Oct. 5, 2006
By Tim Connor
After opening the season with a game at Georgia Tech, Notre Dame spent the next four weeks seeing what the Big Ten had to offer. After going 3-1 against Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue, the Irish will venture out of the Midwest to see how they stack up against the rest of the college football world.
This week, the Stanford Cardinal brings Pac-10 football to Notre Dame Stadium and they’ll be followed in two weeks by UCLA before the Irish close the regular season with a visit to California for the annual battle with USC.
Stanford and USC have proven to be Notre Dame’s two biggest rivals from the Pacific Coast as the Irish will meet the Cardinal for the 21st time in the series history, second only to their 77 meetings with the Trojans when it comes to facing Pac-10 teams.
The two teams have played every year since 1997 with the Irish winning the last four consecutive meetings. Who will ever forget last year’s season-ending barnburner at Stanford Stadium.
The two teams combined for 999 yards in total offense (Notre Dame – 663, Stanford – 336) as the Irish rallied for the winning touchdown with 55 seconds left in a 37-31 win. Stanford wiped out a 30-21 Irish lead with a field goal and a touchdown with 1:46 left to take a 31-30 lead. The Irish then went 80 yards in six plays capped off by Darius Walker’s six-yard TD run for the win.
Who knows what today will bring. The Irish are 4-1 while Stanford is off to its worst start since 1983 when the Cardinal lost their first five games on the way to a 1-10 season. They dropped a 31-0 decision to UCLA last weekend in a game that they trailed just 7-0 at halftime.
The schedule hasn’t been very friendly to Stanford as the Cardinal docket was ranked 10th toughest in the nation and the toughest in the Pac-10 last week. Things don’t get any easier as Stanford still faces road games versus Notre Dame, Arizona State, California and Washington.
Stanford has struggled offensively this season, averaging 289.4 yards-per-game while giving up 458.8. The Cardinal has scored just 63 points (12.6 per game) while surrendering 187 (37.4). On the opposite side, the Irish have scored 151 points (30.2) while giving up 132 (26.4) in five games. Notre Dame’s offense has averaged 369.2 per game and the defense is giving up 372 a contest.
For the first time this season the Irish will face a team that doesn’t come into the game undefeated. Notre Dame should be able to use this game to springboard into the second half with a strong performance on both sides of the ball.
The Coaches
Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis saw his offense put together its best game of the season as the Irish were firing on all cylinders as they ran for 138 yards and threw for 316 for a total of 454 on the day. He has to be concerned with the 490 yards that his defense gave up even though they bent but did not break as Purdue tried to come back from a 35-14 fourth-quarter deficit. Weis is now 13-4 in his year-and-a-half guiding the Irish and will be looking for the Irish to play a complete game on both sides of the ball this afternoon.
Walt Harris is in his second season at Stanford and his 13th season as a Division I head coach. His 68-79 career record includes and 11-24 mark in three seasons at Pacific, a 52-44 mark in eight seasons at Pittsburgh and a 5-11 mark after 16 games at Stanford. Harris took over at Stanford on Dec. 13, 2004 and led the Cardinal to a 5-6 mark in his first year, going 4-4 in the Pac-10. While Harris is 0-1 versus Notre Dame on the Stanford bench, he faced the Irish six times while the head coach at Pittsburgh and was 2-4 in those games. While at Pittsburgh, Harris helped turn that program around, guiding the Panthers to six bowl games in eight seasons, including the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, Pitt’s first appearance ever in a BCS Bowl game.
A Look At The Irish
The Irish put together their most complete offensive effort a week ago versus Purdue. As has been the case most of his career, Notre Dame’s offensive efficiency starts behind center with quarterback Brady Quinn. The senior signal caller completed 24 of his first 28 passes, on the way to a 29-for-38 day for 316 yards and two touchdowns in the 35-21 win over Purdue. His two touchdown passes give him 13 on the season and now has completed 127 passes on 196 attempts for 1,402 yards.
Against Purdue, the Irish added an ingredient to the attack that had been missing early in the season – running back Darius Walker. The junior had his hand in all aspects of the Notre Dame attack, rushing for 146 yards on 31 carries and a touchdown and also chipped in a career-high nine catches for 73 yards in the game. Walker has proven in his first three seasons to be quite a weapon out of the backfield with 85 career catches, the most ever by a Notre Dame running back. The versatile back has now rushed for 373 yards on 94 carries and caught 32 passes for 213 yards in the first five games of the year.
