Irish Put Cougars on Mat : Nonconference: Notre Dame and Holtz get hot in the fourth quarter of a 42-16 victory over Brigham Young.

Lou Holtz picked the wrong time and place for a wrestling demonstration, and Brigham Young the wrong time and place to turn over the football.

Notre Dame, ranked No. 10, beat the Cougars, 42-16, Saturday, taking advantage of three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and two touchdown passes from Rick Mirer.

Holtz, the Irish coach, was angered by the treatment he believed his pass rushers were getting from the BYU offensive line and let an official know it. Holtz drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when, in a discussion with officials on the Notre Dame sideline, he grabbed one in a headlock, showing, he said, tactics of the Cougars’ pass protection.

“I was just trying to show the official my interpretation of what happened,” Holtz said. “It was a stupid penalty and I apologize for it. It was the result of a lot of frustration built up over the week, and it will never happen again.”

Mirer completed 12 of 17 passes for 151 yards, with scoring pass plays of two yards to Irv Smith and 54 yards to Ray Griggs.

“Coach tells us if we don’t turn the ball over, we can beat anybody,” Mirer said.

The turnovers came from BYU. Ryan Hancock completed 28 of 56 passes for 339 yards, with a five-yard touchdown pass to Tim Nowatzke, but the three interceptions were costly.

“We beat ourselves,” Nowatzke said. “Notre Dame didn’t make any mistakes in the second half, and when we made mistakes they were able to cash in.”

“They played our passing game very well,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said. “We did a nice job, though mostly in the first half.”

Notre Dame (5-1-1) buried the Cougars (4-4) with its running game. Jerome Bettis rushed for touchdowns of 18 and six yards, and Jeff Burris ran one yard for a score, all during the fourth quarter.

“We run the type of offense where we should pick up momentum in the fourth quarter,” Holtz said. “We wear people down, and that’s our strategy.”

The Cougar passing attack, ranked second in the country with a 338-yard average, crumbled three times on third down at the Notre Dame 11 or deeper. BYU crossed the goal line only when its little-noted running game worked.

“They kept us from the big plays today, but we definitely feel we should have punched the ball in a few more times,” Hancock said. “We had the opportunities.”

Hancock’s pass to Nowatzke in the third quarter closed the Cougar deficit to 21-16 and capped a 78-yard drive sustained by three rushing first downs. BYU lost 24 yards rushing during the first half.

The Cougars settled for David Lauder’s field goals of 18, 21 and 28 yards during the first half after Hancock missed Byron Rex twice and threw incomplete to Tyler Anderson, all in the end zone.