On Saturday, Stanford football defeated Notre Dame 16-14 on the road, reclaiming the Legends Trophy for the first time since 2017. Stanford running back Casey Filkins rushed for 91 yards and 1 touchdown on 31 carries while quarterback Tanner McKee went 26-38 for 288 yards and a 132.1 passer rating. Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne was the top performer for the Irish going 13-27 for 151 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interceptions for a 107.3 passer rating. Stanford improves to 2-4 overall (0-4 Pac-12) while Notre Dame falls to 3-3.
“Early in the week, I anticipated it being really tough to get our guys going again, I said that in the post-game press conference and it was not,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said after the game. “I told our guys after the game I intended on being positive, I intended on focusing on things that we did well, on the turns that we’ve made and the growth that we’ve had over this year.
“And a lot of credit to our older guys, our seniors, our leaders, our captains…defense got some huge stops. I know our pass rush was coming along. This week, we got home a couple times, got a strip sack, we made the quarterback pull the ball down a couple times, we batted balls down. So I’m proud of Coach Reynolds the work that he’s doing with that group to keep those guys fighting and scrapping. But, this is for our older guys, our seniors, they’ve worked so hard, they’ve led us so well, they needed this victory.
“To come back out here and win this game, get the Legends Trophy, bring that back to Stanford, California, is outstanding. But, more importantly our guys got that taste in their mouth now. How to play well, how to get into a tight game at the end of the fourth quarter and find a way to finish.”
Stanford won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, resulting in Notre Dame receiving the ball first. Joshua Karty’s opening kickoff was a touchback, giving the Irish the ball on their own 25 yard line. The Irish’s opening drive did not go as they wanted it as they were forced to punt on 4th and 8 from their own 27 yard line following a tipped pass from Stanford freshman defensive tackle Jaxson Moi. With 13:33 to go in the 1st quarter, Stanford got the ball on their own 34 yard line as Casey Filkins fair caught the punt. Filkins would get things going with a 6 yard run to make it 2nd and 4. On 3rd and 4, McKee connected with Michael Wilson for a 13 yard completion after which he found Elijah Higgins for a 19 yard completion.
After a 2 yard gain by Filkins, Filkins would respond with a 9 yard gain, making it 1st and 10 for Stanford on the Notre Dame 17 yard line. On the next play, McKee would connect with Benjamin Yurosek for a 15 yard completion, making it 1st and 2. Filkins would then find the end zone, making it a 7-0 lead for the Cardinal with 10:05 to go in the 1st quarter after the extra point from Karty.
Notre Dame was eager to respond with a touchdown of their own, but once again had to punt on a 4th and 9 from their own 46 yard line. Filkins would fair catch the punt on the Stanford 20 yard line.
Stanford’s next drive didn’t go much better. After a 10 yard completion to Higgins to move the chains, McKee got sacked for a loss of 6 yards. This ultimately led to Stanford punting on 4th and 14 from their own 31 yard line. Ryan Sanborn’s punt would get blocked, giving the Irish excellent field position.
Despite getting excellent field position, the Irish failed to take advantage. A touchdown pass to Michael Mayer was called back due to an ineligible man down field and after going for it on 4th and 2 from the 5 yard line, Notre Dame would not convert, resulting in a huge stop for the Cardinal defense. As a result, Stanford would lead 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.
To the start the 2nd quarter, Stanford had the ball on their own 17 yard line with a fresh set of downs. That drive would ultimately lead to another Stanford punt after Wilson had a reception for negative four yards. Wilson would then gain 11 yards on the next play, making it 4th and 3 from the Stanford 24 yard line. Sanborn would punt it 48 yards and a net of 41 yards after the return.
Both teams would trade punts for the next three drives as Stanford’s defense kept finding ways to stand tall. That trend would break as Stanford had a drive start on their own 18 yard line with 6:38 to go in the half.
Thanks to a pair of receptions from Wilson for a combined 23 yards, Stanford had the ball on their own 41 yard line with four downs to work with. McKee would then connect with Yurosek for 13 more yards, getting the ball across midfield and into Notre Dame territory. Stanford would ultimately have a 4th and 2 on the Notre Dame 28 yard line and not convert as McKee’s pass to Shield Taylor was incomplete. Notre Dame got away with a hold, which should have been a 10 yard penalty.
Notre Dame would fail to capitalize as their drive ended in a strip sack and fumble recovery by Stanford. Stephen Herron got the strip sack while Anthony Franklin got the fumble recovery. This set up a 1st and 10 for Stanford from the Notre Dame 45 yard line with 42 seconds to go in the half. Stanford would play things conservatively, setting up Karty for a 45 yard field goal with two seconds to go until halftime. Karty would make the kick, giving Stanford a 10-0 lead at halftime.
Stanford would get the ball to start the second half but would end up punting the ball to the Notre Dame 16 yard line with 12:55 to go in the 3rd quarter. Filkins got a 22 yard reception, but ultimately, Stanford wasn’t able to generate any points on the drive. Notre Dame would respond with a four and out as they punted it back to Stanford, giving the Cardinal the ball on their own 27 yard line with 11:44 to go in the 3rd.
