Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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against defensively." Motta, the group's only experienced player, said he enjoyed watch- ing his protégé's break- out performance. "He's one of my best friends on this team, so it's really great to see him succeeding and just balling out," Motta said. David Shaw had an axe to grind in his post- game press conference. Shaw blew the whistle on what he said was some illegal whistle blowing in Notre Dame Stadium. He said a whistle in the stands threw off his players during a crucial third down play they failed to convert. "That's why our guys stopped playing," Shaw said. "It was verified; it was heard. The play did not stop." The play in question Stanford head coach WHISTLE BLOWER was a third down from the 3-yard line in the fourth quarter. Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor took a handoff and was immediately hauled down by Farley for a loss of seven yards. Farley came unblocked off the edge of the of- fensive line. Stanford was forced to settle for a short field goal to take a 13-10 lead. Shaw's com- plaint was that some of his linemen stopped blocking because they thought the referees had stopped the play. A similar problem line on his third attempt from the 1-yard line in overtime. "I thought he got in on occurred during Notre Dame's last home game against Michigan, when referees actually stopped a play due to a whistling noise in the stands. Irish head coach Brian Kelly said he wasn't aware of the problem until a re- porter raised the issue after the game. "I've been in a lot of stadiums and very rarely do you hear a whistle," he said. "I hear my name a lot, but I usually don't hear a whistle, so I don't know where that came from." Shaw appeared to be the play before [the last play]," Stanford quar- terback Josh Nunes said. "The game was made up of a bunch of tough plays, a bunch of close plays." The officials were from the Pac-12 Con- ference and refereed by Shawn Hochuli, son of well-known NFL referee Ed Hochuli. miffed with a couple other mistakes or ques- tionable calls by the officiating crew. After overturning a Stanford reception, the referees spotted the ball four yards behind the previ- ous line of scrimmage and on the wrong side of the field. Stanford's players also thought Taylor crossed the goal Kyle Brindza erased any doubt about a weary leg with performance on kickoffs. He booted all four of his attempts at least five yard deep into the Stanford end zone, preventing the 36th- ranked Cardinal kick re- turners from ever find- ing a chance to run one back. The sophomore came Sophomore kicker BALANCED START up short on a couple of his kicks a week before against Miami. Irish head coach Brian Kelly said before the Stanford game that Brindza's technique was not good on those attempts. "Kyle was off balance a couple of times on his