OCR Text |
Show n HERALD DAILY Sunday, September 5,2004 POSTGAMEWRAP: BYU 20, NOTRE DAME 17 By the ITtimbsrs its 5 NotroDamo "What Todd (Watkins) does is he's fastandXail and he goes after the pall The guy with him but he (Watkins) didn't care." Vards receiving for BYU wide receiver Todd Watkins, on five catches. Welkins' biggest grab came late in the game, a catch from Matt Berry. ed pass-interfer- 37-ya- rd On the catch NupAer of yards rushed by BYU running back Fahu Tatt for the Cougars' first touchdown of the 2004 season. Tahi scored with 9:47 left in the first quarter to give BYU a lead. BYU Gary Crowton end of the game by Todd Watkins at the Date Top performances 7-- 0 Opponent :mix at Stanford &pc4 11 Sept I Todd Watkins, wtde receiver, Watkins caught five passes for 115 yards in his first game as a and his Cougar. Watkins' longest reception was a reception on a Matt Berry pass on BYUs final drive helped preserve the Cougar victory. 11 Michigan Sept Sept 25 Washington Sept 24 at Boise State Oct 9 Stanford 0cl8 UNLV Oct 23 Boston College Oct 23 at Air Nov. 13 Pittsburgh Nov. 13 New Mexico BYU 50 Number of yards on BYU quarterback John Beck's first pass to wide receiver Todd Watkins. Watkms catch at the fiyeyard line with 958 left in the first quarter set up a TTrun by Fahu Tahi 37-ya- rd I Rhema 2 53 Number of BYU quarterbacks that played in Saturday's game. Starter John Beck injured his shoulder in the second quarter and cbdnt return; Backup Matt Berry played the rest of the game. ' McKnight wide receiver, Notre Dame McKnight had eight receptions for 92 yards and one touch--' down, a the third quarter. I Matt Payne, kkkerpunter, ' Number of yards on a field goal by Matt Payne with 134 left m the first half . The field goal gave BYU a 13-- 0 lead and matched Matt Payne's career hjgh for length on a field goal. ' ' Force BYU Payne hit field goals of 44 and 53 yards for the Cougars in the first half. Payne also punted nine times for a 46.8 average, including a long of 63 yards in the fourth quarter. Preston Jackson, comerback, Notre Dame Jackson returned an interception off of BYU quarterback Matt Berry 38 yards for a fouth quarter touchdown. n REPORT CilRD Darnell Dickson Watkins Continued from Cl . series. Notre Dame's Preston Jackson picked off a Berry pass midway through the fourth quarter and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown, cutting BYlTs lead to 7 with 8:19 to play. With BYU"s offense unable to move the ball, the mo- mentum began to swing in Notre Dame's favor. But BYUs defense and punter Matt Payne responded. Payne ripped a punt on the Cougars' next possession to the Notre Dame line the sixth time he'd pinned the Irish inside their own line and the BYU defense forced a punt. After another unproductive possession, the BYU defense rose up and stopped Notre Dame again, forcing a punt with 2:36 to play. It appeared the Irish would get one more chance to tie the game or take the lead. But Berry dropped back on third down and launched a deep ball down the sideline Watkins, who came back and fought off a desperate Notre Dame defender to come . down with the pass. Even if he hadn't caught it, the Irish would have been flagged for pass interference. "What was happening was they were shutting down our run by putting everybody up," Crowton said. "We decided to go max protect and take our chances. I told Matt to get the ball up or take a sack rather than an interception. "What Todd does is he's fast and tall and he goes after the balL The guy withhimbut he Watkins) didn't care. " All that was left was for Berry to kneel down three times to run out