Irish didn't need any ghosts to defeat this Cougar team

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Forget all that leprechaun nonsense. Deep-six the George Gipp locker room speech, too.

That mumbo-jumbo about the ghosts of Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen? Save it for Stanford or Syracuse, Notre Dame's last two games.

Playing BYU is enough all by itself. That's been the case for a lot of teams since mid-September when it became obvious this would not be BYU's best season.

"It's OK to talk about it," said receiver Toby Christensen, when asked about the Cougars' offensive troubles. "I just don't know what else I'm going to say."

All that needs to be said is this: One more game and it's home for the holidays. Hard as it is for longtime BYU fans to imagine, the Cougars' season has come down to next week's game against Utah. Go ahead and say it — it's their bowl game.

As longtime football fans in Utah can attest, a win over their biggest rival can take the sting out of the worst of seasons. It can move a year from train-wreck ugly to merely disappointing. That's a long way for one game.

Then again, it's a long rivalry.

"We have Utah this week," said coach Gary Crowton. "It's a rivalry game. It's a big game for us."

BYU's 33-14 loss to Notre Dame Saturday assured back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1970-71. It is also the first time since 1972-73 BYU didn't qualify for a bowl game in consecutive seasons. Last year was supposed to be an aberration. But before the Cougars knew it this season, players were getting injured and plays were being botched. An ulcer on the rise.

What has bothered the Cougars for most of this year continues: no offense. Seven times this year they have scored two or fewer touchdowns, six of them only one. Along the way, they have brightened the seasons of such teams as Stanford, Colorado State and Wyoming.

Then came Notre Dame, a legendary program, suffering through a discouraging (memorable?) season. At Notre Dame, losing seasons are so unexpected they stick in the mind. Who doesn't remember Gerry Faust?

Entering Saturday's game with a 3-6 record including embarrassingly lopsided losses to Michigan (38-0), USC (45-14) and Florida State (37-0), the Irish were more than happy to accept any sort of success.

"Today was not just any old game for BYU or our team," said Irish coach Tyrone Willingham. "It was really important to get a win for our seniors."