Beuerlein Sets Irish Record in 33-14 Win

Steve Beuerlein took over as Notre Dame’s all-time total offense leader, but Coach Lou Holtz thinks he still doesn’t get the notice due him.

“I think he’s a very underrated quarterback,” Holtz said after Beuerlein threw two touchdown passes and led the Irish to a 33-14 thrashing of Navy Saturday night.

“He has taken a lot of criticism he shouldn’t have taken. He’ll beat you anyway he can--with his arm, with his head, with anything else he can think of.”

Beuerlein completed 15 of 22 passes for 248 yards, including 7 to Tim Brown for 184 yards. His offensive total of 244 yards increased his career total to 5,549, surpassing the record of 5,432 set by Joe Theismann in 1970.

Beuerlein said he was proud to pass Theismann, but “right now, individual records are not so special because we haven’t been going that well. We sort of equate everything we do with our won-loss record.”

Beuerlein’s scoring passes were for 2 yards to Joel Williams and 77 yards to Brown. Pernell Taylor added two rushing touchdowns for Notre Dame (3-4).

Navy, 3-5 after its fourth loss in a row, fell behind, 28-0, in the first half, gaining only 23 yards while being dominated.

John Carney kicked a 19-yard field goal for Notre Dame, the 40th of his career to break the Notre Dame record of 39 set by Dave Reeve in 1977.