Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ing the game into a sec- ond overtime. The same Cardinal offense that had punished Notre Dame in the trenches during their last three meetings had two chances at a game- tying score from inside the 1-yard line. Senior running back Stepfan Taylor crashed into the Irish defense twice, and twice he was denied. On the Notre Dame S tanford was inches away, just a few rain-soaked blades of grass from send- thing is going to hap- pen — we're going to get a tackle for loss or the ball is going to come out," Kelly said shortly after No. 7 Notre Dame finished celebrating its 20-13 win over No. 17 Stanford. "We were going to find a way to keep them out of the end zone." Saturday's game was sidel ine, there was never a doubt. Irish head coach Brian Kelly said he wasn't thinking about his next move if Stanford found its way into the end zone. "I thought some- the wire-to-wire slug- fest Kelly predicted BY DAN MURPHY throughout the week leading to kickoff, and the final plays exem- plified its heavyweight billing. Both sides knew Stanford would try to smash the ball directly through the teeth of the Irish defense — "It's what we do," Cardi- nal head coach David Shaw said. Two tal- ented teams squared off along the thin line that separates winning and losing a physical battle, and this version of the Notre Dame team found what it takes to cross to the winning side. Stanford's aggres- son — junior quarter- back Tommy Rees. Rees stepped in for Golson with a first- and-10 from the Stan- ford 34 and 3:27 on the clock after a helmet-to- helmet blow blurred the starter's vision and ended his day. Rees completed all four of his pass attempts while leading his team to a game-tying field goal with 20 seconds remain- ing in regulation and to a game-winning touch- down in overtime. After taking a sack to sive pass rush held the Notre Dame offense in check for most of regu- lation and forced sev- eral costly mistakes. Sophomore quarter- back Everett Golson fumbled three times, one of which gave the Cardinal its only touch- down of the game and put Notre Dame behind on the scoreboard for the first time all season. The Irish responded, start the extra period, Rees converted a 16- yard, third-down heave to senior Theo Riddick at the 7-yard line. On the next play, he spot- ted a matchup he liked and hit junior TJ Jones on a seven-yard slant for his first touchdown pass of the season. "I saw a look where tying the game twice and eventually win- ning in overtime, led by the one player who has fought back further than any other this sea- you could isolate him one-on-one outside," Rees said. "It wasn't a great throw, but TJ made a nice play to catch the ball and gave us a go ahead touch- down." Golson, while shaky at times, ran effectively for 41 yards before his last attempt landed