Irish Finish Off Cardinal and Regular Season with 49-20 Victory

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The University of Notre Dame football team (10-2) completed its regular season with its 10th-consecutive victory 42-20 over Stanford (4-8) in Stanford Stadium late Saturday night. It was another fast start for the Irish, who built a 28-0 lead before entering the halftime break with a 35-3 advantage. 

Sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore boosted his Thorpe Award (top collegiate defensive back) candidacy with a dominant performance, breaking up three passes and setting up an Irish score with an interception. 

Notre Dame’s running back group dominated offensively. Jeremiyah Love rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown, which was his 21st score of the season and broke Jerome Bettis’ program record from 1991. Love was knocked out of the game briefly with an upper body injury and Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams were equally effective. Price rushed for a score and caught a touchdown while Williams led the team with 83 yards and two rushing scores. 

CJ Carr completed 17 of 27 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns and Jordan Faison caught three of those offerings for 68 yards and a touchdown.

HOW IT HAPPENED

 

The Irish opened the game on offense and other than a 10-yard pass from CJ Carr to Malachi Fields on the first snap, the drive was all Jeremiyah Love. He picked up nine yards on second down to set Carr up for a quarterback sneak fourth-down conversion. He then broke off back-to-back 18-yard runs, the first behind blocks from center Joe Otting and left guard Sullivan Absher, the second behind Guerby Lambert and Aamil Wagner. 

Love then powered in from two yards out to post his 21st touchdown of the season, breaking Jerome Bettis’ single-season program record of 20 from 1991. The Irish back ended up with eight carries for 54 yards on the opening drive. 

Notre Dame’s defense quickly forced a three-and-out on the Cardinal’s first opportunity. Joshua Burnham sniffed out a reverse on second down to force a third-and-long. Christian Gray then knocked away a pass to force the first punt of the game. 

Love’s early big night was dealt a blow on the next drive when he took a knee to his ribs on a four-yard run. Jadarian Price entered the game and after a Carr to Will Pauling third-down conversion, took over the offense in similar fashion to what Love did on the first drive. 

Price nabbed a screen for 16 yards, then a swing pass on fourth-and-three from the Stanford 21. It was then two more Price runs. The first placed the ball to the one-yard line and the next when the Irish back plowed through a defender at the goal line to make the lead 14-0.

Stanford would pick up its initial first down of the game on its second drive. Jaiden Ausberry’s key tackle on second down forced a third-and-five which the Cardinal were unable to convert and punted for the second time in the game. 

The Irish did not move the ball on three offensive plays on their next drive. Notre Dame lined up in punt formation, shifted to the right and snapped the ball directly to Burnham as one of the primary protectors of punter James Rendell. Burnham passed the ball quickly to a wide open Luke Talich who easily beat the remaining defenders on the field for an 84-yard touchdown connection. 

The home team coupled together two first down throws to move into Notre Dame territory before the Irish defense earned yet another stop. Big pressure by the defensive front on second down forced yet another third-and-long. DeVonta Smith made a play in coverage on third down, forcing an incompletion and the Cardinal decided to go for it. Stanford looked to the slant against Leonard Moore, who broke up the pass to give the Irish the ball back. 

Aneyas Williams entered the fray in the Irish backfield and it was yet another Irish scoring drive highlighted by a running back. Williams picked up a key first down, added a 10-yard run, then caught a pass out of the backfield for 25 yards into the red zone. 

Notre Dame faced a third down and were able to pick up a new set of downs short of the end zone. Carr connected with Eli Raridon short of the line to gain and the Irish tight end broke two tackles and fought just short of the goal line. Williams then bullied his way in for the third Irish rushing touchdown of the game. 

 

Stanford was able to put points on the board on its next drive, helped by two penalties from the Irish. A facemask call provided a first down but the defense recovered to force a fourth down right around midfield. Anxious to go after the punt, Notre Dame’s special teams jumped offsides and moved the line to gain from fourth-and-eight to fourth-and-three. The Cardinal decided to go for it and converted, eventually moving into scoring position. Smith made another key coverage play on third down and Stanford converted a 39-yard field goal just before the two-minute timeout of the first half. 

Those last two minutes were filled with action for both teams. The Irish tried to score, but punted the ball away after three plays. Stanford then decided to try to score before halftime but tested Moore again and the Irish cornerback stepped in front of the pass and intercepted the offering at the Stanford 45-yard line with 1:21 left. 

The Irish would take advantage, sparked by a third down conversion on a slant pass from Carr to tight end Ty Washington. Fields made another catch to get to the 20-yard line and willed his way out of bounds to save a timeout for the Irish with a defender on his back. 

On yet another third down, Carr found Faison on another slant pattern for a first down with 30 seconds remaining. Carr tried the end zone twice, connecting with Fields but the Irish wideout’s foot came down just out of bounds and then missed Raridon over the middle. 

It would end up as another third-down conversion for the touchdown, as Carr dropped back, found Price out of the back field and the Irish running back beat a defender inside the five-yard line and scampered inside the pylon to provide a 35-3 lead at halftime. 

Notre Dame stopped Stanford quickly to start the second half and scored against just as quickly. The Irish had experienced a Love drive, a Price drive and a Williams drive. This time, they had the Jordan Faison drive. 

He started the drive with a great leaping catch on the first play for 54 yards. Love, who re-entered the game late in the second half, then rushed for nine yards. Stanford was whistled for defensive holding on the next play to put the ball at the six-yard line. Carr faked to Love and found Faison wide open across the middle for a scoring toss and the Irish lead was 42-3. 

Stanford overcame a Madden Faraimo sack on their next drive and converted on two fourth downs to post their second field goal of the game. The Cardinal then stopped Notre Dame on its next drive and scored its first touchdown of the game to make the score 42-13. 

If the Cardinal was going to continue to score in the game the Irish would match. With the entire second string in, Williams continued to lead the way with a 15-yard catch from Kenny Minchey and a six-yard run. On third-and-three Williams broke through a huge hole on the right side behind Chris Terek and Cam Williams, sprinting 51 yards for a touchdown. 

Stanford tacked on a touchdown in the game’s final minutes to represent the game’s final score of 49-20.