Bad taste remains in mouths of Irish

PROVO — For openers, it wasn't the kind of game Notre Dame was expecting. Nor was the 20-17 loss at BYU Saturday night the kind of result the nation's most storied college football program is used to.

Like the host Cougars, the Fighting Irish were looking to step out in 2004 and quickly erase the bad taste lingering from a losing season the year before. And for a team that scored an average of 39 points in winning three of its final four games in '03, the Irish expected momentum and scoring on their side.

It wasn't.

Entering its 116th season, Notre Dame had amassed a glossy 97-13-5 record in season openers for a winning percentage of .865. Of course, only 36 of those openers had been played away from South Bend, Ind.

In fact, Saturday's game in Provo was the Irish's first opener in either the Mountain or Pacific time zone since 1965. And Notre Dame had won 15 of its last 17 openers, falling only to Northwestern in 1995 and at Nebraska in 2001.

Why, even last year, Notre Dame found itself down 19 points to Washington State in the second quarter of the Irish's '03 opener, only to rally for a 29-26 overtime victory.

So, why should Notre Dame worry when it trailed only 13-3 at halftime when the Cougars could muster only three points on four consecutive possessions starting inside Irish territory?

But Notre Dame only flirted with come-from-behind hopes against BYU, eventually trailing 20-3 midway in the third before scoring single touchdowns in the third and four periods — the first a 54-yard pass from quarterback Brady Quinn to receiver Rhema McKnight and the latter a 38-yard interception return by defensive back Preston Jackson.

But the Irish could pull no closer in the final eight minutes, with the Cougars able to do do just enough to preserve its first win over Notre Dame in Provo and the first victory by a Mountain West Conference team against the Irish.

Offensively, the statistics were fairly similar — Notre Dame's 265 passing yards to BYU's 263, with both teams equally ineffective on the ground — 11 yards for the Irish and 22 for BYU.

Quinn collected his 265 aerial yards on 26-of-47 passing, with no interceptions, with McKnight snagging eight for 92 yards and his touchdown.

IRISH NOTES: Notre Dame is now 1-1 in games in Provo, with the No. 3 ranked Irish beating the Cougars 45-20 in 1993. Notre Dame is 3-2 all-time against BYU, with the two teams to meet in South Bend next season . . . The Irish had averaged 33.5 points in its four previous games against the Cougars.

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