Notre Dame Does Its Part, Then Awaits Its Fate, 24-21 : Cotton Bowl: Field goal with 2:17 play lifts the Irish in rematch with Texas A&M.; Outcome of later games will determine whether victory is enough to regain top spot in poll.

Notre Dame kept its longshot national championship hopes alive. Barely.

It took a 45-yard punt return by Mike Miller and Kevin Pendergast’s 31-yard field goal with 2:17 to play Saturday to rally the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish to a 24-21 victory over No. 7 Texas A&M; in the Cotton Bowl.

Notre Dame (11-1) had to come from behind twice to subdue the Aggies (10-2), who were looking for respect after last year’s 25-point loss to the Irish.

The Irish were hoping for a slim victory by Florida State over unbeaten Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and a victory by Florida in the Sugar Bowl over unbeaten West Virginia.

Notre Dame’s only loss was 41-39 to Boston College on a last-second field goal. The Irish beat Florida State 31-24.

“All I know is we beat one fine football team and let’s see what happens because I remember we beat Florida State head to head,” Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said. “Playing A&M; here is very tough. It’s a home game. We couldn’t hear.”

The eight-point underdog Aggies, who lost 28-3 to Notre Dame in last year’s Cotton Bowl, survived an opening 91-yard scoring drive by the Irish to rally for a 14-7 halftime lead.

After quarterback Kevin McDougal ran 19 yards for a Notre Dame touchdown on the option, the Aggies tied it with a 79-yard drive.

Corey Pullig completed a key 21-yard screen pass to Rodney Thomas on third-and-16 to set up Greg Hill’s eight-yard touchdown run, the first for the Aggies in three Cotton Bowls.

Then two daring gambles by the Aggies paid off in the go-ahead touchdown, a 15-yard pass from Pullig to fullback Detron Smith on fourth-and-1.

The key play was on fourth-and-1 from the A&M; 45. The Aggies called a timeout and Pullig sneaked two yards for the first down to keep the 77-yard drive alive.

Then Pullig hit Tony Harrison on a 21-yard pass. At the Notre Dame 15, Pullig faked into the line and found Smith running free in the befuddled Irish secondary for his first collegiate score.

Notre Dame tied it 14-14 to start the second half on a 2-yard run by Ray Zellars but the Aggies went ahead 21-14 on a one-yard plunge by Rodney Thomas.

The Irish tied it 21-21 when Marc Edwards bulled across on a 2-yard run just before the end of the third period.

Notre Dame’s Lee Becton was the offensive MVP with 138 yards on 26 carries and A&M;’s Antonio Shorter, who had three sacks, was the defensive MVP.