No. 13 Stanford rallies past No. 4 Notre Dame 38-36

Was it a Kizer touchdown run that looked no good only to be reviewed and accepted? It’s never about the last 30 seconds.

Still, a bowl game awaits the Irish, though it’s not the one they had envisioned.

“No one wants to lose, so even though we lost two games, it still hurts, especially to go out this way, as far as the end of the season”, linebacker Jaylon Smith said.

This Saturday’s matchup between No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 9 Stanford has some major playoff implications, as the loser will undoubtedly be robbed of any remaining playoff hopes. There’s 8 plays right there. After a short run by Christian McCaffrey, Ukropina kicked the field goal. The Cardinals defense will try to contain Kizer, as his play could determine the outcome of this crucial game. That’s insane. One play? Stanford had run 23 plays at that point. The Irish beat the Cardinal past year in thrilling fashion with a last second touchdown pass from Everett Golson to Ben Koyack on 4th and goal in a driving rain.

Joe Mixon ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns, Samaje Perine had 131 yards and two scores, and Jordan Thomas intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown for the Sooners. Hogan… Cajuste. A team of somebodies made a series of crucial plays.

“The big thing we talked about earlier today was belief”, said David Shaw, Stanford’s Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football.

This year’s Notre Dame – Stanford game will be played in Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California.

Hogan came out of the gates firing, and found Remound Wright for a 1-yard score to cap off Stanford’s first possession. Stanford Cardinal rank at 22 for scoring 36.5 points where as Notre Dame Fighting Irish rank at 39 for allowing 22.3 scores.

The Notre Dame game against the Temple Owls is being called the biggest college football game in Philadelphia’s history. Three field goals instead of three touchdowns; Solomon Thomas’ fumble recovery, the lone turnover of the night, forced by Brannan Scarlett; the critical Irish penalties that gave Stanford a handful of extra first downs. This is just another regretful oddity of a team that has had a fairly incredible year given the circumstances. This is the reason that the fans are more excited about this match.

Kevin Hogan threw four touchdown passes and drove 13th-ranked Stanford University to the winning 45-yard field goal by Conrad Ukropina on the last play of a 38-36 victory over No. 4 Notre Dame in a college football playoff elimination game on Saturday. Adams has done well from what we’ve seen, but he also hasn’t had to step up on the road against the No. 9 team in the nation. Stanford was trying to keep its own argument alive for the playoff as it headed toward next week’s Pac-12 championship game. That dream is dead.

It will sound like sour-grapes whining, but that’s just a fact.

Henry broke Trent Richardson’s single-season rushing mark and had carries on 14 consecutive plays at the end. It stings- hell it’s an avalanche of hurt. Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly said this week.

If anyone tries to tell you ND benefited from DeShone Kizer getting a TD run on that last sketchy replay decision, they are lying and chances are they really wanted ND to lose.

Three big names from tonight; Kizer, Adams, and Sanders all have 3 more years of eligibility left- and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

No, Notre Dame isn’t facing an ideal situation. One more game- one more HUGE game that could help bring some happy closure to this season and some hope for the next. Of course, the Fighting Irish are not alone bemoaning what could have been as the CFP becomes the singular focus of college powers judged pretty much by whether they are in or out.