European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 4, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 4,1989 the stars and stripes Page 21 sports fighting Irish Clinch Irish receiver Derek Brown chased by mountaineers to Orlando and Alvoid Mays 3romps for 48-Yard gain with a Tony Rice pass. Rice stars in fiesta win Over . By Herschel Nissenson Tempe Ariz. A give notre Dame another National championship and another legend to go with it. The Lou Holtz Era was christened untrue notre Dame tradition monday night at the fiesta bowl. With Tony Rice throwing for a career High 213 Yards and two touchdowns and running for another75 Yards the Irish completed their undefeated season with a 34-21 Victory overdo. 3 West Virginia in the fiesta bowl. The National championship which was to be certified by the voters tuesday is the eighth in notre Dame , it s the first in the 1980s, when the Irish suffered the indignity of three straight losing seasons under Holtz s predecessor Gerry  that it s Over i can say this they beat the no. 2, 3 and 4 teams and won 12 games what More can you ask for Holtz  deserve the National championship for their continued hard work he said. If it weren t for us Southern California Miami and West Virginia would  be  actually Southern Cal would t still be undefeated As the trojans lost to Michigan in the Rose bowl at the sometime notre Dame was whipping the mountaineers. But that did t dam perholtz s enthusiasm. Is this a great football team i la have to say yes because no one proved it want Holtz  will be the first National championship for Holtz and like Frank Leahy Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine before him it comes in his third season As  won in 1943, 1946, 1947 and see Irish on Page 26 sugar bowl seminoles nip Auburn by de Shearer new Orleans a Sammie Smith s115 Yards led an error prone Florida state of sense while troubled All american Deion Sand ers interception with five seconds left clinched the no. 4 seminoles 13-7 Victory Over no. 7auburn in the sugar bowl monday night. Sanders a defensive Back sealed the win when he intercepted a pass by Reggie Slack in the end zone after Auburn had driven from its 4to the Florida state 22 in the final 3 a minutes. The seminoles ending an 11-1 season wit their Lith straight Victory got Only two Field goals out of three first half Auburn turnovers had Smith s 69-Yard touchdown run with a Short pass nullified by holding and also failed to score after getting a first Down at the Auburn 4-Yard line. Flu also failed to convert a Fumble recovery in the first Quarter when Auburn s Carlo cheat torn batted Down Brad Johnson s pass in the end zone on a fake Field goal from the 2. The Early scoring came on a 2-Yard run by Dayne Williams to Cap a Smith led 84-Yard drive with the opening Kickoff and on Field goals see sugar on Page 26 Miami rips huskers by Ben Walker Miami a second ranked Miami saved its est for last winning the Orange bowl monday night with Speed and strength. Too bad it came too late for the hurricanes to re peat As National champions. I have the feeling we gave notre Dame no. 1 whence did t kick the extra Point in mid season Miami coach Jimmy Johnson said after his team overwhelmed no. 6 Nebraska 23-3. I think there s a difference of opinion As to who the Best team in the country is. Weight not be no. 1, but at this time we re the Best team in the  the final associated press rankings won t show it. Top ranked notre Dame won the National championship by beating no. 3 West Virginia 34-21 in the fiesta bowl which ended just before the Orange Bow began. The Chance of winning the National championship was out of our grasp. But we wanted to show the peo ple that we Are a great team said All american Steve Walsh who threw two touchdown passes to Leonard Conley. The polls won t say we re no. 1, but we feel we Rethe Best team in the country he said. Miami had its Chance earlier in the season on oct.15 at South Bend. But Walsh s two Point conversion pass in the last minute failed and notre Dame won 31 30.Johnson, Given the Opportunity again said he would still have gone for two instead of kicking the tying extra Point. I have no regrets he said. We play to  Orange bowl the hurricanes Only Hope for a National championship was for West Virginia to win and even then Miami probably would not have finished  meant for the first time in four seasons Miami went into its final game without a Chance to win it , Johnson promised there would be no letdown and there was t in front of a partisan crowd of 79,480.Miami, 11-1, confused the Cor huskers Early with its pro style passing attack and shut Down Nebraska Rushing game which led the nation with a 382-Yard average. Nebraska 11-2, was held to 80 Yards Rushing and was 1-for-14 in third Down conversions. The hurricanes also dominated special teams  Bubba Mcdowell blocked the 10th punt of his career and it set up Carlos Huerta s second of three Field goals for a 20-0 halftime Lead. We re really disappointed Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said at halftime. We tried to do everything we could do but we Haven t done anything  was the first Miami Nebraska game since the classic 1984 Orange bowl when the then no. 1 Corn huskers failed on a last second conversion pass and Miami held on to win 31-30. That result vaulted the hurricanes from no. 5 to their first National Champi  that game quarterbacks Bernie Kosar of Miami and Turner Gill of Nebraska played brilliantly. This time neither Walsh nor Nebraska s Steve Taylor finished with great statistics. Walsh was 21-for-44 for 277 Yards and three inter see Orange on Page 26