Texas A&M
Notre Dame
Record Crowd Watches Aggies Roll to 24-3 Win over Irish
Sep 29, 2001 | Football
September 29, 2001
Texas A&M scored on its first three possessions, including quarterback Mark Farris' touchdown catch, as the Aggies beat Notre Dame 24-3 Saturday, leaving the Irish 0-3 for the first time in school history.
Staked with a 17-0 lead and backed by a record crowd of 87,206 -- the largest crowd ever to watch a football game in Texas, the Aggies (4-0) throttled Notre Dame's offense and first-time starter Carlyle Holiday.
Holiday lasted less than a half, knocked out late in the second quarter with a sprained neck and the Irish trailing by 17. At the time, he was 6-for-13 for 73 yards and two interceptions. He also had 23 yards on 12 carries.
It didn't get much better for Matt LoVecchio, who lost the starting job after the 0-2 start and took over for the injured Holiday in the second half.
On his first series, it was three and out, then his second possession ended with an interception. On his third possession, again it was three and out and Joey Hildbold's punt on fourth down at the Irish 20 was blocked by Jay Brooks. A&M's Randall Webb grabbed the ball and ran it in from 13 yards for the TD to break the game open.
A&M had grabbed a 7-0 lead when Derek Farmer, a freshman and surprise starter at running back, went 31 yards for the score, capping the Aggies' opening 76-yard drive. Farmer, who finished with 100 yards rushing, including 51 in the first quarter, took a deep handoff, cut to his left, then back to the right and down the sidelines into the end zone.
Holiday took the Irish on the ensuing kickoff and drove to the A&M 13 where on a third-and-10 play his pass to the right side of the end zone was intercepted by defensive back Sean Weston.
It set the tone for the day and was the first of the two interceptions thrown by Holiday, a sophomore from San Antonio who had been recruited by A&M.
A&M responded with an 80-yard drive in only five plays to make it 14-0. On first down at the A&M 33, Terrence Murphy hauled down a 44-yard pass from Farris to set up the Aggies on the Notre Dame 22.
On the next play, Farris pitched back to Oschlor Flemming, who rolled to his right, stopped and threw back to his left to the wide-open Farris, who ran untouched to the end zone to make it 14-0.
Cody Scates made it 17-0 with a 29-yard field goal set up by Dawson Gentry's 39-yard punt return.
With less than six minutes to go in the second quarter, Holiday connected with Javin Hunter for a 19-yard completion, equaling the longest Irish pass play of the season. But on the next play, he threw into double coverage and was picked off by Terrence Kiel.
Holiday was sacked three times and hit numerous others by the Aggie defense and had to receive assistance from the field after taking the shot late in the second period that left him with the neck sprain.
On the next play, Nicholas Setta's 47-yard field goal equaled the longest of his career and narrowed the A&M lead to 17-3 with 28 seconds to go in the first half to account for the only Irish points.
