0 lead. Running back Anthony Johnson then scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give Notre Dame a 9–0 lead. The ensuing extra point missed, and the score remained 9–0. Early in the second quarter, Rodney Culver added a 5 yard touchdown run to increase Notre Dame's lead to 16–0. Charlie Baumann

Charlie Baumann

Bruce Charles "Charlie" Baumann is a former professional American football placekicker in the National Football League and the Arena Football League. He played college football for West Virginia and was acquired through free agency in 1991 by the Miami Dolphins...

 of West Virginia scored on a 29 yard field goal to cut the lead to 16–3.

Later in the second quarter, Tony Rice threw a 29 yard touchdown pass to Raghib Ismail

Raghib Ismail

Raghib Ramadian Ismail is a retired professional American and Canadian football player, who played Wide receiver in both the Canadian Football League and National Football League. He played college football at Notre Dame...

, to extend the lead to 23–3. Charlie Baumann added a 31 yard field goal before halftime, to make it 23–6, Notre Dame. Early in the third quarter, Ho added a 32 yard field goal to increase the lead to 26–6.

WVU quarterback Major Harris

Major Harris

Major Harris is a former college football quarterback for West Virginia University during the 1980s. Harris was a 1989 All American and finished third and fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1988 and 1989, respectively. He was also the ECAC Player of the Year in 1988 and 1989...

 hit Grantis Bell for a 17 yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead to 26–13. He later left the game with an injury. Tony Rice threw a 3 yard touchdown pass to Frank Jacobs

Frank Jacobs

Frank Jacobs is an American author of satires, known primarily for his work in Mad, to which he has contributed since 1957. Jacobs has written a wide variety of lampoons and spoof, but he is best known as a versifier who contributes parodies of famous song lyrics and poems...

. Rice later took it in himself for the 2 point conversion, giving Notre Dame a 34–13 lead. WVU scored with its back up quarterback running 3 yards for a touchdown. The ensuing two point conversion succeeded, making the score 34–21. Notre Dame sealed the game, by intercepting a pass in the end zone.