Stanford vs. Notre Dame final score: Irish score late, beat Cardinal 17-14
By Phil Watson
Notre Dame scored a touchdown on a fourth-and-11 with 1:01 remaining and improved to 5-0 with a 17-14 win over Stanford.
The No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish drove 65 yards in two minutes, scoring on 23-yard touchdown pass from Everett Golson to tight end Ben Koyack with 1:01 remaining to beat the No. 14 Stanford Cardinal Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, 17-14.
The Irish (5-0) will almost certainly take some jumps up the national polls, with No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Alabama already losing this week and No. 4 Oklahoma in huge trouble at the time Notre Dame finished.
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The game slogged along tied 7-7 until the final half of the fourth quarter, when there were three lead changes in the last 7:32.
Kyle Brindza, who had missed two field goal attempts earlier in the game, put the Irish ahead 10-7 with 7:32 remaining when he banged home a 45-yarder.
Undaunted, Stanford got a big return from All-American Ty Montgomery, who returned the kickoff to the Cardinal 42. Kevin Hogan converted a big third-and-8 with a 23-yard pass to Devon Cajuste to get Stanford into the red zone.
On third-and-goal from the Notre Dame 11, Remound Wright burst untouched up the middle for 11 yards and a touchdown to put the Cardinal (3-2) up 14-10 with 3:01 to go.
But Notre Dame wasn’t done.
He may not have been vintage Golson, but he was typical inconsistent Golson on the final drive. Twice he threw the ball behind open receivers, but the senior who sat out the 2013 season for academic reasons made the plays when he had to.
Golson converted a third-and-10 with a 17-yard completion to Corey Robinson—who made all four of his catches in the fourth quarter—to put the Irish at the Stanford 37.
On the next play, William Fuller beat Stanford corner Wayne Lyons, who panicked and grabbed Fuller near the goal line for a 15-yard pass interference call.
On fourth-and-11 at the 23, Golson rolled to his right and found Koyack wide open after Stanford blew the coverage, allowing the tight end to run free even though the Cardinal defense dropped eight into pass coverage.
Stanford got the ball to midfield on its final possession, but the game ended when Hogan was called for intentional grounding as he was being pressured by cornerback Elijah Shumate. The penalty, with the accompanying 10-second runoff, drained the clock down to double-zero.
Golson, on the windy, rainy day, was 20-for-43 for 241 with two touchdowns and an interception. Hogan was just 18-for-36 for 158 yards and was picked off twice.
Stanford’s running game was stymied as well, held to 63 yards on 31 carries as Notre Dame outgained the Cardinal 370-221 on the day.
The Irish will be home next Saturday to host North Carolina, while the Cardinal hosts Washington State in a return to Pac-12 play on Friday night.
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