Notre Dame can look at its quarterback for its predicament

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, who spoke with the media at halftime, didn’t think losses to Northwestern and OR necessarily rule out Stanford from consideration to the four-team playoff when compared to teams with one loss. Conrad Urkopina drilled it right down the middle to give Stanford a 38-36 win in arguably the best game of the season. And then, after the kickoff return to the Stanford 27-yard line, just 25 seconds left. Those strong efforts were not the only reason for Notre Dame’s success.

Stanford’s Conrad Ukropina (34) is hugged by teammates after hitting a 45-yard field goal as time expired to give Stanford a 38-36 win over Notre Dame in an NCAA college football game Saturday in Stanford. Notre Dame was actually more potent from farther away from the end zone, getting three touchdowns of more than 60 yards on the game. “And the special teams, coming out of the back field, obviously a very gifted runner”.

“It’s never about just one series or one play”. The Cardinal won 10 or more games in a single season just four times in program history prior to Shaw’s promotion to head coach following the 2010 season. Notre Dame’s complete and total inability to execute and take care of the ball in the red zone cost them the Clemson game, it cost them style points last week against BC, and tonight it cost them whatever tiny chance was left for them to reach the College Football Playoff. Christian McCaffrey carried to the 28 and Stanford called its last timeout to set up Ukropina.

Instead, it’s the fourth-ranked Irish who are out despite a 10-win season in which they endured an astounding number of major injuries to key players. Hogan connected on a 27-yard pass to Devon Cajuste to get Stanford in field goal range.

Hogan’s one incompletion on the frantic, final, 45-yard march to Ukropina’s field goal was only his fourth of the game, among 21 attempts. “It’s a culmination of the game, and the reality is, we’re two plays away from being the No. 1 team in the country – one play at Clemson and one play here at Stanford”.

Cardinals senior quarterback Kevin Hogan leads Stanford’s offense and has led his team to a 9-2 record this season.

Another must-win game comes next: Southern California a week from today to decide the Pac-12 Conference title.

Through heavy downpours, sloppy play and fierce, nasty defenses, TCU – who’s season was sidetracked by an unprecedented amount of injuries – put an end to any hopes Baylor had of sneaking into on of the four playoff spots.

“We had talked about letting them score”, Shaw said.

Any combination of the aforementioned three games opens the door for Notre Dame, for even with two losses, the Irish are yet to suffer an embarrassing defeat.

When Kizer dove in from the two-yard line, he accomplished something the Irish hadn’t done all game: score a touchdown from the red zone. We go out and play the best football we can.

“It meant the world”, Hogan said. Smith was able to not only take on those blocks, but to then shed them and make plays.

This game, like almost all of the other ones, has playoff implications.

When they weren’t running the ball down Stanford’s throats, the Irish were also burning Stanford through the air with a 234-yard passing day from Kizer and six catches for 136 yards by standout wide receiver Will Fuller. I’m gonna go ahead and say that isn’t happening.

So when these two played a brilliant game Saturday at Stanford Stadium, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. They needed a last-second scoring pass from Kizer, in relief of Malik Zaire, to defeat Virginia.

It’s true that Notre Dame is more definitively eliminated from the playoff race.