Hogan threw for 269 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinal (10-2, No. 9 CFP), who kept their slim playoff hopes alive with the win.
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Cardinals head coach David Shaw will give his star running back Christian McCaffrey plenty of opportunities on Saturday night, as he leads the team in rushing yards this season. Belief in their preparation. It was a rick rolling back-and-forth showdown that showed off the best and worst qualities of both teams and ended with crazed Cardinal fans on the field.
It looked like Notre Dame had all of the momentum, but Hogan and the Cardinal quickly responded. Asked if his father was somehow watching, Hogan replied, “I have no doubt”.
Alabama’s Jake Coker completed 17 of 26 passes for 179 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown to ArDarius Stewart in the third quarter after eluding two defenders. He handled Notre Dame’s up-tempo approach well, got the ball out where it needed to be and showed grittiness in the face of late Stanford pressures. Shaw refused to say it was his best win in his five seasons at Stanford. It’s a national fanbase that draws ratings no matter what – there’s a reason why Notre Dame has played nationally-televised primetime games against Navy, Pitt, Purdue, Syracuse and Temple over the last three years.
Stanford’s shot at playing in the Rose Bowl was unaffected by Saturday’s game – before kickoff, the Cardinal was locked into next Saturday’s Pac 12 Championship Game against USC – but as the top-ranked two-loss team, Stanford’s CFP hopes required chaos to reign across the college football landscape. The Buckeyes might end up as the answer to a trivia question: which team finished No. 5 in a four-team playoff chase? Hogan’s ultra-efficient performance allowed Stanford to play its patented keep-away style, as the Cardinal held the ball for almost 36 minutes.
Either Notre Dame would make off with an 11-1 record and a playoff argument and a one-point win earned through an 88-yard drive with the outstanding young quarterback DeShone Kizer, who didn’t even start the season, or it would fall away to 10-2 by a score of 38-36. A big win over Stanford could be the push back into the Top Four that they need. Cajuste caught five passes for 125 yards, including that key 27-yard catch with 10 seconds remaining. It was the latest in a series of big catches, making down-the-middle grabs of 38 and 42 to set up touchdowns.
Hogan came out of the gates firing, and found Remound Wright for a 1-yard score to cap off Stanford’s first possession. “We had Devon in the slot”. I think he handled himself like a fifth-year senior, and he’s just a freshman. “We had to finish the game and then we got celebrate in the end”. Kevin did a great job of looking off the safety and threw a bullet.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Elliott should at least be at the ceremony honoring college football’s most outstanding player. “We put it in his hands”.
Conrad Ukropina’s kick from 45 yards was dead-on ideal, and it probably would have been good from 55. Reed Miller had the snap and Dallas Lloyd the hold.
On his two earlier big plays, he had outdistanced the coverage and gapped the defense. But as Notre Dame exits the 2015 regular season, it should with a fortified confidence in its football independence. The Irish averaged 8.8 yards for every offensive play. The Irish had a pair of 100-yard runners, with Josh Adams leading the way with 168 and Kizer contributing 128. The Utes had six sacks and stopped Colorado in the red zone on consecutive first-quarter drives. Those stops would prove crucial for Stanford, which was unable to force a punt until the fourth quarter. Notre Dame made more big plays – a 93-yard kick return for a touchdown and a 73-yard touchdown pass from DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller – but Stanford was more consistent throughout the game, particularly on third down.
If Stanford’s strike was gradual, however, Notre Dame’s answer was immediate.
“You worry a little bit about him wanting to do too much”, Kelly said. Was it the long pass to Cajuste?
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“I regret everything I said”, Elliott insisted before being asked a question in a postgame news conference.
