October 15, 1994
By Jared Patzke, The Scholastic 1994 Football Review
The game featured three botched field goal attempts, an inability to block opponents while running or passing, and above all, another defeat.
Preceding the loss to the Cougars; Coach Lou Holtz had called a meeting with thirty of his players in an attempt to eliminate what he called “a cancer” from the team. Perhaps this meeting indicated that the recent turn of Irish luck was due to more than a lack of talent and preparation.
Notre Dame entered the game versus BYU still recovering from the 30-11 drudging handed to them by Boston College the previous week. With the loss came the end of any outside chances at a national championship, along with questions from friends and foe alike on the quality of the team in general.
Plagued with injuries and abnormally poor play, theIrish coaching staff was forced to shuffle eight players into new starting roles. The biggest shake-up came in the offensive line, which had taken the brunt of the criticism for the Irish’s failure to move the ball. Four linemen rotated positions or started for the first time.”We gambled and made a lot of changes in the offensive line,” commented Irish head coach Lou Holtz.
Brigham Young entered the game on an opposite note. They were holding a 5-1 record, led by junior quarterback John Walsh.
Many picked Walsh as a pre-season All-American and some NFL scouts touted Walsh as the best quarterback prospect in college football.
Notre Dame opened the game looking like a force to be reckoned with. Randy Kinder scored on a 41-yard touchdown run on Notre Dame’s first possession. Bill Mitoulas recovered a BYU fumble on the ensuing kickoff and gained control of the ball for the Irish on the Cougar 11-yard-line. This was going to be a cakewalk.
But the Irish failed to capitalize on the turnover after quarterback Ron Powlus threw an errant pitch on a third-down option. The Irish lost 13 yards and Notre Dame was forced to attempt a 37-yard field goal that holder Charles Stafford bobbled, causing Schroffner to miss.
Brigham Young gained life after surviving the potential catastrophe without relinquishing a point. Notre Dame, after blowing an opportunity to take a sizable lead in the early moments of the game, found itself stuck in a dog fight.
Powlus showed signs of the greatness everyone expected from him late in the first half as he put together a quick scoring drive. He marched the Irish down the field on five plays that included a 55-yard pass to Derrick Mayes. He capped off the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass toMayes, giving the Irish a 14-13 lead entering halftime.
Powlus’ glory was short-lived as the second half brought only more frustration for the Irish. Notre Dame threatened to score early in the third quarter as they put together a 24- play drive which started on their own 15-yard-line. The Irish got as far as BYU’s three-yard line before the Cougar defense tightened. They stuffed the Irish on two successive running plays then nailed Powlus for an 18-yard loss as he attempted to roll out and pass into the end zone. Once again Notre Dame was unable to finish off a drive. The sack set up a 39-yard field goal attempt by the Irish’s second place kicker of the game, Scott Cengia. The kick was blocked by BYU’s Chad Lewis and recovered by the Cougars at their own 23-yard line.
Both coaches agreed that the Irish’s failure to score on the drive turned the tide of the game.
“Our inability to score while inside the 15 was just too much for us to overcome,” commented Holtz on his team’s second failure to get any points while deep in the opponents side of the field. “l thought one of the keys in the game was right after their drive in the third quarter. Our defense was a little spent at that time, but we went in and kept the ball and scored,” noted Edwards.
Following the failed kick, Brigham Young took the ball and marched down the field, scoring the go ahead touchdown as Willis plunged over the top of the Irish defense. In essence, the Irish’s lack of a scoring punch created a fifteen-point swing. Brigham Young successfully attempted a two-point conversion to go ahead 21-14 as opposed to Notre Dame’s lost opportunity to take a 28- 13 lead.
Shortly after Schroffner missed wide left from 32 yards, Goheen fell on a fumble on Notre Dame’s 23 yard line with 1:36 to play. Tom Krug, filling in for a dazed Powlus (concussion), completed his first pass to tight end Oscar McBride for a nineteen-yard gain. The fans stood a little taller. This would be a typical Notre Dame comeback. Then he found Mayes open for an other 11 yards. But his next pass hit the ground with a helpless thud. The second fell to the cool turf, too. Then came the third, and finally, Krug’s fourth attempt fluttered to the ground, leaving Irish fans in shell-shock. The fourth down attempt to Mayes was jarred loose by the Cougar defense.
“I think our problems can be pinpointed in four major areas,”said Holtz. “One is our inability to protect the passer. Second is our inability to convert on short yardage and on the goal line. Third is our inability in the kicking game. Fourth is the fact we don’t make people pay a price for throwing the football.”
The Notre Dame community however, had a sour feeling after the game. Lou Holtz exemplified the attitude of many who live and die with the Irish as he declared, “All I want to do is get a football team and win a game.”