Notre Dame quarterbacks completed two passes through four
quarters of football on Saturday. Thankfully for
Cardinalmaniacs™, the second one was to Stanford's Tank
Williams. That interception came in the final moments of a crazy
fourth quarter that saw the Cardinal shut down the Irish option
and score two late, dramatic touchdowns.
But let's not mince words about the path to the promised land
- it was ugly, excrutiating football through the first 3+
quarters of play. Stanford's offense in the driving rain and
gusty wind looked scarily similar to the "O" across the
Bay. Stanford's receivers struggled mightily all game long to get
open, and the running game sputtered through most of the game
against a swarming defense. Notre Dame didn't exactly outshine
the Card, but they converted one costly missed tackle by Stanford
DB Brian Taylor into a touchdown that looked to be the winning
margin. Ironically, that Irish touchdown came on the only true
forward pass completed by a Notre Dame quarterback to a Notre
Dame target. It was a short ball, but with 40 yards after the
catch, and after BT's attempted tackle.
Stanford had put up a field goal on its opening drive, which
moved the ball an impressive 73 yards to start the game. But
three plays inside the 10-yardline resulted in a loss of two
yards, culminating on a Randy Fasani slip and fall on the slick
turf. Mike Biselli struck the easy chipshot for a 3-0 lead.
But later in the first quarter, Notre Dame completed that
47-yard pass and run to take the 7-3 lead. The Card couldn't move
the ball 20 yards on the subsequent possession, punting the ball
a net of just 28 yards (33 with a 5-yard return) away to the
Domers. They in turn broke a huge 59-yard run by Julius Jones
that set up a short field goal for the 10-3 lead. Another field
goal midway through the 3rd quarter would extend that lead to
13-3. Though it should be noted that on the prior field goal
drive, Notre Dame had the ball 1st and goal, but was stuffed
three times by Stanford linebackers. Keeping the Domers out of
the endzone on that drive arguably saved the game.
So despite an offense that had moved the ball at the rate your
shadow moves with the rising sun, there was one real hope in this
game. And as crazy as it sounds in the world of Stanford
football, this ray of hope was the defense. Sure enough,
a swarming defense led by All-Intensity Coy "Live" Wire
kept the Irish at bay, and went a long way toward winning the
field position war in the second half. Wire would total a
season-high 15 tackles in the game.
The play that keyed the Stanford offense back to its winning
ways came rather unexpectedly. Midway through the 4th quarter, on
3rd and 10, Randy Fasani scrambled around in the pocket, unable
to find a receiver. The Irish defense must have smelled blood, as
the defensive backs turned back toward the line of scrimmage. It
was then that Fasani saw a wide-open Nick Sebes some 40 yards
downfield, now uncovered. With one heave, and a modest run after
the catch, the Card took a quantum leap forward in offensive
progress with a critical 46-yard pass. The Domers gave a little
more help when they mugged Teyo Johnson for another 15 yards on
the next play. But soon the Card found themselves in another
desperate 3rd and 10 situation, with the clock ticking away. Bill
Diedrick called a QB keeper, which Fasani ran perfectly to the
left for a huge 11-yard first down pickup. Casey Moore then
rumbled through the middle on 1st and goal to score the
Cardinal's first touchdown, with just 7:22 left in the game.
The defense gave up just 15 yards and 2:05 of clock to the
Tarnished Domers, and the Card was visibly pumped. The previous
drive belonged to Randy Fasani, but this go-ahead drive would
belong to Kenny Tolon. Tolon had 7 carries, including two first
downs on the first two plays of the drive, and the final carry of
the drive for paydirt. Randy Fasani picked up a huge run of his
own for 19 yards midway through the drive. Tolon ran for 133
yards in the game on 18 carries.
With just 68 seconds remaining in regulation, the Card led
once again, 17-13.
Notre Dame was in the most unenviable of positions, completing
about 10% of its passes on the day - missing many in ugly fashion
- but needing to move the length of the field through the air in
very little time. So it was only fitting that a bumbling aerial
attempt by Matt LoVecchio was grabbed by Tank Williams on the
first play of the drive. Three snaps later, Stanford had run out
the clock and finished one of the great crushing defeats in a
crushing year for Notre Dame. Sadly, the Card will likely not
have the inept Bob Davie to kick around, as this game seals a
losing season and an upcoming pink slip for Byegone Bob.
In other relavent news today, Stanford's BCS chances improved
from a sliver to a slice. Michigan was beaten by the Buckeyes,
which eliminates the Big 10 from landing an at-large BCS team.
Washington was exposed, just as we all expected, by the Miami
Hurricanes, which also knocked them out of the BCS picture. As
the sun sets on a wild week in college football, only three teams
outside the Big XII appear to have any chance for the last
at-large spot in the BCS. Stanford sits now at 8-2, and needs a
win at San Jose State next Saturday to get to 9-2 and BCS
eligibility. BYU is teetering on the edge of that 12th spot in
the BCS rankings, and the loser of the Florida/Tennessee game
next week will be 9-2. Stanford didn't look like BCS material
today, but in a weekend that saw 4 of those top 12 BCS teams drop
- an ugly win is one to be thankful for.