Irish Rally in Second Half to Beat Aggies, 24-10

Saturday, September 2

South Bend, Ind.

12:00 PM

Texas A&M

0-1

Notre Dame

1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Notre Dame

Sep 02, 2000 | Football

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

September 02, 2000

Friday saw Texas A&M's team charter plane land in South Bend seven hours late. Saturday saw Notre Dame show up late in the game but, much to the chagrin of the maroon and white and their faithful, the Irish capitalized on their second-half opportunities to post a 24-10 victory over A&M before 80,232 fans at Notre Dame Stadium.

Playing in the shadows of Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome on the famous campus, the 23rd-ranked Aggies were at the brink of taking a touchdown lead midway through the third quarter. Grinding their way down the field on a bruising seven-and-a-half minute drive that relied mostly on the run, A&M sat on the Notre Dame 2-yard line with four cracks at the end zone. Three rushes netted a yard, leaving 4th-and-goal at the 1, but a false start penalty pushed the Aggies back five yards and forced them to kick a 23-yard field goal.

Riding the emotional high of a successful goal-line stand, the Irish regained the momentum and scored on three consecutive possessions. On A&M's next drive after their field goal, a partial punt block left Notre Dame with excellent field position. Quarterback Arnaz Battle, making his first career start, lofted a 2nd-down pass to the pylon in the front of the end zone. Wide receiver Javin Hunter broke away from the Aggie coverage to make the 46-yard touchdown catch, giving Notre Dame a 14-10 lead with 3:24 left in the third quarter.

The Irish held A&M to three-and-out on the next possession. Using the one-two punch of Battle and running back Julius Jones, Notre Dame put together their most impressive drive of the day to take a 21-10 advantage. Battle converted a 3rd-and-19 situation with a 21-yard strike over the middle to David Givens, who later in the drive gained seven yards on 4th-and-1 at the A&M 24. One play later, Jones scampered 17 yards for the touchdown.

"It took a little time for me to get my feet wet, get adjusted and get the bugs out," said Battle, who finished the day 10-of-16 for 133 yards, while rushing for 50 yards on 12 carries. "As the game went on, I felt more comfortable throwing."

A&M, held to another three-and-out by the rejuvenated Irish defense, saw Battle march Notre Dame down the field in three minutes and set up a 24-yard Nick Setta field goal. The kick put the Irish up 24-10 with seven minutes to play. Farris and the Aggies threatened to score on their last possession, as a great effort by wide receiver Mickey Jones saw him miss a diving touchdown catch by inches. Tony Driver picked off a late Farris pass-the only turnover of the game-to kill any chance of a comeback.

"I don't care if you lose by fifty or two, losing is losing," said A&M quarterback Mark Farris, who was 16-of-28 on the day for 165 yards. "That almost makes it harder knowing that you played as well as they did but three or four plays made the difference in the game. On the road you can't afford to not make good plays. Three or four plays could have gone either way and that's what made the difference."

Redshirt freshman running back Richard Whitaker had a stellar debut in an A&M uniform, leading all rushers with 71 yards on 13 carries. Joe Weber rushed for 27 yards and Ja'Mar Toombs added 14 for the Aggies.

A scoreless first quarter saw most of the action take place in the middle of the field, as neither team was able to move the ball deep into their opponent's territory.

The Aggies went to the draw play on third down twice to take an early lead. After a false start penalty pushed A&M out of field goal range and set up a 3rd-and-10 at the Notre Dame 34, Whitaker got the call and blasted through the middle for a 19-yard gain. Three plays later, on 3rd-and-4 at the 8, Whitaker went up the middle on the draw again for a touchdown.

Notre Dame would answer just prior to halftime. On a 70-yard drive, the Irish utilized the option well and capitalized on blown coverage twice, gaining first downs when the Aggies left fullback Tom Lopienski uncovered in the flat. Quarterback Arnaz Battle found wide receiver Joey Getherall in the corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass with a minute-and-a-half to go to tie the score at 7-7 heading into the locker room.

"I thought in the second half we could get into a position that we could keep pounding with Joe Weber," A&M head coach R.C. Slocum said. "Instead, we got into a situation where we had to pass the ball more than we wanted to. Notre Dame made a couple of big plays and in a matter of minutes the momentum had turned in their favor."

The Aggies return to action on Saturday when they open the home portion of the schedule against Wyoming (0-1). The Cowboys are coming off a 35-21 season-opening road loss to the Auburn Tigers on Thursday. Kickoff at Kyle Field in College Station is set for 6 p.m. (CDT) and the game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports Net.