Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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(50), but Notre Dame proved unable to sustain a consistent push with its three starting interior linemen out of the game. Gaffney rushed 33 times for 189 yards and a touchdown to pace the Cardinal. Stanford exploited Notre Dame's dime (six defensive backs) personnel twice, the most costly of which came on senior running back Anthony Wilkerson's 20-yard touchdown jaunt on the first drive of the third quarter when the Cardinal faced third-and-nine. "They got us in dime twice and brought the tight end into the backfield … they effectively schemed us out pretty good," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said after the game. "We had to get out of dime personnel. That canceled out our dime personnel after they ran the ball against us." Behind its reliable rushing game, Stanford converted 8 of 13 attempts on third down and possessed the ball for 20:28 of the second half. Late Turnovers Prove Costly Early in the fourth quarter, it appeared head coach Brian Kelly's 13-0 mark when the Irish do not commit a turnover was in jeopardy. However, with the Irish trailing 27-20, senior quarterback Tommy Rees tossed a pair of interceptions on the team's final two drives to seal the loss. Rees threw at least one interception in each November game and threw two in three of four contests in the regular season's final month. He recorded as many touchdowns as interceptions (seven) in the four games compared to a 10-touchdown, one-interception showing in October that included wins over Arizona State (37-34), USC (14-10) and Air Force (45-10). "There's no moral victory or anything like that," Rees said of playing the Cardinal close. "Stanford's a great team, and you have to be ready to play. We don't take moral victories here. We expect to win games regardless of the situation. "I'm proud of the way the guys fought, but we know it wasn't good enough." Stanford junior quarterback Kevin Hogan threw two interceptions for the second time in three games (20-17 loss to USC Nov. 16) after doing so once in his first 15 career starts. Irish senior safety Austin Collinsworth picked off Hogan once in the first half, and senior cornerback Bennett Jackson repeated the feat for the Irish defense with Notre Dame trailing by a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Freshman running back Tarean Folston fumbled in the first half, but Rees fell on it to maintain the possession for Notre Dame. The Irish lost only three fumbles during the 2013 regular season, which trails only Utah (two) for the best mark in college football. DaVaris Daniels Surges To The Finish Line Head coach Brian Kelly often mentions the need for junior wide receiver DaVaris Daniels to become a more consistent threat in Notre Dame's passing game, similar to the way senior TJ Jones has developed. In the final two regular-season contests, Daniels showed signs of emerging as the po-