Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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TURNING POINT There were so many ebbs and flows both ways that it is difficult to choose anything other than Notre Dame's final series on offense. It was senior quarterback Ever- ett Golson's first true two-minute drill, according to head coach Brian Kelly. However, in 2012 with the Irish trailing Pitt 20-12 and 3:03 left, Golson led a TD march and scored the two-point conversion with 2:11 to help put the game into overtime. This time, he took possession with 3:01 left, the Irish trailing 14-10 and 65 yards from pay dirt. He com- pleted 4 of 8 passes for 69 yards (he lost four yards on a rushing attempt), highlighted by 17 yards to sopho- more wide receiver Corey Robinson on third-and-10 from his 46 and then the 23-yard score to senior tight end Ben Koyack on fourth-and-11. If it didn't get it done on that march, the Irish would be 4-1. STAT OF THE GAME Stanford's 68 snaps on offense av- eraged only 3.0 yards per play. That was its lowest output in a game since Oct. 21, 2006 — 2.6 yards per play — during a 38-3 loss at Arizona State amidst a 1-11 season by the Cardinal. Notre Dame's "rebuilding" de- fense was consistent all four quar- ters while permitting only 205 yards of total offense. Stanford ran 18 plays for 69 yards in the first quar- ter, 19 plays for 44 yards in the sec- ond quarter, 13 plays for 26 yards in the third quarter and finally 18 plays for 66 yards in the fourth. There were many question marks in the preseason about whether Notre Dame's new defensive front seven would be able to handle Stan- ford's powerful downhill attack. The fact that the Cardinal was held to less than 50 rushing yards (47) for the first time since Oct. 27, 2007 at Oregon State gives a pretty affirma- tive response. SHAKEDOWN SATURDAY Each season there is one dramatic football weekend where a number of ranked teams lose. This year, Oct. 2-4 will be remembered as an amazing one with No. 2 (Oregon), No. 3 (Alabama), No. 4 (Oklahoma), No. 6 (Texas A&M) and No. 8 (UCLA) all falling. A question asked prior to the Stanford game was, "Is Notre Dame really a top-10 team?" At this stage of the season, it isn't really relevant. All that matters is being the better team on that given Saturday against the opponent you are playing. In the cutthroat environment of college football, every team has about 12 or 13 games to assemble its résumé, and by the end of Novem- ber the assessment can be made. Other teams have to answer that question along the way just as much as Notre Dame. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY LOU SOMOGYI