the clock. BYUs first drive of the game was the kind the Cougars used to be known for six plays, 75 yards and less than two minutes off the clock. The big play bomb to was Beck's Watkins to the Notre Dame line. On the next play, Fahu Tahu powered into the end zone for a touchdown, BYUs first since the fourth quarter of the Notre Dame game and subsequent shutout at the hands of Utah in November. Payne's first field goal of the game, a gave BYU a 10-- 0 lead going into the second quarter. But at the mark, Beck took a hard hit on O J: 20-1- Berry came back from Interception for big pass C iTllTIT1 IcmwA IITOTIjH a - VTkI3 recchrer tm Tahi fumbled twice but scored Watkins and Col- tie made trig plays " 65-ya- rd e Goato and Berry connected twice 20-ya- rd pass-interfer- 50-ya- V DcfCSSaYS an option pitch and came out of the game. He was taken to the locker room, where on his shoulder were negative. But be came out for the second half in street clothes, his evening over and turned the keys of the offense dyer to Berry, last year's starter. Notre Dame finatty put a drive together in the closing seconds of the first half. Aided by a pass interference penalty and caU on BYU, a the Irish moved to the BYU - rd line with seven seconds ID. Fitzpatrick ended the half with a field goal left. 21-ya- rd I!3 11 rushing Only yard for ND Lhebscker Poppinga like new spot JCcnssrbsck Kant moat of ND'a JSsfety Francisco, pi passes short Bu bldge In on plays Game statistics 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final 0 10 3 3 7 7 7 0 17 20 Notre Dame 42-ya- 54-ya-rd Struggled against ND front Payne's punting" was spectacular face-maski- and BYU led 13-Berry fired a deep pass to freshman Austin Collie on a deep route, and Collie beat single coverage for a touchdown pass and a 20--3 lead with 7:43 to play in the third quarter. But Notre Dame responded with a wide receiver screen pass to Rhema McKnight that touchbroke open for a down pass, cutting BYUs lead to 20-1-0 with 424 to go in the third period. Payne was spectacular, punting nine times for a 46.8 yard average and continually keeping the Irish deep in their own end. "I always thought Matt was one of the better special teams players in the country,'' Crow-- . ton said. BYUs defense held Notre Dame to just 11 rushing yards a Offensive l!se BYU r ; Photos by Frank BottDaily Herald a seam to run through. Top photo: BYU quarterback Matt Berry gets ready to hand the ball off to a teammate. BYU RECEIVING Scoring SKTttnary running back Fahu Tahi (3) looks for BYU kick) 44 fiekt goal, 1:31 BYU-f- ayne on 21 carries, but Irish quarterback Brady Quinn completed 2(krf47 for 265 yards and one touchdown. I Game notes: Before the game, BYU media relations director Jeff Reynolds said that three freshmen kick returner BJ. Mathis, safety Kariand Bennett and linebacker Billy Skinner had been taken off the roster. BYU released no further infor mation. ... The Cougars selected position captains last week and Crowton sent Beck, Payne, d Francisco and Heaney to for the coin toss. ... Kick-owas 7:32 p.m. and he temperature was 53 degrees. ... With two field goals in the first half, Payne passed Jamal Willis and Kurt Gunther on the BYU scoring list. Payne has 245 career points. mid-fiel- SECOND QUARTER Notre Dame 0:00 ff aU-ti- 53 field goal, 1:34 O.J. Fitzpatrick 21 field goal, BYU-P- ayne 14 18 THIRD QUARTER TD 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 lug 50 7 42 14 16 7 4 8 -2 PUNTING Austin Collie 42 pass from Matt Berry, 7:47 (Payne kick) Notre Dame Rhema McKnight 54 pass from Brady Quinn, 4:24 (Fitzpatrick kick) BYU FOURTH