Bowl hopes thrown away
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Sports Editor
PALO ALTO, Calif.
Midway through the fourth quarter Saturday, it appeared almost certain the Irish were going to pull off their biggest upset of the season. All they needed was an offense.
Leading Stanford 13-3 with less than eight minutes remaining, the Notre Dame defense had completely shut down a Cardinal offense that came in averaging nearly 39 points per game. But then the luck of the Irish ran out as Stanford put together two late drives to squeak past Notre Dame 17-13.
"I thought our defense, really all year has competed hard," Irish head coach Bob Davie said after the game. "I felt bad for our kids that they couldn't pull it out at the end. They competed hard."
A 46-yard pass from Stanford quarterback Randy Fasani to Nick Sebes and a subsequent pass interference call on Irish cornerback Clifford Jefferson turned third-and-10 at Stanford 19 into a first-and-10 at the Irish 20. Three plays later, fullback Casey Moore scampered nine yards into the end zone to pull the Cardinal within three with 7:22 remaining on the clock.
Notre Dame could manage only one first down on the ensuing possession and was forced to punt after taking just 2:05 off the clock.
Stanford started on its own 41 and four consecutive running plays by Fasani and backup running back Kenneth Tolon brought the Cardinal to Notre Dame's 18. Then, with the Cardinal facing third-and-13 at the Irish 21, Jefferson was called for another pass interference defending a pass to Teyo Johnson on a play that would have forced Stanford to kick a game-tying field goal.
"There were a bunch of jump balls — a couple of times it looked like offensive pass interference," Davie said. "It's hard for me to say."
The call gave Stanford first-and-goal on the Notre Dame five-yard line. The Irish defense stuffed Tolon's first two attempts to go into the end zone, but after a time-out, the freshman scored from the one to put the Cardinal ahead for good with 1:08 remaining.
"Those kids competed and we ran out of gas just a little bit," Davie said of a defensive unit that was visibly upset after the game. "The field was soggy and we were on the field on defense a lot in the second half. We kind of wore down at the end a little bit."
Worn down from the beginning was the Irish passing game. Notre Dame completed only two of 20 pass attempts — a 47-yard first-quarter touchdown pass from Carlyle Holiday to Omar Jenkins and a 17-yard third-quarter trick pass from Arnaz Battle to Holiday.
"We're 114th in the nation in pass offense, and we looked like it tonight," Davie said. Offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers was a bit more frank.
"Anybody that was at the game saw it," Rogers said. "The kid [Holiday] was not throwing the football. We had three-step drops and with soft corners and he couldn't hit them … The defense played well enough to win the game, and we didn't give them any damn support."
Matt LoVecchio came in for two drives, including Notre Dame's final drive after the second Stanford touchdown, and failed to convert three pass attempts. On the first play after the kickoff, LoVecchio looked for Javin Hunter but found Cardinal defender Tank Williams, who grabbed a game-ending interception.
"That safety came down, they were all on top of Javin," LoVecchio said. "That ball shouldn't have been thrown."
LoVecchio was just one of a handful of Notre Dame offensive players having a night they'd like to forget. Senior offensive lineman Kurt Vollers was ejected early in the game for apparently throwing a clip, a play that left Davie stunned.
"To kick a kid out of a football game for a personal foul — I've never had that happen before," Davie said. "I could see if it was a repeat thing."
Even the one Irish offensive player who played consistently well found the pot of bad luck. Junior running back Julius Jones rushed for 106 yards, all in the first half, including a 59-yard run from scrimmage that nearly ended in the end zone.
Soon after, Jones aggravated an ankle injury and sat out the rest of the game, leaving Terrance Howard at running back. Howard gained 50 yards on 14 carries.
"We had tremendous field position, we just couldn't make a play to break the thing open," Davie said. "If we got up a couple of touchdowns, I thought we were going to win this football game even with their explosive offense."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, November 27, 2001
