Stanford shocks Notre Dame on last-second field goal
As Notre Dame milked away the clock while it looked to take a lead over Stanford in the final minute, Cardinal head coach David Shaw curiously decided not to use his timeouts to give his offense more time.
The decision paid off.
After the Irish took a 36-35 lead with 30 seconds to go, Kevin Hogan and the Stanford offense quickly marched into Notre Dame territory – using all three of their timeouts in the process – to set up for a game-winning 46-yard field goal from Conrad Ukropina as time expired to give the Cardinal a dramatic 38-36 victory.
Ukropina’s clutch kick gave the No. 9 Cardinal its 10th win of the season and kept the team’s College Football Playoff hopes alive while simultaneously crushing No. 6 Notre Dame’s chances of reaching the final four.
While Heisman candidate Christian McCaffrey got most of the hype coming into the game, it was Hogan – in his final game at Stanford Stadium – who stole the show. Hogan threw for 269 yards and four touchdowns while completing 17-of-21 throws. His favorite target was another senior, 6-foot-4 wideout Devon Cajuste, who put up a career-high 125 yards on five huge catches.
Hogan came out of the gates firing, and found Remound Wright for a 1-yard score to cap off Stanford’s first possession. Their first drive seemed effortless, but the Cardinal quickly found out that Notre Dame came to play as C.J. Sanders returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to tie things up.
Hogan went back to work on Stanford’s next drive. The Cardinal ate up another 7:24 off the clock and Hogan finished their drive by finding Cajuste for a 6-yard score.
The Notre Dame offense finally hit the field for the first time and quickly worked its way down the field, but it stalled inside the red zone. That would become a theme for the night for Notre Dame, as Justin Yoon hit what would be the first of his three chip-shot field goals of the game.
The Irish would settle for another Yoon field goal on its next drive. And instead of testing its red-zone offense again, Notre Dame opted for a big play instead when DeShone Kizer who found Will Fuller behind the Stanford defense for a 73-yard touchdown to give Notre Dame its first lead, 20-14, with 2:15 left in the half.
It looked like Notre Dame had all of the momentum, but Hogan and the Cardinal quickly responded. A 14-yard touchdown pass – Hogan’s third of the first half – to Michael Rector gave the Cardinal a 21-20 halftime lead.
Notre Dame put together another long drive to open up the second half, but came up short yet again as Yoon made a 29-yard FG to put the Irish back in front.
On the next three drives, the teams traded scores: a Remound Wright 1-yard run (28-23 Stanford), a 62-yard Josh Adams run (29-28 Notre Dame) and a Kevin Hogan 10-yard pass to Austin Hooper (35-29 Stanford) on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Both offenses then stalled (trading four punts) until Notre Dame then went on a very Stanford-like drive: 15 plays and 88 yards in 6:18 to take a 36-35 lead with 30 seconds to go. The score that put Notre Dame ahead – a two-yard Kizer run – was not without controversy. The play was ruled a touchdown on the field, but replay appeared to show Kizer’s knee hitting the turf just before the ball crossed the plane.
Nonetheless, the touchdown stood and Notre Dame was back in front.
That all set up for Ukropina’s heroics.
Notre Dame was flagged for a facemask penalty on the drive’s first play and then Hogan hit Cajuste for 27 yards, putting Stanford into Ukropina’s range.
The senior then calmly stepped up and drilled the game-winner right down the middle to keep the Cardinal’s playoff hopes alive.
Sure, Stanford will need to beat USC in the Pac-12 title game and hope for some chaos among the other top teams to reach the playoff, but there’s still a way to slide in thanks to Baylor’s loss to TCU on Friday.
For Notre Dame, it’s a disappointing end to what was a remarkable season. The Irish overcame injuries to a bevy of star players, yet were in contention all the way to the end. A New Year’s Day bowl is certainly in the Irish’s future.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
