Miami's Braxton Berrios embraces ‘Catholics vs. Convicts’ in TD celebration

Miami and Notre Dame built up a pretty heated rivalry in the 1970s and 80s, and Saturday night’s matchup between the No. 3 Fighting Irish and No. 7 Hurricanes was probably the biggest between the two programs since those days.

Ahead of the 1988 game in South Bend, a few Notre Dame students sold t-shirts with the phrase “Catholics vs. Convicts” on it. The current Canes seem to know the history.

Miami opened the scoring Saturday night with a Malik Rosier touchdown pass to Braxton Berrios. As Berrios worked his way back to the Miami sideline, he walked with his hands behind his back as if they were in handcuffs.

ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor noted that the team is very aware of the past Notre Dame-Miami battles. Taylor said the “convicts” label was the impetus for Berrios’ display, which came after this seven-yard score:

The rivalry was documented in an ESPN documentary, which used Catholics vs. Convicts as its name. Miami’s football program has long played with a certain swagger and flamboyance, leading to a bad boy reputation of sorts. That spawned the unfair “convicts” label.

Miami went on to win in dominating fashion, 41-8.

After the win, Berrios had some fun with the folks on CBS Sports Network, all of whom picked the Irish to win the game.

– – – – – – –

Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @SamDCooper