By By ADAM PAYNE / Niles Daily Star
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - No ground game, no problem.
Notre Dame ran for a grand total of minus one yard, yes negative one yards, in the first half on Saturday against the Cougars of Brigham Young University and still posted a 49-23 victory.
The Fighting Irish ran four times in the third quarter for a whopping eight yards before exploding in the fourth, rushing 11 times for 37 yards. The end-rushing total for the Irish was 44 yards on 23 carries to the Cougars' 75 yards on 34 rushing attempts.
The Irish defense also allowed 317 passing yards to BYU and Senior quarterback John Beck, whose favorite target for the day was Jonny Harline who caught eight passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. Senior receiver Todd Watkins caught four passes for 63 yards and a score, and BYU's offense logged several big plays for more than 20 yards including the first play from scrimmage when Beck hit the tough-running senior back Naufahu Tahi for 24 yards.
The Cougars' first possession was an impressive albeit slightly panicky jaunt of 42 yards on nine plays that ended in a McLaughlin field goal to give BYU an early 3-0 lead. The drive took up more than five minutes and proved that the Cougars had indeed come to play.
The problem for BYU, however: Brady Quinn.
Notre Dame's quarterback scratched several historic notches in his belt on Saturday in a game where it seemed school records fell even more frequently than Quinn threw touchdown passes. Six was Quinn's total, eclipsing his own record of five, which he threw against Michigan State in Notre Dame's home opener on September 17.
Other notable records to be set on Saturday: Quinn's fourth 400 yard effort of his career sets him apart from Notre Dame's illustrious former-quarterback society as no other player in Irish history has done it more than once. While this record may be a direct result of the Charlie Weis offense, it still depends on execution, which is exactly what Notre Dame's offense did versus BYU: execute.
Jeff Samardzija caught 10 passes for 152 yards and two scores which ties him with Derrick Mayes' 1994 single season touchdown record of 11. This was also Samardzija's seventh consecutive game with a touchdown, which puts him alone in that category, surpassing Malcolm Johnson's 1998 streak of 6.
Senior receiver Maurice Stovall had an even more historic afternoon, however, catching 14 passes for 207 yards and a Notre Dame record 4 touchdowns. Together, Samardzija and Stovall were the first pair of Irish receivers to each catch 10 plus balls in a single contest.
The sum of all of the above is a 49-23 victory for the Irish, though at times it certainly did not feel like a rout, such as when BYU answered Notre Dame's first drive touchdown with a score of their own to take a 10-7 lead into the second quarter. There were no defensive stops from either team for the whole of the first quarter with the exception of Notre Dame defensive back Mike Richardson's interception of a Beck pass and subsequent fumble giving the ball right back to BYU, who then proceeded to score the go-ahead touchdown.
In the first play of the second quarter BYU sophomore safety Corby Hodgkiss sacked Brady Quinn for a four yard loss, forcing Notre Dame to punt. The Irish forced a three and out on the Cougars' next possession, however, and proceeded to score in their next two drives to forge a solid 21-10 lead.
In the first of their two scoring drives in the second quarter, Notre Dame was awarded 15 yards for what was quite possibly the most blatant pass interference penalty since the forward pass was legalized in college football in 1906. BYU junior defensive back Justin Robinson tackled intended receiver Matt Shelton at the Cougars' five-yard line, but the ball had barely crossed the ten. Five plays later Quinn hit Samardzija on a 14 yard pass for a score with 10:33 remaining in the half.
BYU's next possession ended in a failed field goal attempt and included a dropped pass by Todd Watkins, who had several balls go off his hands throughout the game. The Irish responded with an eight-play, 76-yard drive that ended in Stovall's second touchdown of the half.
The third quarter began with a 75 yard drive by the Irish on only 6 plays culminating in Samardzija's record-tying 11th touchdown of the season and it appeared the rout was on. The Cougars fought back, however, as Beck rushed 10 yards for a score to make it 28-17 Notre Dame.
BYU then forced a three-and-out drive in which three Quinn incompletions and a false start penalty netted the Irish negative five yards. On the subsequent Cougar drive Beck hit Watkins who made a fine rolling catch in the end zone to bring the Cougars within five at 28-23.
The failed two-point conversion attempt that followed was the last gasp for BYU. Notre Dame scored twice more in the final 5:38 of the third quarter, each a Quinn pass to Stovall, as the Irish put an end to BYU's surge posting a commanding 42-23 lead going into the fourth.
The very last of BYU's wind was knocked out of them when Irish defensive back Tom Zbikowski returned an interception for 87 yards and a touchdown to make it 49-23 with 9:24 remaining. Quinn wouldn't see the field again, and not a single pass more was thrown by the Irish as they ran the clock down to seal the statistically historic victory.