Panthers Have No Luck Against No. 14 Irish, 60-6
10/16/1996 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Panthers Have No Luck Against No. 14 Irish, 60-6
10/16/1996
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Allen Rossum had two touchdowns on punt returns in a 40-point second quarter as number 14 Notre Dame bombed hapless Pittsburgh, 60-6, in the first game since rumors surfaced about the uncertain status of coach Lou Holtz.
Holtz, who has been coach of Notre Dame since 1985, has been rumored to be stepping down as coach of college football's most prestigious school and an announcement is expected by Holtz or the university sometime next week.
Holtz picked up his 99th win at Notre Dame and is six shy of matching the record set by Knute Rockne. Holtz has produced just one national championship team, that coming in 1988.
At his post-game press conference, Holtz did not indicate if he was going to resign, only saying he "would leave Notre Dame eventually."
"When I first started here and was 1-4, I never thought I would make it 11 years," said Holtz. "I would like to wait until the end of the season, but I will have to sit down this week with (Executive Vice President) Fr. Bill (Beauchamp) and (athletic director) Mike Wadsworth as soon as we can."
The 60 points were the most scored by the Irish since rolling over Southern Methodist in Holtz's first season in 1986, 61-29. It was Notre Dame's largest margin of victory since a 69-14 thrashing of Georgia Tech on November 5th, 1977.
"I am very proud of the way out football team played today," added Holtz. "It was a good win for us, but it is just one win. Our players and assistant coaches have done an excellent job this year."
Pittsburgh (3-7) has given up 422 points this year and has allowed 40 or more points in six of its 10 games this season. The Panthers have lost the last seven games between the schools and have been outscored 104-6 in the last two games.
Pete Gonzalez averted the shutout for the Panthers when he threw a 32-yard pass to Jake Hoffart seven seconds into the fourth quarter.
Notre Dame leads the all-time series, 39-16-1.
After a scoreless first quarter, Rossum raced 55 yards with a punt to give Notre Dame a 7-0 lead 2:18 into the second quarter. Jamie Spencer raced 40 yards to make it 13-0 3:07 later and Robert Farmer plunged in from one yard out to give the Fighting Irish a 19-0 lead with 6:31 to play in the first half.
The special teams took over for a 77-second span as Rossum fielded a punt just outside the right hashmark and went up the middle before breaking back right past two Panthers defenders and raced down the right sideline to cap an 83-yard punt return to make it 26-0 with 5:30 left.
It was the eighth-longest punt return for a touchdown in school history and the longest since Ricky Watters ran one back 97 yards against Southern Methodist in 1989.
Rossum became just the third player in Notre Dame history to run back two punts for touchdowns, joining Tim Brown, who accomplished the feat against Michigan State in 1987 and Vince McNally, who did it against Beloit College in 1926.
Rossum, who also has a kickoff return for a touchdown, has three punt returns for touchdowns this season, matching the season record set by Brown and Nick Rassas, who accomplished the feat in 1965. He is also tied with Brown, Rassas and Waters for most punt returns for touchdowns in school history.
Autry Denson extended the lead to 33-0 with a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown with 4:13 to play in the first half. Randy Kinder mercifully capped the quarter's scoring with a two-yard run with 1:31 left.
"Rossum had just come out on defense, so he gave me the chance to run one back," explained Denson. "I was confident from the first run that if I got another chance, I could break one."
Backup quarterback Jarious Jackson hooked up with Joey Goodspeed on a 22-yard touchdown pass that extended the lead to 47-0 2:43 into the second half and Farmer pushed the bulge to 53-0 with a 16-yard jaunt.
Kevin Carreta ended the scoring with a two-yard run with 3:18 to play.
Farmer finished with 140 yards rushing and Denson added 104 as Notre Dame rolled up 332 rushing yards and 555 yards of total offense. Quarterback Ron Powlus completed 8-of-13 passes for 171 yards.
Matt Lytle completed 12-of-20 passes for 97 yards and one interception as the Panthers were held to 244 yards of total offense.
"We were beaten by a much superior team today, both physically and mentally," said Pittsburgh coach Johnny Majors. "Their punt returns were superb and our coverage was subpar. Their speed really killed us today. We have an off week next week and we need it."
NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
PITTSBURGH 0 0 0 6 6
NOTRE DAME (14) 0 40 13 7 60 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QTR: NONE
2ND QTR: ND - TD, ALLEN ROSSUM 55 YD PUNT RETURN (JIM SANSON
KICK), 2:18
ND - TD, JAMIE SPENCER 40 YD RUN (PAT FAILED), 5:25
ND - TD, ROBERT FARMER 1 YD RUN (TWO-POINT CONVERSION
FAILED), 8:29
ND - TD, ALLEN ROSSUM 83 YD PUNT RETURN (JIM SANSON
KICK), 9:30
ND - TD, AUTRY DENSON 74 YD PUNT RETURN (JIM SANSON
KICK), 10:47
ND - TD, RANDY KINDER 2 YD RUN (SCOTT PALUMBO KICK),
13:29
3RD QTR: ND - TD, JOEY GOODSPEED 22 YD PASS FROM JARIOUS JACKSON
(CHRIS MCCARTHY KICK), 2:43
ND - TD, ROBERT FARMER 16 YD RUN (PAT FAILED), 13:32
4TH QTR: PITT - TD, JAKE HOFFART 32 YD PASS FROM PETE GONZALEZ
(TWO-POINT CONVERSION FAILED), 0:07
ND - TD, KEVIN CARRETA 2 YD RUN (KEVIN MCDONNELL KICK),
11:42
Pittsburgh Notre Dame
First downs 16 28
Rushed-yards 39-101 55-332
Passing yards 143 233
Sacked-yards lost 5-47 0-0
Return yards 6 279
Passes 14-30-2 13-21-0
Punts 9-45.2 2-37.5
Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-2
Penalties-yards 4-20 4-25
Time of possession 27:01 32:59
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Pittsburgh-D Schulters 13-45, Poteat 8-44, B West
8-43, Dinkins 1-0, Gonzalez 2-minus 4, Lytle 7-minus 27. Notre
Dame-Farmer 22-140, Denson 12-104, Spencer 5-58, Carreta 3-9,
Goodspeed 5-5, Kinder 2-4, Jackson 2-4, Powlus 1-3, Barry 1-3,
Stephens 2-2.
PASSING: Pittsburgh-Lytle 12-20-1-97, Gonzalez 2-7-0-46,
Zimmerman 0-2-1-0, Dinkins 0-1-0-0. Notre Dame-Powlus
8-13-0-171, Jackson 4-7-0-58, H Smith 1-1-0-4.
RECEIVING: Pittsburgh-Hoffart 6-76, Jones 3-24, Butler 3-21,
Mcmullen 2-22. Notre Dame-Stephens 3-62, Chryplewicz 3-60,
Brown 1-49, Goodspeed 1-22, Farmer 1-13, Carreta 1-10, Mosley
1-9, Berry 1-4, Spencer 1-4.
Att: 59,075
