Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the end zone on a third-and-three play to give the Cardinal a 14-0 lead. Fleener, Toilolo and Stanford's third tight end, Zach Ertz, combined for 51 of the 80 yards on that scoring drive. "Not only are they tall, but they are very athletic," Irish junior linebacker Manti Te'o said about Stanford's le- thal trio of tight ends. "They have good hands, and they were making plays. We made plays on them, but overall they did what the usually do, which is go up and get the ball." Despite statistically dominat- Senior outside linebacker Darius Fleming's first-half interception set up Notre Dame at the Stanford 11, but the Fighting Irish failed to score off the turnover. PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI his final two quarters playing in Palo Alto. The defense surrendered only six first downs to the Cardinal dur- ing the second half. Hendrix twice drove his team into enemy territory with a chance to pull within a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but came no closer than the 35-yard line on either attempt. Stan- ford senior Michael Thomas picked off a high pass intended for Floyd to end the first drive of the fourth quarter. The offense threatened again after the Cardinal missed a field goal. Irish junior wide receiver Robby Toma al- most put his team inside the red zone with a diving grab at the 18-yard line, but it was ruled incomplete after a video replay. Hendrix was sacked for a 13-yard loss on the following play, which killed Notre Dame's last chance before Fleener's second score of the game iced it for Stanford. Luck exposed some major mis- matches in the passing game with three first-half touchdown passes. Cardinal tight end Levine Toilolo used all of his nine-inch height ad- vantage over fifth-year senior corner- back Gary Gray to haul in a jump ball from the 3-yard line for the game's first score early in the first quarter. Fleener put his 6-6, 254-pound frame against senior Robert Blan- ton late in the second quarter. He carried the cornerback 10 yards into 22 DECEMBER 2011 ing the Irish in the first half (287-75 in total yards of offense), Stanford left the door open for Notre Dame with a pair of what could have been costly turnovers. On the Cardinal's first drive of the second quarter, Irish fifth-year senior safety Harrison Smith got through the line untouched and popped Luck as he threw. Se- nior linebacker Darius Fleming in- tercepted the pass and ran it back to the Stanford 22-yard line before be- ing dragged down by a horse collar tackle, which took the ball to the 11. Notre Dame drove down to the 3-yard line before Rees threw behind junior receiver/running back Theo Riddick, and fifth-year senior place- kicker David Ruffer missed a chip- shot field goal from 20 yards to leave the Irish empty-handed. Smith recovered a fumble at the Notre Dame 39-yard line to stop an- other Stanford drive in the second quarter. Five plays later, fifth-year senior Corey Gatewood intercepted Rees to help the Cardinal regain pos- session and momentum. Rees was looking for Floyd on the play, but threw well short of where the senior was running. It was his last pass at- tempt of the game. Luck took over at the 36-yard line and drove his offense 64 yards in less than 90 seconds to add one more score in the first half. Freshman wide receiver Ty Montgomery had three catches on the drive for 39 yards, highlighted by an 11-yard reception in the middle of the field for his first career touchdown catch. The Cardinal improved to 11-1 with a win and made a strong case for a spot in the Bowl Championship Series, where it is expected to play in the Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame started its season with the potential to make its own BCS run. Instead, the Irish had to settle for 8-4 after dropping a couple of early shockers and coming STANFORD 28, NOTRE DAME 14 Nov. 26, 2011 ✦ Attendance: 50,360 Stanford Stadium ✦ Stanford, Calif. 1st Notre Dame 0 Stanford 7 2nd 0 14 3rd 7 0 FirST QuArTer STAN Toilolo 3-yard pass from Luck (Williamson kick) 9:16 Drive: 7 plays, 58 yards, 3:31 SeCoND QuArTer STAN Fleener 28-yard pass from Luck (Williamson kick) 4:45 Drive: 10 plays, 80 yards, 5:14 STAN Montgomery 11-yard pass from Luck (Williamson kick) 0:10 Drive: 10 plays, 64 yards, 1:28 ThirD QuArTer ND Floyd 6-yard pass from Hendrix (Ruffer kick) 6:21 Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 2:53 FourTh QuArTer STAN Fleener 55-yard pass from Luck (Williamson kick) 5:40 Drive: 6 plays, 80 yards, 2:31 ND Hendrix 2-yard run (Ruffer kick) 0:23 Drive: 4 plays, 87 yards, 0:39 Total First Downs Rushing Passing Penalty rushing Attempts Yards Gained rushing Yards Lost rushing Net Yards rushing Net Yards Passing Passes Attempted Passes Completed Had Intercepted Percent Completion Yards Per Attempt Yards Per Completion Total offensive Plays Total Net Yards Avg. Gain Per Play Fumbles: No.-Lost Penalties: No.-Yards Punts: No.-Yards Avg. Per Punt Avg. Net Punt Punt returns: No.-Yards Kickoff returns: No.-Yards interception returns: No.-Yards Fumble returns: No.-Yards Miscellaneous Yards Possession Time Third-Down Conversions Percentage Fourth-Down Conversions Percentage Sacks By: No.-Yards ND STAN 20 23 5 11 11 4 11 1 31 42 121 205 64 9 57 196 252 233 37 31 17 20 2 1 45.9% 64.5% 6.8 7.5 14.8 11.7 68 73 309 429 4.5 5.9 2-1 2-1 10-68 11-113 7-257 6-264 36.7 44.0 32.9 40.7 0-0 1-7 5-89 1-24 1-34 2-42 0-0 0-0 0 0 27:28 32:32 5-15 8-15 33.3% 53.3% 0-0 0-0 0.0% 0.0% 0-0 5-44 up short against two talented teams from the West Coast. Their consola- tion prize will most likely be a trip to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 29. ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 14 28 7 28 7 21 0 21 0 14 ND STAN 0 7 4th 7 7 Tot. 14 28