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BYU Falls To Notre Dame 33-14
Cougars commit four turnovers in loss.
Nov 15, 2003
By TOM COYNE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Julius Jones ran for 161 yards and three touchdowns, D.J. Fitzpatrick kicked four field goals and Notre Dame took advantage of repeated good field position to beat Brigham Young 33-14 on Saturday.
The Irish intercepted three of Matt Berry's passes, recovered a fumble by Tafui Vakapuna and held BYU without a first down after the Cougars' first possession of the second quarter until early in the fourth quarter.
Notre Dame (4-6), which finished 2-3 at home for its first losing season at Notre Dame Stadium since 1984, has won two straight for the first time this season. It needs to win its final two games at Stanford and at Syracuse to finish the regular season at .500.
BYU (4-7), which faces Utah next week, will finish with back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1970-71 - just before LaVell Edwards became coach.
Jones, who carried the ball a career-high 35 times, scored on runs of 1, 23 and 13 yards and is 4 yards shy of his first 1,0000-yard season. Jones carried the ball 20 times for 112 yards in the second half as the Irish went to its ground game after opening a lead.
The four turnovers forced by the Irish defense was its best performance since it forced four turnovers against Florida State in a 34-24 win last season that improved their record to 8-0. BYU entered the game with the second most turnovers in the nation this season with 17 interceptions and 15 fumbles lost.
Notre Dame went ahead 16-7 - its biggest lead of the season - when Jones scored on a 1-yard run with 25 seconds left in the first half. The Irish had settled for field goals on its three previous trips inside the BYU 20.
In the third quarter, following a 38-yard punt by BYU's Matt Payne, the
Irish drove 59 yards on four plays to move ahead 23-7. Brady Quinn, who was
15-of-30 passing for 156 yards with one interception, threw a 33-yard pass to
Rhema McKnight, then Jones scored on a 23-yard run up the middle, breaking
three tackles en route to the end zone.
The Cougars tried to get back in to the game with a fake punt on third-and-7 from their own 29. Berry connected with Kyle Wilson for a 35-yard gain, but the play was called back because of an ineligible man downfield.
Fitzpatrick, a walk-on, added a 30-yard field goal on Notre Dame's next drive. The Irish scored on drives of 5, 56, 16, 52, 59, 44 and 21 yards.
Reynaldo Braithwaite ran for 77 yards and an 18-yard TD for the Cougars. Berry, who was 17-of-29 passing for 231 yards, scored on a 1-yard run.
The Irish ran 24 more plays than BYU and had the ball almost 14 more minutes.
Notre Dame, which gave up a record 168 points at home this season, was outscored at Notre Dame Stadium by 49 points, the first time the Irish have been outscored at home since 1963. The school record is 135 points.
The victory also allowed the Irish to avoid having four home losses in a season for just the second time ever. |
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