Notre Dame beats Stanford

On a wet and chilly day, the 14th ranked Stanford Cardinal visited the 9th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, looking to end their hopes of an undefeated season.

Stanford would have the first opportunity to showcase their offensive talents. After just three plays, the Cardinal were forced to punt the ball away, continuing what has been an impressive performance by the Irish defense so far this season.

Notre Dame's first possession would be the same, however, as they would turn the ball over on downs after a failed fourth down conversion.

After failed drives that lead to punts by both teams, Notre Dame's defense would finally catch a break. Stanford's QB Kevin Hogan had his pass intercepted by Cole Luke inside the 10 yard line.

On the first play of the following drive, Everett Golson fumbled after running for just three yards. Stanford's Kyle Olugbode recovered the fumble at the 12 yard line, leaving the Cardinal in great field position.

It took only two plays for Stanford to score off of the ND turnover. QB Kevin Hogan ran for the 10 yard score to put Stanford up 7-0.

A couple of possessions later, Notre Dame's offense would finally get a good drive going. ND went 62 yards on five plays and into the red zone. On 3rd and 5, Golson attempted to force a pass toward the end zone but it was intercepted by Stanford's Jordan Richards at the 2 yard line.

After a failed Stanford drive, Notre Dame would retake the possession with good field position. After 7 plays and driving only 14 yards, ND was forced to attempt a field goal. The hold was a little off and the field goal went wide right, leaving the score at 7-0 Stanford.

On the following Cardinal possession, after driving 38 yards, running back Ben Rhyne ran for a loss of 13 yards and fumbled, giving the Irish the ball back.

Notre Dame's offense would start to click again as they would go on to a 6 play, 62 yard drive, mostly helped along by a 33 yard run by Everett Golson. The drive was capped off by a 17 yard touchdown pass to Chris Brown.

The first half would end 7-7, proving to be a defensive struggle so far, with the Fighting Irish set to receive the second half kick-off.

The third quarter continued to be all about defense as both teams were forced to punt multiple times and both teams were held scoreless.

The fourth quarter would start out with a turnover. Kevin Hogan's pass was intercepted by Cole Luke at the Stanford 29 yard line.

Notre Dame would try to turn that turnover into points by attempting a field goal. The hold was bad, forcing Kyle Brindza's kick to be too low and blocked by Stanford, leaving the score still at 7-7.

On the next Irish possession, ND's offense was stalled and forced to another field goal attempt. This kick from 45 yards out would be good, giving Notre Dame their first lead of the game, 10-7.

Stanford would answer right back, though, going on a 9 play 58 yard touchdown drive. The drive was capped off by an 11 yard run by running back Remound Wright as he went untouched right up the middle. Stanford retook the lead with this drive, making the score 14-10.

With little time remaining in the game, Notre Dame's offense knew they had to score on the following possession to have a chance at winning this game. It took the Irish 9 plays and two minutes to drive 65 yards. This drive would be finished off by a beautiful pass from Everett Golson to the corner of the end zone, finding tight end Ben Koyack for a 23 yard touchdown. This gave ND the 17-14 lead.

Stanford would have the final drive of the game. After only five plays and more tough defense from the Irish, the clock expired.

The final score of this game was 17-14. Notre Dame moves on to 5-0 on the season. Notre Dame will be at home again next Saturday to face off against the Tarheels of North Carolina.