Weekend Rivalries.

Briefly checking the scores now:

Miami 13, FSU 10 (3rd quarter)
Spurrier 11, Florida 44
Minn. 13, Wisc. 38
Nebraska 29, Northwestern 28
BYU 14, Notre Dame 17

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[H]ere's a transcript  from BYU Coach Bronco Mendenhall's 5-minute Q&A with reporters after the game:

Opening comment:

"Congratulations to Coach Kelly and Notre Dame. Their team played hard and physical and they had a couple more plays than our program today. They continue to do just what they need to do in keeping their undefeated season going, and I think they are a good football team, well-coached and they are to be credited for their effort today.

 

I was proud of our team, one or two plays away from being able to come away with a victory.  Most likely the best game collectively we have played offensively, defense and kicking, but when you put the composite together it was good enough to get us within striking distance and [we] had a great chance, a number of chances to maybe pull off an upset.  But ultimately didn't make a critical play here or there, right down the stretch, to win the game."

On why he punted from ND 34:

"Six minutes to go, thought we would have a great chance to make a stop. It was work and was longer that what I had hoped for, and with six minutes and 35 [yards], really believed we would stop them the get the ball back and get better field position than what we did."

...
On ND's Theo Riddick:

"Really impressed. Just I think Notre Dame is well-coached. Ultimately, they executed at the critical moments. There were four or five plays today that changed the game. And to their credit they made those plays."
  

 Here's some nice pre-game color by Gordon Monson in the Salt Lake Tribune:

Maybe you hate Notre Dame, but I love it — and you would, too, had you ever been there.

I’m not talking about the football team, I’m talking about the football feel on the campus of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary.

 

BYU, which travels to South Bend to play the Irish on Saturday, has the words — Tradition. Honor. Spirit. — written on its football field. Notre Dame has them etched into its pigskin-covered soul.

...

Touchdown Jesus is a depiction of Christ, his arms lifted overhead, signaling a touchdown. OK, not really, but that’s what it looks like. There’s also an on-campus statue of an Old Testament prophet with his index finger pointing forward called … First-down Moses. At another place is an image of Father Corby, an honored past president of Notre Dame, with his hand raised skyward. He’s known as … Fair-catch Corby.

 

It’s all in good fun. Nobody with a brain around there connects competitive success with Deity’s good favor. God, after all, is not a rooting fan. But, alongside Catholicism, the obvious main force at Notre Dame, football is a kind of secondary religion.

 

That’s the backdrop against which BYU, also no stranger to the faith-and-football mix, comes to the school on Saturday, for its fifth visit.  The Cougars shocked Notre Dame in 1994, winning 21-14. Overall, they are 1-3 in South Bend. In order for them to have any shot this time around, they will have to remember the words of former BYU receiver Tim Nowatzke, who characterized the key to victory in ’94 this way:

"We talked about it all week. We’re not playing the Four Horsemen, we’re not playing Joe Montana, we’re not playing ghosts or history. We’re just playing football. That’s what we did. We believed in ourselves and played the game."