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Friday, December 13, 2002
Davie's job safe, for now
Associated Press
BOX SCORE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- That huge sigh of relief leaving Notre
Dame came from Irish coach Bob Davie.
|  | | Notre Dame's Julius Jones gets by A&M's Roylin Bradley (3) en route to a 17-yard TD run in the Irish victory. |
Arnaz Battle made his first start a memorable one by throwing
the first two touchdown passes of his career as Notre Dame held off
No. 25 Texas A&M (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today) 24-10 on Saturday before a jittery crowd of 80,232.
Davie began his fourth season knowing his job would be in
jeopardy if the Irish failed to get off to a winning start. It took
a while, but Davie was a happy man after Battle loosened up late in
the first half and finished with scoring passes of 9 yards to Joey
Getherall and 46 yards to Javin Hunter.
The pass to Hunter, who appeared to shove Aggies cornerback Jay
Brooks with his left hand before grabbing the ball on the goal
line, put the Irish ahead 14-10 with 3:24 remaining in the third
period.
From that point, the Irish took control the rest of the way,
with Julius Jones running 17 yards for a fourth-quarter TD and Nick
Setta adding a 32-yard field goal with 7:17 left. Any hopes for a
Texas A&M comeback ended when free safety Tony Driver intercepted a
pass by Mark Farris at the Irish 14 with 4:09 remaining.
Notre Dame ended last season with four straight losses for a 5-7
record - its first sub .500 season since 1986. A win over the
Aggies, visiting Notre Dame Stadium for the first time, was crucial
because the Irish face No. 1 Nebraska next Saturday, followed by
games against Purdue, Michigan State and defending Pac-10 champion
Stanford.
The Cornhuskers opened their season Saturday with a 49-13 win
over San Jose State.
With the game tied 7-all at halftime, the Aggies went ahead 10-7
on Terence Kitchens' 23-yard field goal. Texas A&M had a
first-and-goal at the Irish 2, but were unable to get the ball into
the end zone. On the drive, Irish right end Grant Irons left the
game suffering from dehydration.
But that seemed to fire up the Irish, who took their first lead
of the game on Battle's hookup with Hunter, who caught the first TD
pass of his career.
Battle was 10 of 16 for 133 yards and carried 12 times for 50
yards. Farris, making his first start, was 16 of 28 for 165 yards
and an interception.
With temperatures soaring near 90 degrees and the on-field mark
announced at 108 degrees, the teams played the first 30 minutes as
if they were winding up two-a-day practices. Even the 150th
consecutive sellout crowd had trouble getting into the game,
occasionally rising from their seats to cheer on the Irish.
Play-calling was conservative in the first quarter, with 21
running plays out of 28 total plays. In the second, the Aggies took
a 7-0 lead when Richard Whitaker ran 8 yards on a draw play. Three
plays earlier, he ran 19 yards to the Irish 15 on the same play.
Battle got Notre Dame going late in the half, driving the Irish
70 yards on seven plays and hitting Getherall for a 9-yard TD pass
with 1:31 left. On the drive, Battle was 3-of-3 for 43 yards and
ran twice for 17 yards.
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 Bob Davie knows his team has to play well next week.
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