Notre Dame Pulls Away, 52-21 : Nonconference: Mirer breaks Theismann’s school record for touchdown passes as Irish roll past Pittsburgh after a slow start.

PITTSBURGH —  Jerome Bettis rushed for three touchdowns and Rick Mirer passed for two, breaking Joe Theismann’s school record for touchdown passes, as Notre Dame scored a 52-21 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

Notre Dame (4-1-1) had 521 yards of offense, including 94 rushing yards by Bettis.

And when Pitt (2-4) pulled to within 28-14 with 7:42 to play in the third quarter, Notre Dame answered by outscoring Pitt, 24-7, the rest of the way.

“It’s not like a 15-round bout, where you can stop it,” Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz said.

The 250-pound Bettis scored on runs of eight, two and 11 yards.

“Any time you can put a 250-pound man at running back and have him run straight ahead, that’s impressive,” Pitt Coach Paul Hackett said. “That’s a good team.”

Notre Dame rushed for 308 yards. Mirer completed nine of 16 passes for 182 yards.

Freshman receiver Derrick Mayes caught two touchdowns passes, including a 69-yard play from Mirer during the fourth quarter that made the score 42-14.

Mirer also threw a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Oscar McBride during the second quarter.

The touchdown passes give Mirer 33 in his career, breaking Theismann’s school record of 31.

“It’s good to get it over with,” Mirer said. “That was in the way a little bit. I didn’t want it to be. Now I can move on and have total concentration on winning.”

Craig Hentrich’s seven extra points and a 25-yard field goal gave him 256 points, making him the highest-scoring kicker in Notre Dame history. He broke the record of 247 held by Dave Reeves.

Notre Dame’s second-string quarterback, Kevin McDougal, threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Mayes, and third-stringer Paul Failla scored on a three-yard run with 3:11 to play.

Pittsburgh’s Alex Van Pelt completed 25 of 42 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns. He threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Dietrich Jells and an eight-yarder to Chad Askew.

“It was 7-6 at the end of the first quarter,” Hackett said. “I thought that was where we wanted to be. Then they got their machine, going and I think our defense was overwhelmed.”