Desmond Howard reluctantly slaps ‘Play like a Champion Today’ sign on College GameDay
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Desmond Howard was a star player for Michigan from 1988-91, and in every one of those seasons his Wolverines faced Notre Dame in 4 chapters of one of the fiercest rivalries in all of college football.
The Fighting Irish won the first 3 meetings, all in dramatic fashion, but in the 1991 meeting in Ann Arbor, Howard finally got to know what it felt like to beat Notre Dame. And he was one of the central figures in the Wolverines’ win, catching a touchdown pass from Elvis Grbac on a 4th-and-1 play that helped lift Michigan to a 24-14 victory.
It was an iconic play in the history of Michigan football and in the Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry, and Howard would go on to win the Heisman Trophy that year. So, if anyone is qualified to speak or act on behalf of the rivalry between 2 of the sport’s blue bloods, it is Howard, who got that chance on Saturday morning as College GameDay broadcast live from the scene of another Notre Dame rivalry game.
The ESPN pregame show was getting fans all revved up for the massive Notre Dame-Miami game, a battle of top-5 teams that would take place on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC) and also a huge rivalry game not unlike Michigan-Notre Dame. The top-ranked Hurricanes were in South Bend as the Fighting Irish tried to topple them and keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive, and Howard was there as part of the College GameDay team to preview that matchup as well as a stacked Week 10 in college football.
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But Howard, being the Michigan man that he is, had to do something that might not have been on top of his wish list — like ever in his football life. When the Notre Dame leprechaun brought a “Play Like a Champion Today” sign out for all of the College GameDay crew to slap, just like the Fighting Irish players do to the iconic one in the locker room as they head onto the field, Howard had to swallow his Michigan pride a bit in that moment and follow suit.
It took a lot, but Howard did the deed, giving the makeshift sign a tap, with a wry smile to go along with it. It was an awkward moment for Howard, but he played along and was a good sport, making for a cool moment on Saturday morning in the leadup to the showdown in South Bend.
Here is Howard giving it up to the Fighting Irish, for all to see:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
