Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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three observations Turning Point Notre Dame kept the game within one score at halftime (14-6), and its defense seemed to find itself in the second quarter after a poor start. It needed to continue to assert itself at the beginning of the second half when Stanford took the kickoff back to its 24. Instead the Cardinal drove 76 yards in only seven plays to expand its lead to 21-6 with just more than 11 minutes left in the third quarter. First, the Irish gave up their longest pass of the game — 36 yards — on a second-and-two crossing route to wideout Devon Cajuste. More harmful was running back Anthony Wilkerson going easily through the middle for a 20-yard touchdown scamper on third-andnine. Notre Dame kept battling back, but this two-score hole during a crucial phase of the game left it swimming upstream the rest of the evening. Stat Of The Game Stanford senior running back Tyler Gaffney carried 33 times for a careerhigh 189 yards. It was the most yards surrendered by the Fighting Irish to an individual back since Navy fullback Alexander Teich romped for 210 during a 35-17 victory by the Midshipmen in 2010. Prior to this game, the most yardage accumulated on the ground by an individual Irish opponent this By lou somogyi year was USC's Silas Redd with 112 yards on 19 carries in a 14-10 loss to Notre Dame Oct. 19. Overall, Stanford outrushed Notre Dame 261-64, with the Cardinal averaging a robust 5.1 yards per carry and Notre Dame only 2.7. This also allowed Stanford to better control the clock with a 34:43-25:18 advantage in time of possession. It further validated that Stanford's "run the ball and stop the run" identity is "what Notre Dame used to be." Losing The Benchmarks The week of the Stanford game, Brian Kelly outlined three benchmarks Notre Dame needed to have a chance at victory against the twotouchdown favorite Cardinal: Turnovers, running game and not yielding huge plays for touchdowns. The turnovers looked promising with Notre Dame taking a 2-0 lead into the fourth quarter, but two interception tosses by senior quarterback Tommy Rees while having a chance at a tying score evened it out. Stanford dominated the running aspect with the 261-64 advantage, which is the "Stat Of The Game." This also was the sixth straight game Notre Dame has lost when it had less than 30 rushing attempts in a game (24). Stanford running back Anthony Wilkerson's 20-yard scoring run on third-and-nine to make it 21-6 wasn't necessarily deflating, but it was pivotal.