On a night where five of the Top 10 squads fell to defeat, the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish survived.
After being shut down for most of the game, the Irish offense came to life, scoring 10 points over the final quarter to shock Stanford, 17-14. Quarterback Everett Golson’s strike to Ben Koyack in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-11 sealed the deal and preserved Notre Dame’s unbeaten record, now 5-0.
“I went to my first read and it wasn’t there and I needed to begin improvising a little bit,” Golson said of the pass. “I guess they busted the coverage a little bit and I found Koyack in the back of the end zone.”
It was a rare misstep from a Cardinals defense that kept Notre Dame’s offense in check all game.
The team was just 6-of-18 on third down and failed to have a running back top 45 yards. Golson was also contained, throwing for 241 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on just 20-of-43 passing.
But the Irish defense was just as good.
Stanford finished with just 205 total yards of offense. Quarterback Kevin Hogan couldn’t find much of anything, throwing for 158 yards and two interceptions on 18-of-36 passing while the team rushed for only 47 yards on 32 carries (1.5 YPC).
It was another great showing by a young Notre Dame defense that is finally beginning to come around.
“You bring the next batch of guys in and they’re physically able to compete with arguably one of the more physical teams in college football,” he said. “That’s where you want your program to be after five years.”
The No. 9-ranked Irish jumped to No. 5 in the national Coaches poll, and to No. 6 in the AP rankings. Up next, North Carolina brings its three-game losing streak to South Bend on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Boston College (3-2) got a chance to rest up this weekend. The Eagles will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Carter-Finley Stadium in a tough ACC matchup with North Carolina State.
Results for Catholic colleges around the US
Catholic schools, in italics below, went 19-15 this past weekend
Division I FBS
Notre Dame 17
Stanford 14
Division I FCS
Dayton 54
Davidson 48 (5OT)
Duquesne 39
West Liberty 13
Fordham 42
Lafayette 18
Harvard 34
Georgetown 3
Colgate 20
Holy Cross 17
Incarnate Word 31
Houston Baptist 8
Sacred Heart 10
Delaware 7
Villanova 41
Maine 20
Division II
Assumption 13
Southern Connecticut 12
Slippery Rock 31
Gannon 28
St. Anselm 55
Merrimack 24
Bemidji State 21
Mary 20
Mercyhurst 28
Clarion 0
Notre Dame (Ohio) 41
Virginia-Wise 10
Ohio Dominican 48
Lake Erie 14
Indianapolis 42
Quincy 20
Missouri S&T 14
St. Joseph’s 13
California 31
Seton Hill 21
New Haven 23
Stonehill 17
Northwood 24
Walsh 13
Division III
Benedictine 16
Kalamazoo 14
Hampden-Sydney 62
Catholic 14
John Carroll 17
Ohio Northern 10
King’s 10
Lebanon Valley 7
Coe 36
Loras 10
Mount St. Joseph 48
Earlham 16
Salve Regina 48
Nichols 7
St. John’s 49
Hamline 28
Cornell 28
St. Norbert 27
St. Scholastica 28
Northwestern 24
St. Thomas 69
St. Olaf 7
Thiel 21
St. Vincent 20
Washington and Jefferson 51
Thomas More 28
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
