Lou Holtz and the fighting Irish come out of the Land of the Rising Sun victorious. The Notre Dame alumni team beat Japan 19-3 on Saturday. Japan shockingly took an early 3-0 lead in the 1st quarter but Notre Dame quickly tied it up with Scott Cengia‘s 37-yarder early in the second. Notre Dame never looked backed after JayVickers’ 77-yard run in the second quarter which landed ND in the redzone. Quarterback Tony Rice punched it in from the one yard line to give Notre Dame a 9-3 lead which was all the Irish’s needed to win.
“I expected us to win but I knew it would be a tough game,” Holtz said. “We’re bigger but they were quicker and I give a lot of credit to Japan.”
Japan’s national American football team was using the game as a tune-up for the 2011 IFAF world championship. If you don’t recall, Japan lost the 2007 final 23-20 in double overtime against the United States.
If you werent able to make it to Tokyo, CBS College Sports Network, the original 24-hour sports network, will broadcast the game to a nationwide audience on Monday, Aug. 10 (9 p.m.; taped 7/25/09) as part of the Network’s “Countdown to Kickoff Week” programming.
