Irish Romp over Scarlet Knights
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
November 19, 2000

Piscataway, NJ - In Terry O'Shea's last game as a head coach for Rutgers, Notre Dame stomped his Scarlet Knights.  Rutgers kept it close for the first half and was inches away from tying the game in the third quarter, but instead Notre Dame went on to rip off 28 straight points to blow out Rutgers. 

With the game 24-17, Matt LoVecchio dropped back to pass and was nearly intercepted for a touchdown.  However, the ball was bobbled and Notre Dame retained possession.  After that play Notre Dame went on to score four unanswered touchdowns to win their sixth in a row. 

Rutgers surprised the Irish and scored first on a 30 yard Steve Barone field goal early in the first quarter.  Notre Dame answered right back when Matt LoVecchio connected with Joey Getherall for a 43 yard touchdown pass.   Getherall got passed all four Rutgers defensive backs and was wide open.  In fact, Getherall was so open, he had time to stop, wait for the ball, and walk into the end zone with no Scarlet Knight defender touching him.

Notre Dame also continued their tricky ways from last week when they faked a second quarter field.  Nick Setta got the direct snap and hit a wide open Tom Lopienski for a 25 yard touchdown pass.  Last week Setta ran in a touchdown against Boston College on a fake.  The Irish also faked a punt last week against Boston College.

With Julius Jones out due to injury, Tony Fisher and Terrence Howard picked up the slack once again.  Fisher had 135 yards and a touchdown while Howard added 69 yards and two touchdowns.  Fisher has rushed for 329 yards and three touchdowns in the last two weeks filling in for Julius Jones who has been plagued by injury all season.

Despite the lopsided score, Rutgers kept the game close for a while until they started turning the ball over.  By the end of the game, Rutgers lost two fumbles and threw three interceptions.  BJ Scott batted a ball at the line of scrimmage and came down with it for the first interception while Ron Isreal and freshman Vontez Duff both added interceptions in the second half.

Notre Dame also continued its great special teams with another block punt.  David Givens blocked his second of the year in the third quarter after a motion penalty on Rutgers first punt attempt.  His first came against Purdue.   The block also gave Notre Dame its third block of the year, Glenn Earl added a block earlier this year.

Matt LoVecchio turned in another solid performance by going 13 for 19 for 161 yards and two touchdowns.  On top of his 43 yard bomb to Getherall, he added a 25 yard strike to Javin Hunter.

The win did not come without a price however.  Shane Walton broke his arm in the first quarter and is definitely out for the USC game.   The injury allowed freshman Vontez Duff see some playing time and he responded with an interception and a defended pass.

Notre Dame is now 3-0 against Rutgers, but for the first time in the series, Rutgers scored on Notre Dame.  Last time the two teams meet, Notre Dame romped 62-0 in Lou Holtz's final season as head coach.  Ron Powlus also broke the career touchdown mark at Notre Dame in that game.

Overall Notre Dame played decently.  They won big, but it was Rutgers.  They played down to Rutgers for the first two and a half quarters and it nearly cost them.  Notre Dame was one play away from an entirely different game.  If Rutgers holds onto that interception in the third quarter the score is 24-24 and the entire complexion of the game changes.

The most important thing again this week was that Notre Dame won.  They have now won six straight since Matt LoVecchio took over the starting quarterback duties.  The Irish are now also only one win away from qualifying for the BCS bowl bid.  If the Irish do indeed win and go to a BCS Bowl, it will be the school's first major bowl since the 1996 Orange Bowl when Thomas Krug nearly lead the Irish to a win over Florida State.