QUARTER Notre Dame Preston Jackson 38 Avg. Lng 46.8 63 RETURNS Inter- No. ception return, 8:19 (Fitzpatrick kick) 1 Yds. 26 13 Lng 14 13 1 17 17 3 Mahuika(P) Mahulka(K0) Cooper (K0) Coltle(K0) 17 7 TD 0 0 0 0 BYU NO First downs Rushes-yd- s No. Yds. 9 421 Payne TEAM STATISTICS Notre Dame woes continue in Provo No. Yds. 5 115 5 15 3 54 31 3 2 32 14 2 Watkins Brown Cotlie Tahi Coats KukaMko Pitta Slater Hale FIRST QUARTER Fahu Tahi 5 run, 9:47 (Matt Payne 13 15 35-2- 1 NOTRE DAME 2 RUSHING 263 265 -0 JaredJJoyd 'Daily herald Notre Dame leaves Provo with another defeat, running their record to 0 over their last 15 games. Cougar fans applauded as the Irish ran off the field, but chants of "Urban Meyer" came from a few in the crowd, referring to speculation that Meyer might go to Notre Dame if a job opens up. ' But for Fighting Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham, that isnt the reason he heads out of Utah Valley with a sour taste inside. X3 () Si FRANK BOTTDaily Herald "My experience here was not Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn (10) passes the balL very good, he said after the 7 loss. "When you go anyball consistently, something the head coach at Idaho. "When where and lose, your experiIrish coaching staff attributed ence is not very good." they stopped the run, it really kind of forced us into a pass, to the BYU defense. But he supported the effort "We felt we'd be able to pass, pass situation." of his team after they went come in here and move the ball down early, saying, "I like the Willingham said the key to dewould and that on the tried to team our succeeding against the battle, ground way fense employed by BYU is tried to fight back." open things up for us," said identification. Notre Dame offensive coordiNotre Dame struggled the "If you don't identify where nator BiU Diedrick, the former r entire evening to run the foot- 20-1- , they're coming from, someone will come free," he said. "We dSdnt do a very good job of that tonight." Willingham complimented his defense, saying they "played well overall, but gave up the three big pass plays. One set up a touchdown, one was a touchdown and one was that big' one at the end of the game," For the Irish, the loss is tough to swallow, but they plan to focus on the rest of the season. "Unf prtunatery, this is what . happened to us in Provo," Diedrick said. "It hurts, but it doesnt stop here." Willingham sees plenty of room for improvement as they head into next week's matchup with Michigan. "We need to improve in every aspect of the game," he . 68 276 Total offensive plays Total net yards ' Avg. 4.2 4.1 - 11 gain per play s 2- PuntRetums-yd- ' 3-- K0Retums-yd- 8 Inter. Retums-yd- s 0--0 Punts-av- Fourth-dow- Wilson Thomas PowenHtoal Quinn n com. com. 3- 4- s Possession Time 7-- Penaltles-yd- 0-- 0 Quinn V 33:32 stats McKnight Fasano Freeman Stoval Thomas RUSHING Jenkins 12 12 31 1 11 Z.6 15 0 0 6 2 11 -- 0-- 2 31 0 0 2 -3 -- Berry Yds TD Lng 265 1 54 13 -0 No. Yds. TD Lng 8 4 4 3 3 92 60 1 54 27 9 15 13 15 7 24 0 0 0 0 2 28 23' 28 0 2 10 0 Yds. IDs lug. Aug. .12 CoMe 0.3 0.0 -2.6 RECEIVING Powera-Ne- Brown Beck Team 3 0 8 9-- BRIGHAM YOUNG TaM -- A-- 3-- 26:28 Art 5 0 0 0 7-- -31 XcdM&nl 2 0 1 PASSING - 16 1- -2 Sacks 9 6 , .8 Third-do- Yds. TDs Lng. Avg. 22 12 2.4 0 AtL 68 285 4.0 1.0 -- 3 -3.0 0 42 -- PUNTING No. Yds, Fitzpatrick Team Avg. Lng 10 428 4Z8 M 21 56 21J) 21 Lug TD 8 38 40 0 ItETURNS PASSING -5 I Jared Lloyd can be reached or at 2 ' 344-255- jlloydheraldextra.com. ' No. Yds. A-- Berry Beck Yds TO Lng 167 96 1 42 50 0 McKnight (P) Jackson (kit) AnastaatoftCO) 2 11 1 38 40 1 1 0 |