Everett Golson rallies Irish to 17-14 win over Stanford
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Everett Golson spotted tight end Ben Koyack alone in the back of the end zone just in time.
On fourth-and-11 from the 23 and trailing 14-10, Golson dropped back to pass and managed to avoid the Stanford rush just long enough to find Koyack as two Cardinal defensive backs tried to recover from the blown assignment.
Koyack caught the pass as he fell out of bounds, while safety Jordan Richards dove to try to break it up, and scored the winning touchdown with 61 seconds left to give the No. 9 Irish the 17-14 victory on a cold, rainy Saturday.
The Fighting Irish improved to 5-0 for just the third time since Lou Holtz left in 1996 and the second time in three seasons. The Cardinal (3-2) have two losses this early in the season for the first time since opening 1-2 in 2008 in Jim Harbaugh’s second season as coach.
Golson also threw a 17-yard TD pass to Chris Brown and Notre Dame amassed 370 yards of total offense against the nation’s top defense.
The Irish defense held the Cardinal to 139 yards total offense and just 47 yards rushing. Stanford receiver Ty Montgomery, who entered the game averaging 69 yards a game receiving, was held to four catches for 12 yards. Golson was 20-of-43 passing for 241 yards with one interception and a fumble a week after having four turnovers against Syracuse. Kevin Hogan was 18 of 36 for 158 yards with two interceptions for Stanford.
Notre Dame had a chance to take the lead with 12 minutes left in the game, but holder Hunter Smith bungled the snap on a 27-yard try. Notre Dame kicker Kyle Brindza kicked the ball into the line and Stanford’s A.J. Tarpley returned it 39 yards to the Stanford 44. The Irish also had a failed field goal attempt in the first quarter when Smith bobbled another snap and Brindza missed wide right on a 41-yard attempt.
But Smith got the ball down for a 45-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter after putting gloves on. Kelly sarcastically called putting gloves on the holder “a revolutionary idea that will probably be now the biggest thing in college football.”