Notre Dame Overpowers Mississippi : Safety Steve Lawrence Sets Up 2 Touchdowns in Irish’s 37-14 Victory

Safety Steve Lawrence intercepted a pass to set up one touchdown and returned a fumble 79 yards to set up another Saturday as Notre Dame defeated Mississippi, 37-14.

Lawrence returned his interception 27 yards in the second quarter, and the Irish marched the final 48 yards before Allen Pinkett scored on a one-yard run.

Then, early in the third quarter, Cedric Figaro hit Mississippi’s Nathan Wonsley so hard that the ball popped in the air and into the hands of Lawrence, who went 79 yards to the Rebel five-yard line before Pinkett scored again on a two-yard run.

“I was thinking touchdown all the way but I just ran out of juice,” Lawrence said.

Although Notre Dame managed only a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, Coach Gerry Faust said: “We stuck to our game plan. We got a slow start but once we got the ball moving, it went like we wanted.”

Faust started sophomore Terry Andrysiak at quarterback, but went to Steve Beuerlein late in the first period. Beuerlein responded with two touchdown drives, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Tim Brown. Andrysiak completed four of eight passes for 60 yards and threw a 22-yard pass to Tom Rehder. Beuerlein was seven of nine for 67 yards.

“Notre Dame is a very talented team,” Mississippi Coach Billy Brewer said. “We couldn’t do anything with them. We were outmanned at every position.

“At times we performed well in spurts, but good luck and good bounces are hard to come by for us these days.”

The victory was the fourth straight for the Irish, who boosted their record to 5-3 after losing three of their first four games.

Mississippi fell to 3-5-1. With regular quarterback Kent Austin injured, the Rebels were forced to go with freshmen quarterbacks Mark Young and Chris Osgood.

Young started, but Osgood helped the Rebels avoid a second straight shutout when he completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Rickey Myers midway in the fourth quarter.