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Friday, December 13, 2002
Notebook: No fight in this line
By Mike Diegnan
BCSfootball.com
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Early in the third quarter, television cameras showed Notre Dame offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers shaking his head in obvious frustration.
|  | | Matt LoVecchio and Notre Dame's running attack were nonexistent against Oregon State. |
An offense that had produced an average of 265 rushing yards in its last six games was nowhere to be found as the Irish were embarrassed by Oregon State 41-9 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
"We were off rhythm all night," Notre Dame coach Bob Davie said.
Not until the last minute of the first half -- and only after an Oregon State penalty prolonged the drive -- did Notre Dame run a play in OSU territory.
From the outset, Rogers' unit had difficulty running the ball and had to divert from the game plan. In the end, Notre Dame quarterback Matt LoVecchio threw the ball a season-high 33 times and Notre Dame produced just 155 yards of offense.
"We didn't give up on the game plan," said running back Julius Jones, who struggled on his brother Thomas' home field with just 30 yards on 13 carries. "We just didn't execute. They were on top of everything we were going to do. It's hard to execute when they are calling out the plays we are going to run."
"I thought we could run the ball better," Davie said. "Then when our quarterback got rattled a bit, we got discombobulated."
Coming in, Notre Dame's massive offensive line, which averaged 6-foot-4, 304 pounds, was expected to push around an undersized, but quick Oregon State defense. Instead, Notre Dame mustered a mere 17 yards on the ground.
"All week they talked about how physical they were," said Oregon State defensive tackle Eric Manning, who had two tackles-for-loss. "They said Notre Dame would pound the ball, but we just came through. We were quick off the ball. We came ready to play."
"Everybody put so much emphasis on how their offensive line was so big and our defensive line couldn't stop them," said Beaver wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. "If we could just stop the run, we would be all right. We got them behind, they couldn't come back. Defensively it was our best game all year."
The Irish also weren't able to play mistake-free as had been their custom all season. Notre Dame set an NCAA record this season with just eight turnovers in 11 games. Three Notre Dame turnovers were what Oregon State utilized to break open a close game.
"That was the difference in the game," said Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson. "Defensively, I thought we totally dominated
"They came out and tried to run the ball on us," said linebacker Darnell Robinson, named the game's defensive player of the game. "We have the No. 1 defense in the Pac-10, so we demonstrated what we have been doing all year."
Oregon State broke open the game early in the third quarter when LoVecchio was sacked by Robinson and fumbled, which Manning recovered on the Irish 26-yard-line. Two plays later, Jonathan Smith hit Houshmandzadeh for a 23-yard touchdown completion that gave OSU a 19-3 lead.
"That was the turning point in the game," Erickson said.
Robinson then intercepted a LoVecchio pass that set up another OSU scoring drive that put the nail in the coffin at 34-3.
The Big Least
The Big East was shut out of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl when Notre Dame was selected over Virginia Tech for the second selection in the game, but the conference played a pivotal role in the outcome on Monday night.
In the first half, Chad Johnson broke free for an apparent 74-yard touchdown reception. Apparent. Oregon State's senior receiver, who is at his fourth school in four years, dropped the ball on the 2-yard-line as he raced to the end zone to celebrate. The officials missed the call and Oregon State had a 12-0 lead.
In the third quarter, another missed call benefited the Beavers. After the Irish were held to a three-and-out, Notre Dame was forced to punt. T.J. Houshmandzadeh returned the punt to the 50, where he appeared to be down, but the ball came loose. Terrell Roberts scooped it up and raced 45 yards for a touchdown that gave OSU a 25-3 lead.
In the third quarter, another call was blown when the officials flagged Houshmandzadeh for running after calling a fair catch. The punt returner had waved his hands to tell his teammates not to touch a short kick, but after he scooped it up on a bounce, he raced toward an opening.
Each time a penalty was called, the supervisor of officials grimaced as he listened to the rants of the media in the press box.
Oregon State kept the officials busy too. It's been five years since Dennis Erickson has coached the Miami Hurricanes, but the Beavers have quickly learned some of the trademarks that made Miami what it was. The Beavers were called for a school and Fiesta Bowl record 18 penalties for 174 yards, including six personal fouls. Early in the fourth quarter, Oregon State was nailed for 35 yards on a punt for interference and two personal fouls.
"We had some dumb penalties," Erickson said. "I'm not going to have any excuses for that. I'm the one that's responsible for that. But also there were some penalties that should have or shouldn't have been called, too, in that thing."
"(Coach Erickson) told us to calm our emotions a little bit," Manning said. "We had to calm down because we took some stupid penalties."
Triple Pac
There's no need to talk about the Pac-10 anymore. The conference had three games that were crucial to its standing. On Friday night, Oregon held off Texas. On New Year's Day, the conference went a perfect 2-0 in the Bowl Championship Series when Washington defeated Purdue 34-24 and Oregon State crushed Notre Dame, 41-9.
"The Pac-10 is the best conference," said Houshmandzadeh. "By far. Our top three teams went out there and won big games."
More importantly, it left Oregon State feeling it earned a spot in the national spotlight after its dominance of college football's most storied program on national television.
"Corvallis isn't a joke," said Manning. "Oregon State football is here to stay. Next year, we are going to go to the Rose Bowl for the national title. We only lost by three to go for the national title this year. Next year, we are looking for better and better things."
"We deserve a chance to play with the big dogs," said Johnson. "It's good for the program, good for the Pac-10."
News and notes
The crowd began filing out quickly when Ken Simonton scored from four yards out to give the Beavers a 41-3 lead ... Notre Dame has now lost five straight bowl games and Davie is 0-3. The last ND victory in a bowl game was in the 1994 Cotton Bowl when the Irish beat Texas A&M 24-21. Coincidentally, Davie was coaching the Aggies' defense that day ... The 32-point loss was the second-worst bowl defeat in Notre Dame's history ... It was Oregon State's first bowl win in 39 years.
Quote of the night: "To beat Notre Dame feels good. I wouldn't want to go to Notre Dame if I had the chance anyway. I don't think one player on our team had a chance to go to Notre Dame, so to beat them, it's like we are better than they thought we were."
-- T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Mike Diegnan is the editor of BCSfootball.com.
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Chad Johnson scores on a 74-yard pass from Jonathan Smith -- barely.
Dennis Erickson is happy with the Beavers' Fiesta Bowl win against Notre Dame.