Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/87622
ball to him," head coach Brian Kelly said. "Maybe we forced it to him a couple times, but the kid came up with some great plays." Not only did Eifert a decoy or a blocker. "I lined up in similar positions — it's just how the defenses play." Eifert said of his increased role against the Cardinal. catch a table-turning 24- yard touchdown pass in double coverage during the fourth quarter, but he also made several key receptions earlier in the game. One big play that won't show up in the box score was the pass interference call he drew to set up a game- tying field goal in the fourth quarter. Stanford sold out on the blitz on third-and-four, and left junior Tommy Rees just enough time to launch a ball in Eifert's direc- tion. The 6-6 tight end, in single coverage along the sideline, forced Stan- ford cornerback Terrence Brown to knock him off his route and drew a penalty flag. Notre Dame looked Eifert's way more of- ten this week after un- derutilizing their pre- season All-American pass catcher in previ- ous games. He had only three catches in Notre Dame's last three wins while working mostly as The bearded man in Nantucket red pants, an open-necked white shirt and a blue blazer giving interviews after Satur- day's game didn't look like your typical college football player. Sopho- more safety Matthias Farley might not be typi- cal, but he looked every bit as fashionable on the field against Stanford as he did off of it. Farley finished third FARLEY'S FINEST on the team, behind seniors Manti Te'o and Zeke Motta, with eight tackles against Stan- ford. He also made his first career interception during the first quarter. Farley corralled a way- ward pass from Cardi- nal quarterback Josh Nunes, and the former wide receiver took off down the center of the field before cutting to the left for a 49-yard return. The run set up Notre Dame's only points of the first half — a successful field goal four plays later. get ball," Farley said. "Everyone kept telling me, 'You should have followed us,' but I saw green grass to the left, so that's where I went. I got my first pick, and it feels good." Head coach Brian "It was just see ball, Kelly said Farley is more comfortable play- ing closer to the line of scrimmage than drop- ping deep into coverage. But he and the rest of the wet-behind-the-ears de- fensive backfield proved for the second week in a row that they could find a way to slow down a quarterback capable of posting big numbers. Nunes threw for 125 yards on 12-of-25 pass- ing and had a pair of interceptions. A week earlier, he had a career- high 360 passing yards in an overtime win over Arizona. While Nunes was lighting up the Wildcats, Farley and Co. were limiting ACC pass- ing leader Stephen Mor- ris of Miami to 201 yards through the air. "We kept the big plays away from the second- ary," Kelly said. "If we can continue to do that, as you can see, we are pretty difficult to go