Irish Tee It Up, Then Tee Off on Virginia, 36-13

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —  No college football team has won consecutive national championships in a decade, but many believe Notre Dame has a good chance to buck the trend and bust a few heads along the way.

So the Irish kicked off their season Thursday night at Giants Stadium, where they walloped Virginia, 36-13, with quarterback Tony Rice directing the destruction.

“The way we looked at it, they were just one team in front of us, and we had to eliminate them,” said Rice, who passed for 147 yards and ran for 70 more.

Rice played less than three quarters, but that was enough to get the Irish ready for their game at Michigan on Sept. 16.

“We’ll get on the plane tonight, go to class tomorrow and then vote on whether we’ll play Michigan,” said Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, who has consistently downplayed his team’s chances.

Rice said this is not the time to disagree with his coach.

“Whatever the Little Man says goes,” Rice said.

Thomas Jefferson established the University of Virginia 170 years ago, which is probably how long it’s going to take the Cavaliers to recover from what hit them.

Notre Dame led, 33-0, after one half, which seemed sort of odd since Holtz said only a few days before that his team didn’t belong in the top 20.

If the game proved anything, then the Irish are a lot better than Holtz claims, but how much better is still uncertain because Virginia played too poorly too early and didn’t do enough good things until too late.

By halftime, Notre Dame had 333 yards of total offense and 16 first downs, and had limited Virginia to 60 yards and three first downs.

Virginia scored twice in the fourth quarter--one touchdown coming after the Cavaliers recovered a fumble at midfield and the other after five agonizing plays from inside the three.

Rice finished with seven pass completions in 11 attempts and accumulated his 70 yards rushing in just eight carries. Tailback Ricky Watters, a converted flanker, gained 80 yards in 12 carries and led a Notre Dame ground attack that finished with 300 yards.

The Irish players have names like Brennan and Ryan and also Kowalkowski, Zorich and Smagala. At the same time, Virginia proved itself to be a team with sons of famous fathers.

Bob Griese, Jesse Jackson, Calvin Peete and Vince Dooley all have sons who are Cavaliers.

There were seven names missing from Notre Dame’s roster, players who were gone from the team after being either suspended for disciplinary reasons, grades, injuries or transfer.

“How many players did we lose?” Rice asked. “We just had to come together. We came in here all riled up and we got it.

“We thought we were better than last year and nobody was going to beat us,” he said.

With nine starters back from last season’s 12-0 team, the Irish offense was virtually intact, but it was the Notre Dame defense that got the Irish rolling.

Cornerback Todd Lyght intercepted quarterback Shawn Moore’s pass on the third play of the game and returned it 10 yards to the Virginia 31-yard-line. Three minutes later, the Irish had the ball in the end zone.

On third and goal at the two, Watters took a pitchout from Rice and sprinted around right end for a touchdown. Four minutes 14 seconds were gone in the game, and even if they didn’t know it, so too were the Cavaliers.

Virginia had 18 starters back from last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference runner-up team that finished 7-4, but option quarterback Moore couldn’t get them going. At the same time, nothing could stop Notre Dame.

The Irish had the ball seven times in the first half and scored on five of those possessions. They scored quickly and they scored on long drives. But however the Irish did it, they kept on scoring.

Anthony Johnson, a 220-pound fullback, scored twice on one-yard runs, the second ending a 14-play, 87-yard drive that took 6 minutes 13 seconds and inflated Notre Dame’s lead to 26-0.

The series before, tailback Rodney Culver’s two-yard off-tackle slant for a touchdown made it 19-0 and followed a looping 52-yard pass play from Rice to Raghib (Rocket) Ismail.

“I threw the ball, and that was it,” Rice said. “He’s unbelievable.”

A 33-yard punt return by Watters had given the Irish proper field position.

Notre Dame got one last touchdown for a 33-0 lead before the end of the half. Rice and Watters provided the key play. Rice found Watters open over the middle and completed a pass to him for a 30-yard gain to the Virginia eight-yard-line.

Two plays later, Rice faked a handoff to Culver, kept the ball himself and scored easily from the three.