Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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partment in the second half. The Car- dinal converted all five third-down opportunities on those two drives — not including an offsides on third-and- one by Irish freshman nose guard Jerry Tillery that moved the chains — lead- ing to 14 points. The Irish benefited from some quick strikes, beginning with freshman CJ Sanders' 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after Stanford's first score. Notre Dame went ahead for the first time, 20-14, in the second quarter on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Kizer to junior wide receiver Will Fuller, but that lead proved to be short lived. Junior cornerback Devin Butler started in place of senior KeiVarae Russell (fractured tibia) and mostly held up, with the exception of a missed tackle of Stanford wide re- ceiver Michael Rector, which allowed him to score from 14 yards out to give the Cardinal a 21-20 lead just before halftime. "I thought Devin Butler competed his butt off," Kelly said. "He got a [pass interference] late in the game, but he's competing for the football. I thought he played well. "He left with a concussion in the last series, and [sophomore] Nick Watkins had to go in for him. But I was proud of Devin. I was proud of the way he competed out there." Following Rector 's score, Kizer quickly got the Irish in position to retake the lead. The big play on that possession came when the sophomore signal-caller scampered 48 yards to the Cardinal 23-yard line. On the fol- lowing play, though, he fumbled and Stanford recovered. Including that drive, the Irish pen-