Held on New Year's Day at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, the night game matched the fifth-ranked Oregon State Beavers of the Pac-10 Conference and the #10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, an independent.
[3][4] Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns to lead the favored Beavers to a 41–9 rout.
Wide receiver Chad Johnson had two touchdown receptions, and future Cincinnati Bengals teammate T. J. Houshmandzadeh caught the other.
[5] The Beavers led 12–3 at halftime, then scored 29 points in an eight-minute stretch of the third quarter to put the game away, including a score on an unusual play where OSU's Terrell Roberts recovered teammate Houshmandzadeh's fumble on a punt return and himself ran 45 yards to complete the return touchdown.
[6][5] Oregon State (11–1) was ranked fourth in the final AP poll, which remains the highest in the history of the OSU program.