September 3, 1994
Notre Dame at Northwestern Final Stats
By Joshua Dickinson, The Scholastic 1994 Football Review
As the sun set over the Windy City, the lights came on at Soldier Field and the Irish stars came out to play. The Fighting Irish were about to engage in melee number one of the 1994 football season, a rendezvous with the Wildcats of Northwestern. The game received the hype and expectation which comes with the start of every football season for Notre Dame. There was a sellout crowd in Chicago, with a prime time national television audience to boot.
Questions about the latest Irish arsenal remained, however. Was this team deserving of its number three ranking? Would Lee Becton return to the Heisman form he exhibited in 1993? Would Ron Powlus live up to the billing as the second coming? Was a national championship out of the question?
Would the Irish kicking game come back to haunt them? Was the Notre Dame defense strong enough to complement an explosive offense? The answers to these questions would soon become clearer. But there was little doubt the Irish would prevail, especially with over half the fans holding loyalties to Notre Dame. The first quarter displayed the heart of the Notre Dame defense, which was unable to keep Northwestern from advancing the ball upfield. This was in par due to its own aggressiveness. Four times on first down the Irish were called for five-yard defensive contact penalties. Northwestern’s one-man show Dennis Lundy, punished the Irish defense on two time-consuming Wildcat drives. In fact, the Wildcat offense chewed up 21 minutes in the half, but could only muster up a 22-yard field goal. The Irish made them pay. Two of their possessions ended in turn overs as Brian Hamilton recovered a Lundy fumble and Bobby Taylor picked off a pass courtesy of Northwestern quarterback Tim Hughes.
The second stanza was a different story. It was time for the Irish offense to shine. Following a Northwestern possession and punt, Notre Dame took over deep in its own territory. Enter Ron Powlus. Notre Dame’s version of the Chosen One pelted the Northwestern defense with gutsy bombs and short outs. Powlus went four for five on the first drive, highlighted by a 42-yard pass to flanker Michael Miller and capped off by a 9-yard touchdown pass to the spectacular Derrick Mayes. Mayes had to dive out of the end zone to grab the ball. The catch reminded fans of his performance against Boston College the year earlier, but it was only a tease of what was to come. After a Northwestern field goal made the score 7-3 in favor of the Irish, Powlus took the reigns of the Notre Dame offense.
Again the blue and gold moved the ball at will through a porous Northwestern defense. This time Powlus connected with Miller 46 yards away in the end zone. Notre Dame got the ball right back after an interception by Shawn Wooden. The Irish had less than a minute to go 58 yards. No problem for Powlus. The Irish marched down the field, and Powlus found Ray Zellars from two yards out; he also found his team with a 21-3 halftime lead. Although the Notre Dame ground attack had accounted for only 59 first half yards, Powlus and the aerial arsenal had amassed 186 yards and three touchdowns through the darkened sky. Northwestern, despite 116 rushing yards from Lundy, also helped the Irish cause with three turnovers by the half.
The entire nation waited to see if there would be a second half letdown by the nation’s number three team. No chance. The Notre Dame offense began the third quarter with a nearly flawless 11- play, 65-yard ball control drive. A beautiful mix of run and pass plays climaxed in a Becton score on only his fourth carry of the game. Notre Dame took a 28-3 lead. After a fine Irish defensive stand, Notre Dame again received the ball and the reassurance that the game was in hand. Powlus hurled his fourth touchdown pass, this one again to Mayes, good for 36 yards. This score put the Irish up 35-3, and made the fourth quarter academic.
After Powlus’s curtain call in the final period, Tom Krug came on for the save and hit Charles Stafford from seven yards out to end the Irish scoring. This came sandwiched between two Wildcat touchdown runs, one by Lundy and one by Hughes. The damage was done, however. As time expired, the Irish had proved themselves worthy of their number three ranking with a 42-15 romp of Northwestern. Despite a gutsy 144-yard performance by Lundy, the Notre Dame defense was able to come up with the big turnover when it was needed. The Irish kicking game survived intact, with Stefan Schroffner making all six of his extra point attempts.
The only disappointing aspect to come out of the game was the rushing attack. Heisman hopeful Becton, despite a touchdown, gained only 18 yards on ten carries, all but ending his hopes for the coveted award. Zellars, Marc Edwards and Randy Kinder, each of whom also contributed to the ground game, were only able to amass 185 yards total rushing. This seemed insignificant, though, in comparison to Powlus’ acomplishments.
The Notre Dame quarterback, in his first college game, had silenced the doubters. Powlus finished 18 of24 for 291 yards and four touchdowns, tying the Notre Dame record shared by Irish greats Steve Beuerlein, Daryle Lamonica and Angelo Bertelli. Powlus seemed to be a man of steel. Buried twice after releasing his pass, Powlus bounced back up like a basketball, unscathed. With the help of his talented corps of receivers and three quarters of Northwestern generosity, Powlus was transformed from a first year quarterback from Berwick,PA, to a nationally- known Heisman Trophy candidate. ESPN’s Beano Cook even went so far as to say that Powlus would win the Heisman twice in his career, and this after only one game.
Once the nation had seen what the Irish were capable of, expectations skyrocketed. Maybe this was the team that could bring Lou Holtz his first national championship since 1988. However, no one knew at the time that one play would foreshadow the entire upcoming season for the Irish. Following Lundy’s touchdown early in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats went for a two-point conversion. Taylor intercepted Hughes’ pass, and he bolted toward the opposite end zone. As the goal was in sight, the Irish cornerback was ripped down from behind by a Wildcat defender. So too would the Irish start out at the head of the pack in 1994, only to be caught from behind by five of their next 11 opponents.