Oct. 30, 1999
By JR ROSS
Associated Press Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – When it mattered, when it was all on the line, Jarious Jackson did what he had to do.
After struggling most of the game, Jackson hit Jay Johnson for a 16-yard touchdown with 36 seconds left to give Notre Dame a 28-24 victory over Navy on Saturday and extended its NCAA-record winning streak over the Midshipmen to 36 games.
“Jarious struggled today throwing the football,” Notre Dame coach Bob Davie said. “Then he comes back late in the game and makes the throw to win. … He finds a way. He doesn’t panic, and he keeps going.”
It’s a theme Jackson has been working on all season. Saturday’s comeback was the third time Jackson has led the Irish back from a late deficit and the fifth time this season Notre Dame has had a game decided on a last-minute drive.
“I’m sure everybody was kind of in suspense, because I saw the players running toward Jay,” Jackson said. “But at the same time I just put the ball in the air where I knew it would get to Jay.”
Jackson’s game-winning floater wasn’t pretty, but neither were the Irish (5-3), who racked up 130 yards on 13 penalties – the most in more than two decades – and consistently played themselves out of scoring opportunities. Yet Navy (2-6) couldn’t capitalize to beat the Irish for the first time since 1963, when Roger Staubach was the Midshipmen’s quarterback.
The streak was in danger with 5:56 left when Tim Shubzda kicked a 33-yard field goal to put Navy up 24-21.
After Notre Dame took over at its 41, Jackson played like his old self, converting two straight third-down situations to begin the drive.
Perhaps his biggest throw came on fourth-and-10 with 1:20 left when he hit Bobby Brown just short of the first down marker at the 27. The receiver twisted forward for the first down, keeping Notre Dame alive by inches.
“You could call it a devastating loss. It breaks our heart. A 36-year streak, we came 1 centimeter from ending it. It was that close,” said Navy safety Chris Lepore, who blocked a punt that was recovered for a touchdown.
After yet another third-down conversion and two dropped passes in the flat, Jackson threw a floater to Johnson just inside the 5. Johnson spun away from a defender and just got inside the pylon for the winning score.
“It seemed like it took forever to get there,” Johnson said. “We had confidence that we were going to win the game, but unfortunately sometimes it comes down to the last plays.”
In theory, the Midshipmen shouldn’t have even been close.
Navy blew a 23-point lead last week in losing to lowly Akron and lost quarterback Brian Broadwater to a broken collarbone. Coach Charlie Weatherbie missed some practice this week after having surgery to remove kidney stones, and sophomore Brian Madden made his first college start at quarterback in one of the most famous college stadiums in the country.
But the Midshipmen played with poise, and Madden confidently guiding Navy like a veteran. He was 7-of-17 for 86 yards and rushed 34 times for 168, including a 16-yard scoring run. But he also threw an interception and lost two fumbles, one inside the Notre Dame 10-yard line.
“It’s a disappointing loss. It’s one that hurts you deep inside because you know you played your tails off,” Weatherbie said. “I don’t think it gets easier to lose at all. You show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.”
Jackson, third nationally in passing efficiency, was 15-of-33 for 200 yards with two touchdowns and ran for a career-long 57-yard score. But he also threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and fumbled once.
The Irish also seem to have their running going in good shape once again, rushing for 324 yards on a day that Notre Dame honored the famed Four Horsemen backfield of 75 years ago. Freshman Julius Jones led the Irish with 146 yards on 19 carries.
After opening the season 1-3, Notre Dame is now riding a four-game winning streak heading into a trip to No. 4 Tennessee next week.
“We were a 1-3 team going into an open date,” Davie said. “We said one thing, `Whatever we have to do, let’s try to get this thing to 5-3 and go play a big-time football game in Knoxville.”‘