It’s been a while since South Carolina and Notre Dame met on the gridiron. Having served as South Carolina’s football radio analyst for the last fifty years, former Gamecock quarterback Tommy Suggs has fond memories of the last time the two teams met during the 1984 season which resulted in a thrilling 36-32 victory for the Gamecocks over the Fighting Irish.
“At that time, playing at Notre Dame was impactful,” Suggs said. “There was so much excitement in going up there at 5-0 and seeing if we could survive the test.”
The 1984 season was one of the most successful in program history up to that point. South Carolina football played as an independent, as Notre Dame still does for the most part. The Gamecocks were ranked 11th nationally when they travelled to South Bend, Indiana for the October 20 matchup that year. Regardless of where Notre Dame sat in the polls, they were still considered one of the hallowed programs in college football.
“Were we intimidated? No,” Suggs said. “Clearly, we respected them and that place. It was all kind of fun, really.”
The Gamecocks trailed 26-14 after a trick play saw running back Allen Pinkett throw a touchdown pass to quarterback Steve Beuerlein. South Carolina quarterback Mike Hold came off the bench in the second half to spark a rally, hitting five on nine passes for 67 yards while rushing 15 times for 72 yards.
Hold engineered a 63-yard drive topped by a one-yard scoring run, and a Kent Hagood two-point conversion, cut the deficit to 26-22 in the fourth quarter. Hold later scrambled 33 yards behind a key block from wide receiver Eric Poole for a touchdown and a 29-26 lead. The Gamecocks added a short touchdown run later to stretch the lead to 36-26, and South Carolina held on for the 36-32 win.
“That rotation at quarterback would be somewhat unusual today, but that was a normal part of the strategy that year,” Suggs said. “Both Allen Mitchell and Mike Hold had different strengths and we called different plays based on what they did better. We have a little bit of that today, but not to the frequency as it figured into our game plan back then.
“Back then, I don’t think they were as limited with the time that they could practice like they are now. You could spend more time to get ready for it. It might be a bigger weapon to do that now than it was back then, but it worked very well!”
The 6-0 start was the best start in program history at the time and marked the first time since…
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