FINAL: #25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish fall at #8 Stanford Cardinals, 27-20
By Evan Reller
Nov 30, 2013; Stanford, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Tommy Rees (11) throws a pass as Stanford Cardinal linebacker Shayne Skov (11) pressures in the second quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
The regular season came to an end for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday. The Irish fell to the Stanford Cardinals, 27-20.
Notre Dame had three chances to tie up the game but simple couldn’t move the ball when they needed to most. The first drive was a quick three-and-out, the final two ended with bad interceptions by Tommy Rees.
Neither of Rees’ passes that were picked off had a chance either. He completely missed the receiver on the first one and his second was badly under thrown.
Rees would finish the day completing 16-of-34 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns to go along with the pair of interceptions.
Rees nearly split passes between TJ Jones and DaVaris Daniels exclusively. Jones had six receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown, while Daniels had five for 79 yards and found the end zone once.
The Irish rushing attack, which had been coming on strong in recent weeks, was shut down by the Cardinals. The team rushed for 64 yards and a paltry 2.7 yards per carry.
Notre Dame’s defense was torn to shreds by the Cardinal rushing attack. Stanford racked up 261 yards on the ground. Tyler Gaffney did the bulk of the damage, setting a personal best with 189 yards and a touchdown off 33 carries.
The rushing attack was so good that Stanford QB Kevin Hogan only attempted 18 passes. He threw for 158 yards and a touchdown, but the Irish managed to get two interceptions off Hogan.
The Stanford defense was dominant all day, holding the Irish to just 263 total yards and 42-percent conversion rate on third downs.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 8-4 on the season. It will likely be another week before their bowl fate is determined.
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