Irish aren’t perfect but do move to 5-0
NO. 9 NOTRE DAME 17, NO. 14 STANFORD 14
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Everett Golson threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Ben Koyack in the corner of the end zone with 61 seconds left as No. 9 Notre Dame overcame two turnovers and two bungled snaps on field goal attempts on a cold, rainy Saturday to beat No. 14 Stanford 17-14.
Koyack was alone in the corner and Golson almost didn’t find him in time. Koyack caught the pass as he fell out of bounds and safety Jordan Richards dove to try to break it up on Notre Dame’s last chance on fourth-and-11.
The Fighting Irish improved to 5-0 for just the third time since Lou Holtz left in 1996. The other two times were in 2002, when they started 8-0 in Tyrone Willingham’s first year as coach, and two seasons ago, when they had an undefeated regular season. The Cardinal (3-2) have two losses this early in the season for the first time since opening 1-2 in 2008 in Jim Harbaugh’s second season as coach.
Golson also threw a 17-yard TD pass to Chris Brown and Notre Dame had 370 yards of total offense against the nation’s top defense. The game wasn’t as exciting as Notre Dame’s 20-13 overtime victory two years ago on a goal line stand, but it was close.
The Irish defense held the Cardinal to 139 yards total offense and just 47 yards rushing. Stanford receiver Ty Montgomery, who entered averaging 69 yards a game receiving, was held to four catches for 12 yards. He did have a 42-yard kickoff return that set up a Stanford touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Stanford came in giving up 198 yards a game total offense and had given up only two runs of 25 yards or more. The Irish had 192 yards total offense at halftime and Golson had a career-long 33-yard run to set up a touchdown and C.J. Prosise had a 26-yard run that set up a scoring chance.
Golson was 20-of-43 passing for 241 yards with one interception and a fumble a week after having four turnovers against Syracuse.
Kevin Hogan was 18 of 36 for 158 yards with 2 interceptions for Stanford.
In other games involving Pac-12 teams, Terron Ward ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns, including a 10-yard score with 5:09 remaining, and Oregon State’s defense turned away Colorado’s last-gasp drive as the Beavers (4-1, 1-1) hung on to beat the Buffaloes (2-4, 0-3) 36-31 in Boulder, Colo. ... Jaelen Strong caught a 46-yard touchdown pass from Mike Bercovici as time expired, and Arizona
State (4-1, 2-1) scored three TDs in the final 3:53 to shock No. 16 Southern California (3-2, 2-1) 38-34 in Los Angeles. Bercovici capped his 510-yard passing performance with his third TD pass to Strong, who slipped in front of USC’s Hayes Pullard at the goal line and pulled in the Hail Mary throw.