Stanford would get points on the next dive as McKee connected with Higgins for 38 yards on 2nd and 10, moving the ball to the Notre Dame 35 yard line. That would be the only major gain of the drive as Stanford trotted out Karty on 4th and 10 for a 43 yard field goal. Karty’s kick would be good, making it a 13-0 lead for Stanford with 8:44 to go in the 3rd.
Seeing the Cardinal tack on more points seemed to light a bit of a fire in the Irish, who up to this point were having a famine on offense. Logan Diggs would get things rolling with a 26 yard gain up the middle after which Mayer had a 12 yard reception. Mayer would have a 21 yard reception after which Audric Estime found the end zone for a 10 yard touchdown run on 1st and goal from the 10 yard line. 13-7 Stanford lead after the extra point with 6:22 to go. The Irish now had a spring in their step.
Notre Dame would find themselves with the ball down 13-7 to start the 4th quarter. It was 2nd and 14 from the Stanford 41 yard line. On the very first play of the quarter, Drew Pyne connected with Tobias Merriweather for a 41 yard touchdown pass. Following the extra point, it was a 14-13 Notre Dame lead with 14:53 to go.
Stanford would respond on the very next drive after getting the ball on the Notre Dame 35 yard line following a touchback. A 10 yard completion to Benjamin Yurosek, three completions to Brycen Tremayne for a combined 31 yards, and a completion to Casey Filkins for a gain of 11 yards on a 3rd and 12 set up a 43 yard field goal attempt for Joshua Karty. Karty once again was money. 16-14 Stanford lead with 10:20 to go.
Notre Dame would try to answer on the next drive but came up short. On 1st and 10 from the Stanford 43 yard line, Estime rushed up the middle for a gain of 22 yards only for the ball to get poked out by Kendall Williamson and recovered by Jonathan McGill. It was a bit of an up and down drive for McGill as he had a nice tackle for a loss and then a pass interference call go against him before recovering the fumble. With 6:35 to go, Stanford had the ball on their own 21 yard line.
Rather than being more aggressive than they were last week against Oregon State, Stanford employed the same, conservative approach, forcing Notre Dame to burn time outs and leave them with little time to work with should they have to punt away the ball. Sanborn would punt the ball on 4th and 8 from the Notre Dame 38 yard line, pinning the Irish deep on their own 10 yard line with 2:30 to go and no timeouts left.
Notre Dame would get one first down on their drive, but that would be it. On 4th and 7 from the Notre Dame 25 yard line, Pyne’s pass would be incomplete as McGill secured the game winning pass break up. From there, Stanford would kneel it out with only 1:03 to go. 16-14 Stanford would be the final score.
For Notre Dame, this is a stinging loss. They came in as 16.5 point favorites at home and lost. Stanford came in with only one win on the year and that was against a Colgate team that is bad at the FCS level. Yes, Stanford has been getting more settled in and all, but still. If you are Notre Dame you have to win this game. This loss for them is really really bad.
As for Stanford, this victory feels good. This ends their double digit FBS game losing streak dating back to last year and they did it on the road at a Notre Dame program that while down, is still Notre Dame. The Irish were getting a good chunk of votes in the most recent AP Top 25 poll and likely would have cracked the Top 25 again had they won convincingly.
And let’s not forget, the Irish were ranked #5 in the preseason AP Top 25. They’ve obviously shown they were and are grossly overrated, but still. Getting a road win at a rival opponent who is consistently a powerhouse program is always a good thing.
Probably the sweetest part of this victory for Stanford is it was the defense that sealed the deal. They got a chance to do what they should have done last week against Oregon State and this time they got the stop they needed to get the win. They could have folded and gave up another late game touchdown. Instead, they did their jobs.
“Yeah, it’s funny how football is,” Shaw said. “You don’t do something right, well guess what, the next game you’re going to be put in that same position and now you get a chance to come back out here and finish it.”
Lastly, Joshua Karty really came through for Stanford in this one. He made all three of his field goals plus the extra point. He was money and delivered the goods big time. He’s looking like a legit NFL prospect right now and as long as Stanford can find ways to put his abilities to good use, he should allow them to stay in a lot of games this year and pick up some more victories.
“It really is,” Shaw said when asked if Karty makes it easier for him to not stress as much about field goals. “I’ve been asked multiple times what Josh Karty’s range is and I mean, his in-game range, I would say probably 51 to feel pretty comfortable. We had him kick 53 not too long ago in favorable conditions. But I’ve seen him hit from 63. So a 45-yard field goal, a 47-yard field goal, is a chip shot to him. So, he gives our team so much confidence. It’s hard to get a good kickoff return against him because of the high distance of his kickoffs and then any time we cross the 35-yard line and we feel great about those field goals and he’s known this now that we call him a weapon. He’s not just a kicker, he’s a weapon.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Arizona State. That will be on Saturday, October 22nd at 1:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and KNBR 1050 AM.
Note: A couple of key Stanford players got injured in this game and their availability for next week will be something to watch for: Freshman edge David Bailey and 5th year wide receiver Michael Wilson. After the game, David Shaw did not have an immediate update on them beyond the fact that they’ll know more next week.
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