Fiesta Bowl
2001
Oregon St. 41
Notre Dame 9
TEMPE, Arizona (Ticker)- No. 6 Oregon State had been a doormat for
Pac-10 Conference teams for nearly three decades. On Monday night, the
Beavers showed 10th-ranked Notre Dame what that felt like.
Jonathan Smith threw three touchdown passes, breaking the single-season
school record along the way, and Oregon State thoroughly dominated Notre
Dame in a 41-9 romp in the Fiesta Bowl. Smith completed 16-of-24 passes
for 305 yards as Oregon State (11-1) won a bowl game for the first time
since a 6-0 victory over Villanova in the 1962 Liberty Bowl. The Beavers
endured an NCAA record 28 straight losing seasons before posting a 6-5
mark last season.
"They were running wide open all the time," said Smith about his
receivers. "I just try to put guys into position to make plays for me
and they did tonight. Some of that I attribute to our field position.
Guys were wide open and I was able to hit them."
Ken Simonton, Oregon State's all-time rushing leader, gained 85 yards on
18 carries. His four-yard run gave the Beavers a 41-3 lead with 4:54 to
play in the third quarter. Simonton's 1,559 rushing yards are 73 more
than the school record he set last season.
Despite being penalized a Fiesta Bowl record 18 times for 174 yards,
Oregon State's offense still rolled up 446 yards. Although they held
just a 12-3 lead at halftime, the Beavers completely outplayed the
Fighting Irish in the first two quarters. Notre Dame managed just 33
yards on its first five possessions and was helped by a personal foul
and interference penalty on its sixth drive which ended with Nick
Setta's 29-yard field goal as time expired.
Freshman Matt LoVecchio was pressured heavily all game and lost for the
first time in eight starts as Notre Dame (9-3) had a seven-game winning
streak halted. LoVecchio was just 13-of-33 for 138 yards and two
interceptions. He was sacked five times and forced into bad passes on
several other occasions.
"I think it's pretty obvious we got whipped," Notre Dame coach Bob Davie
said. "We got outcoached, we got outplayed. That football team out there
tonight impressed me. I'm disappointed we didn't play better. I thought
their speed was definitely a key factor. I thought they played extremely
hard. We never could get in sync offensively. We got our butt kicked.
I'm embarrassed by the way we played, but I'll never be embarrassed when
it comes to this football team. We didn't play very well."
The Irish have lost five straight bowl games. This was Notre Dame's
worst postseason defeat since a 40-6 pounding by Nebraska in the 1973
Orange Bowl. Julius Jones was limited to 30 yards on 13 carries for the
Irish.
"That was our goal, to stop their running game," said Oregon State
linebacker James Allen, who had seven tackles. "We knew they were going
to smash us in the mouth, but we knew we could stop them. We felt if we
stopped them the offense would get going eventually."
On Notre Dame's first possession of the third quarter, LoVecchio fumbled
after he was sacked by linebacker Darnell Robinson. Defensive tackler
Eric Manning recovered the ball on the Notre Dame 26 and one play later,
Smith tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 19-3
lead. The pass was Smith's 19th for a touchdown this season, breaking
the school record set by Eric Wilhelm in 1988. Houshmandzadeh had six
receptions for 74 yards.
Special teams had been probably the strongest unit for the Irish
throughout the season, but against Oregon State, Notre Dame was even
outplayed there. Notre Dame linebacker Rocky Boiman forced
Houshmandzadeh to fumble on a punt return, but the ball bounced to
Oregon State safety Terrell Roberts who sprinted 45 yards to give the
Beavers a 27-3 advantage with 9:08 left in the third.
"It was a tremendous football game for us," Oregon State coach Dennis
Erickson said. "We came out and played in all three phases about as well
as we have all year. Special teams played extremely well. Defensively I
thought we totally dominated, offensively we mixed it up real well. It's
just a great win for the program. Think where we were a couple of years
ago 'til now. All of sudden playing the Fiesta Bowl and (we) become 11-1
is just kind of an unrealistic story."
Notre Dame's third possession of the second half also ended in a
turnover as Robinson intercepted LoVecchio at the Irish 22. Patrick
McCall had runs of 12 and six yards before Smith found Chad Johnson for
a four-yard TD, giving Oregon State a 34-3 bulge with just over seven
minutes remaining in the third. Robinson finished with seven tackles,
including one sack.
Notre Dame finally got in the end zone with 6:07 left in the fourth when
Tony Fisher capped a 12-play, 57-yard drive with a one-yard run.
Oregon State outgained Notre Dame, 110-8, in the first quarter, but held
just a 3-0 lead on Ryan Cesca's 32-yard field goal midway through the
period. Cesca kicked a 29-yard field goal to double the lead five
seconds into the second.
Notre Dame cornerback Jason Beckstrom took a gamble and tried to
intercept Smith as he stepped in front of Johnson. But the 6-3 Johnson
caught a short sideline pass from Smith and raced 74 yards to give the
Beavers a 12-0 lead with 4:18 left in the first half.
Attendance- 75,428
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
OSU- FG Cesca 32
Second Quarter
OSU- FG Cesca 29
OSU- Johnson 74 pass from Smith (conversion failed)
ND- FG Setta 29
Third Quarter
OSU - Houshmandza 23 pass from Smith (Cesca kick)
OSU- Roberts 45 punt return (Prescott conversion)
OSU- Johnson 4 pass from Smith (Cesca kick)
OSU- Simonton 4 run (Cesca kick)
Fourth Quarter
ND- Fisher 1 run (two-point conversion failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
ND- Jones 13-30, Howard 8-28
OSU- Simonton 18-85, Battle 8-32, McCall 10-25
Passing
ND- Lovecchio 13-33-138
OSU- Smith 16-24-305
Receiving
ND- Givens 4-23, Hunter 3-57, O'Leary 2-36
OSU- T Houshmandza 6-74, C Johnson 4-93, Maurer 3-82, Prescott 2-41, McCall 1-15, Moala 1-14
