Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Stanford Cardinal

Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Notre Dame was winning by 10 points throughout most of these shenanigans.

Hogan completed 17 of 21 passes for 269 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s defense succeeding in containing Stanford tailback Christian McCaffrey, who rushed for only 94 yards and didn’t have any long kick or punt returns. It would certainly move them up if any of the five teams ahead of them failed to win and beating Stanford on the road would obviously be a nice resume builder.

While the Irish still would have needed help to make the playoff even with a win, it looked like they were the ones to make that key play when DeShone Kizer gave them a one-point lead on his 2-yard run with 30 seconds left. The Fighting Irish fell from No. 4 to No. 6 in last week’s CFP rankings, and figure to fall out of contention with their second loss of the year. The Cardinal drove 75 and 78 yards the first two times they had ball, leading to TD passes from Hogan to Remound Wright and Devon Cajuste. The Cardinal ate up another 7:24 off the clock and Hogan finished their drive by finding Cajuste for a 6-yard score.

Notre Dame did not run its first offensive play until there was 1:48 remaining in the first quarter.

The case for Stanford is simple – 11 wins (if they beat USC for the second time this season), with other quality wins coming against Arizona, UCLA, Notre Dame and Cal. It would be hard to argue that their schedule was one of the toughest in the nation. Stanford is fifth nationally in converting third downs (49.7 percent) while Notre Dame is eighth in defending third downs (30.4 percent allowed)… Kizer hit wide receiver Will Fuller deep down the left sideline for a 73-yard score. Stepping in has been Josh Adams, who is averaging nearly seven yards per carry.

Yet, this wasn’t that sort of night for Kizer, Schmidt, Kelly and Notre Dame. 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.

A couple of timeouts later, Conrad Ukropina delivered a picture flawless 45-yard field goal, out of the hold of former quarterback turned safety Dallas Lloyd, sending Stanford fans into bedlam and sending the Irish home without much hope of playing for a national championship.

Stanford did just that.

The Irish left points on the board on each of those drives.

“When I got up, I looked down and saw that we were on [Notre Dame’s 30-yard line]”, Cajuste said.

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

What a thriller in Palo Alto.

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

A two-loss Pac-12 team will be a stretch to make the playoffs, but Stanford has a strong resume. The Irish did end up running 60 plays in the game, almost catching up to Stanford’s 64.

Stanford’s playoff hopes now likely rest on Alabama slipping up in the SEC Championship Game. A big win over Stanford could be the push back into the Top Four that they need. But, four points separated the Irish and a chance at a 12th title. A Florida victory over Alabama would be an incredible upset.