COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Irish Finally Get Their Revenge : Nonconference: Notre Dame defeats Boston College for the first time in three games.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It sure didn’t look like Notre Dame had been waiting two years for revenge.

The 12th-ranked Irish beat Boston College, 20-10, for the first time in three games on Saturday, but it was their ugliest victory yet this season. Marc Edwards was about the only bright spot for Notre Dame, rushing for a career-high 167 yards and scoring two touchdowns.

“It’s tremendous with how important this game was,” Edwards said. “But we’re trying to put the past behind us and use this to give us some momentum going into the rest of the season.”

Boston College (2-6) had a chance to tie the game at 17-17 with about 12:30 left, but Mark Hartsell’s pass was intercepted by linebacker Lyron Cobbins at the Notre Dame two.

The Eagles had one last chance to score in the waning seconds of the game, but Hartsell overthrew an 18-yard pass to Todd Pollack in the end zone as time ran out.

The Irish offense that has been so solid all season was almost nonexistent. No receiver caught more than one pass, and Edwards accounted for all but 80 of Notre Dame’s 247 yards on the ground.

Ron Powlus turned in his second-worst performance at Notre Dame, completing six of 10 passes for 71 yards and one touchdown. Powlus’ worst game also was against Boston College. He completed five of 21 passes for 50 yards last year.

Powlus also fumbled twice, once in the fourth quarter to force the Irish (7-2) to settle for a 26-yard field goal by Scott Cengia with 2:46 left. Notre Dame was at the Boston College four after Cobbins’ interception when Powlus fumbled the snap. He recovered the ball for a loss of three yards.

Powlus’ fumble came two plays after the Irish converted on fourth and one when Edwards flew over a pile of Boston College players.

“I wanted to kick a field goal, but we had open mutiny down there on the sidelines. Why did we go for it? Because I wasn’t down there to tell them to shut up,” said Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, who again watched the game from the press box while he recovers from spinal surgery.

Notre Dame fans crowded the field after the game, happy to finally get the revenge they’d waited two years to achieve. It was a last-second Boston College field goal that dashed Notre Dame’s hopes of a national championship in 1993.