Irish Go for the Win--and They Get It : Nonconference: Mirer passes for touchdown and conversion in final minute as Notre Dame beats Penn State, 17-16.

A stone-fingered running back barely hauled in a conversion pass to give Notre Dame its biggest victory of the season.

Rick Mirer threw a fourth-down scoring pass to Jerome Bettis, then scrambled to hit Reggie Brooks for the two-point conversion pass with 20 seconds left to lift No. 8 Notre Dame to a 17-16 victory over No. 22 Penn State on Saturday.

“You won’t believe this, but Reggie Brooks has bad hands,” Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz said. “No, that’s not fair. I don’t want to mess up his future, but he’s not the first guy I’d throw to.”

Notre Dame (8-1-1) drove 60 yards to the Penn State four-yard line after the Nittany Lions (6-4) had taken a 16-9 lead on Brian O’Neal’s 13-yard run with 4:25 left in the game.

Mirer gained a yard on second and goal from the four, then threw behind the sliding Brooks on third down. On fourth down, Bettis looped underneath the Penn State pass coverage to take Mirer’s three-yard touchdown pass.

“In practice it was supposed to go to the tight end,” Bettis said. “I was just trying to get open.”

Mirer, who completed 12 of 23 passes for 164 yards, said Brooks was good enough when he needed to be. “Reggie sometimes does not catch the ball well on weekdays, but he makes it count on Saturdays,” he said.

Said Nittany Lion Coach Joe Paterno: “You have to give Notre Dame credit. In the final drive they were able to make the plays and win the football game.”

Notre Dame, sharply criticized for not driving more aggressively on its final possession in a 17-17 tie with Michigan, immediately lined up for a two-point conversion after the touchdown pass to Bettis.

Mirer scrambled to the right and barely got the ball away over onrushing Rick McKenzie. Brooks stretched to grab the ball and fell in the end zone before going out of bounds.

“Rick put it where it had to be,” Brooks said. “I saw Rick scrambling and I just took off for the sideline.”

Holtz remembered a 21-20 loss to Penn State five years ago on a failed conversion. “I’ve never seen a team drive down to a last-second play, have to make a two-point conversion and do it,” he said.

Penn State had a last faint chance in the final 16 seconds when Craig Hentrich, who kicked field goals of 26, 31 and 37 yards, had to kick off from his 20 after a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebrating on Brooks’ catch.

Brian Moser returned the kick to the Penn State 49, but Kerry Collins threw three incomplete passes and time expired.

The loss was Penn State’s fourth in five games, and leaves the Lions needing a victory over Pittsburgh to avoid going into the Blockbuster Bowl with a 6-5 record.

With the Lions joining the Big Ten, the series with Notre Dame came to an end at 8-8-1.

O’Neal’s touchdown run came after Irv Smith’s fumble was recovered by Brian Gelzheiser at the Notre Dame 44 with 7:11 left. Collins needed only six plays, including a 15-yard pass to O.J. McDuffie, to engineer the score.

The Lions’ V.J. Muscillo tied the score, 9-9, on a 22-yard field goal with 8:35 left.

Both offenses were slowed by a snowstorm that struck in the first half.

Notre Dame fumbled the ball away late in the first quarter and Penn State did the same midway through the second, but neither team could capitalize.

The Irish came the closest, taking a chance and failing after Jim Flanigan knocked the ball from Collins’ hands and Brian Rattigan recovered at the Penn State 14. Bettis failed to gain on third and one and Irv Smith couldn’t handle Mirer’s pass in the end zone on fourth down.