Jackson Leads Notre Dame Rally

Jarious Jackson passed for two touchdowns and ran for one, leading Notre Dame to 20 unanswered second-half points and a 34-30 victory over No. 23 Oklahoma on Saturday in the Irish’s biggest comeback win in 13 years.

“I said we’ve got to get this victory,” he said. “I said if I have to put an IV in my arm after the game, we’re going to get this victory.”

Notre Dame looked disorganized and unemotional in opening the season 1-3, and Jackson didn’t look like his old self.

Expected to lead the team as its lone captain and a fifth-year senior, he was erratic. He had four passes intercepted in his first four games, matching his total for all of last season, and no longer looked like a dangerous threat to run.

So when Josh Heupel hooked up with Brandon Daniels on a 15-yard touchdown pass play to give Oklahoma (3-1) a 30-14 lead with 10:01 to play in the third quarter, the Irish looked whipped once again.

Then Jackson took over.

First he completed a pass to Jabari Holloway for a 15-yard touchdown with 7:20 left in the quarter. Then after Lee Lafayette intercepted a Heupel pass at the Irish 44, Jackson led Notre Dame down to the one, where Tony Driver scored on a running play to pull the Irish within 30-28 with 2:37 left in the quarter.

Jackson wasn’t finished. After the Sooners downed Jeff Ferguson’s punt at the two with 14:45 left, runs by Driver and Tony Fisher gave Notre Dame some running room. Five plays later, Jackson scrambled for 23 yards, showing no signs of the turf-toe injury that has hampered him the last four weeks.

Later, he passed to Joey Getherall for 29 yards to the Oklahoma seven, and Driver eventually scored from the one with 9:19 left to give Notre Dame its first lead since Daniels’ 89-yard kickoff return in the first quarter.

“Once we got the first first down, it was all downhill from there,” said Jackson, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 276 yards. “I just wanted to get the ball away from our end zone because you can’t do much when you’re down on your own two-yard line.”