Notre Dame slips to No

“We’re in the Pac-12 championship game, and we’ve got to go play a great game against a team that’s going to be fired up to play us, and that’s where our head is”, Shaw said after beating Notre Dame.

When: Saturday, 5 p.m.

Hogan threw for 269 yards and calmly led the winning drive in the final 30 seconds for the Cardinal (10-2), who kept their slim playoff hopes alive with the win.

“The big thing we talked about earlier today was belief”, said David Shaw, Stanford’s Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. “We truly thought that we were one of the best teams in the country”, Kizer said, “so yes, the goal was to make the playoffs”.

There was no bullfighter defense when the Irish were knocking on Stanford’s door on their final drive. The redshirt junior had to overcome a drop of a potential touchdown in Stanford’s season-opening 16-6 loss to Northwestern. And even then, there would be no guarantees. The Irish were ranked No. 6 by the Associated Press entering the game.

Cornerback KeiVarae Russell, who started in the BCS Championship Game as a true freshman, became the seventh Irish player to see his season end prematurely to injury when he broke his ankle last week against Boston College.

Both teams are playing for a chance to make the College Football Playoff, but they may need some help to get into the top four spots. Notre Dame’s failure to secure touchdowns instead of field goals on at least one of three occasions, lead to their downfall on a night that they held the lead with 6 seconds left.

“There’s no better way to finish your career than a completion to set up the winning (score)”, Hogan said. Stanford has the home field.

“I actually like when they call timeouts”, he said.

“I looked at (holder Dallas Lloyd) and said, ‘Shoot, we might as well just make it”, said Ukropina, a former walk-on. “We had those pressure kicks the entire summer with guys yelling and screaming at him, calling him names”.

It was a fitting conclusion to a taut, entertaining game in which the offenses did as they pleased. Kizer finished his day with 234 yards and two total touchdowns.

On a weekend that featured marquee top-25 match-ups across the nation, it was Saturday night’s tilt in Palo Alto between Stanford and Notre Dame that carried the most weight.

Scott also felt current TV deals and exposure within the Pac-12 help promote its Heisman candidates, such as last year’s victor Marcus Mariotta of Oregon. This is a heavy run formation for the Irish offense, and Stanford loaded the box and left Fuller in a one-on-one on the outside.

Griffith emerged as an Iron Bowl hero for the Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference, No. 2 CFP) two years after his last-play attempt touched off the Tigers’ winning Kick-Six play.

Last year, the CFP changed a lot in the final rankings, after the conference championship games.

Four years of highs and some lows – and an offseason of his father passing away – were balled into one Saturday of emotion for Hogan. They certainly played that way against Notre Dame. Growing up, Hogan was an avid fan and cheered for the program.

No, Notre Dame isn’t facing an ideal situation. We had done a good job on third down the entire game. Well, we all know that Notre Dame is an independent and can’t win a conference. Now the Trojans lean heavily on a run game led by Ronald Jones, Justin Davis and Tre Madden, who have combined for 2,116 and 17 touchdowns on the ground. “We can play our best and in a tough environment'”.