STANFORD 45NOTRE DAME 38
As Jimmy Clausin's hail marry was knocked down in the end zone by a couple of Standford defensive backs, the speculation that Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Wies would be fired soon after the game, started to creep to reality.
The Irish held a 31-20 lead in the third quarter, and Wies and his coaching staff, watched the Irish melt under the heavy feet of senior running back Toby Gerhart and the Stanford Cardinal by the score of 45-38. Even when the Irish put up one of the best offensive performances of the year, it was the defense, Wies' weakness as coach of this club since he took over in 2005, that did him in.
As has been a pattern all year, the Irish blew a lead, and suffered a devastating lose. This one dropped the Irish to 6-6 on the year - an average team that will likely have no bowl appearance come December, leaving the Notre Dame Athletic Department to seriously consider firing Wies, if the decision hasn't been made already.
The game was excellent. It featured over 900 yards of combined offense, 83 total points, and four different lead changes.
With the Irish up 11 in the third quarter, Stanford started its comeback. First Gerhart took it up the middle from 10 yards out to get the Cardinal to within four, 31-27.
After a terrific 28 yard touchdown pass by Clausen to Golden Tate that put the Irish up 38-30, Gerhart did it all once again. This time, Gerhart threw the touchdown, an 18 yard option pass to Ryan Whalen to make it 38-36. The Cardinal converted the two point conversion to tie it up at 38.
Later, in the fourth quarter, Gerhart went untouched from five yards out to put the game out of reach at 45-38. Notre Dame tried desperately to comeback in the final minute, but two sacks of Clausen and a incomplete pass in the final seconds did in the Irish. Box score.
Almost an hour after the game had ended, Wies had yet to make an appearance in front of the media to address them in his weekly post game press conference.
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