Lou Holtz, surrounded by microphones and lights, wiped the sweat from his brow, looked directly into several television cameras and at a couple dozen media members' faces.
"We've sure made some teams awfully happy the last couple of weeks," the dejected Notre Dame football coach said minutes after his team lost 21-14 to BYU, at home no less.No question about it. The BYU victory was cause for a Cougar celebration and ranks among the biggest in school history, perhaps trailing only the 1990 win over No. 1 Miami or the '84 Holiday Bowl win over Michigan for the national title.
"This is the best day of my life, no question," shouted Cougar linebacker Stan Raass, a long-time Fighting Irish fan, while soaking up the celebration on the field. "I love this place. I don't want to leave."
"This is the biggest win I've ever been associated with by far," wide receiver Bryce Doman said. "Beating Notre Dame at Notre Dame - it doesn't get any better than that."
The 59,075 fans sat in stunned silence as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Holtz, already under fire after his team was blown out by Boston College last Saturday, is in for a long bye week. Irish fans take losing to BYU like Cougar fans would accept losing to, say, UTEP. It's simply not supposed to happen and completely intolerable.
"Every time Notre Dame loses it's an embarrassment," Irish fullback Marc Edwards said. "This one hurt as much as last week . . . It's just really, really frustrating."
BYU is now 6-1 on the year, while Notre Dame fell to an uncharacteristic
4-3. Make no mistake about it, BYU's victory was no fluke. The Cougars controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, came up with the clutch plays consistently and outplayed the most tradition-filled collegiate football school for 60 minutes. Had it not been for four Cougar turnovers - including two fourth-quarter fumbles - the game wouldn't have been up for grabs in the final minutes.
"Give credit to BYU - they beat us," defensive end Brian Hamilton said.
"The whole Notre Dame thing is publicity," said BYU defensive end Randy Brock, who put pressure on the Notre Dame QB all afternoon and had three tackles for losses and a sack. "They're not any better than anyone else. As I've been saying all week, they put their jockstraps on one loop at a time just like us."
Notre Dame, which beat BYU by a combined 87-36 margin during the two previous years, scored a touchdown with 34 seconds remaining in first half Saturday to take a 14-13 lead. This time the Cougars didn't let the aura of the Irish, the ghost of Knute Rockne and the national television cameras bother them. They knew they could compete with the Irish.
"By halftime the awe had disappeared and we realistically felt we could win the game," Doman said.
BYU received the kickoff to start the second half but was forced to punt after three plays.
Notre Dame's next drive was a tribute to Midwestern, smash-mouth football, with one fatal flaw - the Irish didn't score. Notre Dame went 64-yards on 18 plays using up just under nine minutes on the clock, but came away with zero, zip, nada. The Irish even had first and goal at the four. But after two unsuccessful runs and a sack of quarterback Ron Powlus on a safety blitz by Jon Pollock, Notre Dame had to settle for a 37-yard field goal attempt. BYU tight end Chad Lewis blocked his third kick of the season to keep the Irish advantage at one point.
"We just didn't make any big plays especially inside the 15-yard line," Holtz said. "To get down there and get nothing on the board is very, very
discouraging." The Cougars took over at their own 23 and proceeded on a long drive of their own - 77 yards in 13 plays. The drive was capped by a two-yard Jamal Willis dive over the middle for the game winning score on the first play of the fourth quarter. BYU QB John Walsh hit fullback Hema Heimuli for a successful two-point conversion to give the Cougs a 21-14 advantage.
"Everybody has been doubting us all year. The (Notre Dame) school newspaper said we were no good, but we did what we had to do to win the ball game," said Walsh, who completed 17 of 30 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown. "We showed we're one of the best teams in the nation."
After the Cougar defense forced a punt with 13:40 to play in the final quarter, BYU appeared to be headed toward another score. But Heimuli fumbled at the Notre Dame 23, nose guard Oliver Gibson recovered and the Irish were back in business.
Again the Irish drove in the middle of the field, only to have the Cougar defense hold them when it counted. Notre Dame moved the ball to the BYU 15 but was forced to attempt a 32-yard field goal. The kick was wide with 7:17 to
play. As BYU attempted to run out the game clock, the Cougs gave the Irish one last ray of hope. Fullback Mark Atuaia fumbled at the Irish 24 and linebacker Justin Goheen recovered with 1:36 to play.
With Powlus on the sideline nursing a concussion, backup QB Tom Krug entered the game and completed two passes in a row for first downs. Luck wasn't with the Irish, however, as Krug threw incomplete on the next four attempts. The Cougars took over with 57 seconds remaining and killed the
clock. "I was particularly pleased with our defense today. We made the plays when we had to," Edwards said.
Incredibly, the ground-oriented Irish ran for just 115 yards on the day - and that included a 41-yard TD run by Randy Kinder early in the first quarter.
Cougar kicker David Lauder nailed a pair of long field goals (49 and 48 yards) to pull BYU to within 7-6 in the second quarter. The Cougs took their first lead of the game with three minutes to play in the first half when Walsh connected with Willis on a 19-yard TD pass, but the Irish regained the advantage on a Powlus to Derrick Mayes pass 34 seconds before intermission.
The Cougar secondary was forced to play a freshman and a walk-on due to several injuries. Starters Cory Cook, Jack Damuni and Dermmell Reed were out and Cook's replacement Lane Hale was injured early. Reserves Eddie Sampson, Phil Giordano and Jamie Cook came in and played admirably.
"We've really been nailed (with injuries) in the secondary, but they just hung in there and kept fighting hard," Edwards said.
"It was a great thrill to come here and win," said BYU receiver Tim Nowatzke, who grew up as an Irish fan in nearby Michigan City, Ind. "It doesn't get any sweeter than this."
The Cougars will return to WAC action next week when they travel to play at
UTEP. GAME NOTES: Saturday's game was the last of a three-game series between the two schools. The Irish and Cougars will have another three-year series from 2003-2005 . . . Willis certainly didn't hurt his professional chances, rushing for 75 yards, catching five passes for 83 yards and scoring two touchdowns on national television . . . Notre Dame's 14 points were the fewest the Irish had scored at home since 1986 . . . It was BYU's first non-conference road win since 1989.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
BYU football (6-1)
13 at Hawaii 12
45 at Air Force 21
21 Colo. St. 28
49 New Mex. 47
34 Utah St. 6
32 at Fresno St. 30
21 at Notre Dame 14
Oct. 22 at Tx-ElPaso
Oct. 29 Ariz. St.
Nov. 5 NE La.
Nov. 10 San Diego St.
Nov. 19 at Utah