No. 1 Irish Overpower Rice, 54-11 : Ismail Gets a Tip From Holtz, Returns 2 Kicks for Scores

Freshman Raghib (Rocket) Ismail listened to Coach Lou Holtz, and the rest is Notre Dame history.

Ismail returned kickoffs 78 and 83 yards for touchdowns Saturday to tie a 66-year-old school record as the top-ranked Fighting Irish overpowered Rice, 54-11.

“Usually I’m at the 5 or the goal line,” Ismail said. “Coach Holtz told me to line up at the 10--he prepared me.

“It doesn’t matter who’s back there, if you have guys who block and know all their assignments. Anyone can do it, to tell you the truth.”

Ismail became the first Notre Dame player to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game since Paul Castner in 1922 against Kalamazoo.

Fullback Anthony Johnson rushed for two touchdowns for Notre Dame (9-0), playing its first game this season as the nation’s top-ranked team.

“I would like it to get to the point that everybody says, ‘Ho-hum, we’re No. 1, and no big deal,’ ” Holtz said. “I’d like to be No. 1 and nobody even know it here.”

Rice (0-8) scored first when Clint Parsons kicked a 23-yard field goal on the Owls’ first possession to cap a 70-yard drive.

But Notre Dame came back with touchdowns on its first four possessions, including Ismail’s 78-yard return on the kick after Parsons’ field goal, scoring runs of 2 and 3 yards by Johnson and a 1-yard run by Tony Brooks.

Billy Hackett kicked a 42-yard field goal as Notre Dame led, 31-6, at halftime.

Parsons added field goals of 41 and 45 yards for Rice. The Owls’ scoring ended with 46 seconds left when Rice blocked an extra point attempt and Bill Stone returned the ball to Notre Dame’s end zone for 2 points.

“We had a couple of guys who were out of their lanes, and we gave them a seam,” Rice Coach Jerry Berndt said of Ismail’s returns.

“We had to play pretty close to a perfect game and we didn’t to that.

Notre Dame scored in the second half on a 19-yard run by Rodney Culver, Ismail’s second kickoff return, a 28-yard field goal by Hackett, and a 6-yard run by Joe Jarosz.