Defensive back Chinedum Ndukwe leads Notre Dame’s defense in tackles through the first five games of the year. The senior free safety has been credited with 37 tackles (22 solo with 15 assists). (Photo by Marcus Snowden)
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When Walker wasn’t catching the ball, Quinn was finding his other three favorite receivers. Senior Rhema McKnight, who sat out last season with a knee injury, had grabbed 10 Quinn passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns versus the Boilermakers. He now has 32 catches for 433 yards and six touchdowns this year. His career-best for catches came in 2003 when he had 47 receptions. Senior tight end John Carlson continued his break out year with five catches for 62 yards and the reliable Jeff Samardzija made four receptions for 46 yards. Purdue failed to keep the big receiver out of the end zone though, as he ran five yards with a fake field goal in the second quarter for the first rushing touchdown of his career.
With Notre Dame jumping out to 28-7 and 35-14 leads a week ago, Purdue spent most of the second half throwing the ball, and while the Irish defense bent, it did not break. Junior defensive back Terrail Lambert had his second consecutive big game, making 11 tackles (10 solo) in the win. Fellow defensive backs Chinedum Ndukwe and Leo Ferrine had eight and five tackles respectively. For the season, Ndukwe leads the Irish with 37 tackles (22 solo, 15 assists). Linebacker Maurice Crum is right behind him with 36 (21 solo and 15 helpers). Trevor Laws and Victor Abiamiri lead the team with two sacks each.
The Cardinal
Stanford has struggled through the first five games of the season to get its offense into full swing as the Cardinal is averaging just 12.6 points-per-game. They are averaging just 87.2 yards-per-game on the ground with just two rushing touchdowns which puts pressure on the passing attack to carry the offense. Stanford is putting up just over 202 yards per game, but has found the end zone just six times in five outings.
Senior quarterback Trent Edwards guides the Stanford attack and has completed 87-of-143 attempts for 959 yards and six touchdowns. He also has six interceptions to his credit with three of them coming last Saturday in the 31-0 shutout loss to UCLA. Edwards was just 12-of-23 versus the Bruins for 117 yards and the three picks. A mobile quarterback, Edwards has been sacked 21 times this year. He is backed up by senior T.C. Ostrander who came off the bench in last year’s game to lead Stanford to 10 fourth-quarter points that gave the Cardinal a 31-30 lead with just under two minutes left in the game.
Freshman Toby Gerhart is Stanford’s top running back and is a two-sport athlete who also plays baseball. Gerhart has rushed for 233 yards on 56 carries for a 4.2 average and 46.6 yards-per-game. Junior Anthony Kimble follows Gerhart with 134 yards on 36 carries (3.7-yard average) and has scored one touchdown. Stanford lost its top fullback – senior Nick Frank – after two games this season when he was forced to retire due to a cervical spine condition.
When Edwards goes to pass, he likes to move the ball around to his receivers and backs as five different players have 10 or more catches and 12 different players have caught passes this season. Junior Lynn Kelton leads the team with 14 catches for 162 yards a touchdown. Freshman Richard Sherman, sophomore tight end Jim Dray and Kimble from his running back spot all have 11 catches. Senior Mark Bradford, the team’s top returning receiver follows with 10 pass receptions.
Defensively, Stanford has given up lots of yards (458.8 per game) and lots of points (37.4) this season. Sophomore linebacker Clinton Snyder and senior safety Trevor Hooper lead the team with 38 tackles each. Senior linebacker Michael Okwo, a preseason all-Pac-10 selection and senior defensive back Brandon Harrison follow with 36 apiece. The Cardinal defense has just three sacks to its credit and three interceptions on the year.
Mr. Consistent
Senior quarterback Brady Quinn comes into the Stanford game having completed passes in 41 consecutive games. Ron Powlus holds the Irish record by completing passes in 43 straight games. With a pair of touchdown throws against Purdue, Quinn now has 71 career touchdown passes.
Running Into History
Junior running back Darius Walker has led the Irish in rushing each of the past two seasons and will most likely do it again in 2006. Walker has rushed for 373 yards over Notre Dame’s first five games. He would be the seventh running back in school history to lead the Irish in rushing three consecutive seasons and the first since Julius Jones (2000-01, 2003). Walker would be the first running back to lead Notre Dame in rushing over his first three seasons since Emil Sitko (1946-49). Sitko actually led Notre Dame in rushing each of his four seasons.
Walker also ranks among the active NCAA career leaders in seven different categories. He ranks fifth in all-purpose plays per game (22.0), eighth in total all-purpose plays (617), ninth in career rushes (532), ninth in career rushes per game (19.0), 16th in career rushing yards (2,355), 16th in career rushing yards per game (84.1) and 18th in all-purpose yards per game (106.9).
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