Cardinal Runs All Over Irish

Anthony Bookman eluded tacklers with his speed, Mike Mitchell broke through them, and the two forced Notre Dame into one defensive breakdown after another.

Bookman ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns and Mitchell rushed for 135 yards and two scores as No. 19 Stanford overpowered Notre Dame, 33-15, Saturday, sending the Irish to their fourth consecutive loss.

It’s the first time since 1963 that Notre Dame has lost four in a row in a season.

For the third straight game, Bookman and Mitchell each had at least 100 yards rushing for Stanford (4-1), which snapped a three-game home losing streak to Notre Dame.

Struggling under first-year Coach Bob Davie, Notre Dame fell to 1-4.

“We’re all going to leave here with a bad taste, with a feeling we’ve hit rock bottom,” Davie said. “Stanford really ran the ball against us in the second half. They got stronger. We wore down and just caved in.”

The Cardinal put on a punishing 17-play, 87-yard drive that gobbled up more than seven minutes in the third quarter and wore down the Notre Dame defense. Mitchell covered the final 30 yards, catching a pass for 5 yards and going the last 25 on four runs, including a 3-yard touchdown.

After Notre Dame missed a field goal, Stanford struck again--quickly. Bookman broke free for a 15-yard run and then outran Notre Dame’s deteriorating defense en route to a 58-yard score and a 24-9 lead with 13:29 left.

“Bookman hit that big run for us,” Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham said. “That’s what we look for from him and Mitchell just kept pounding at them. I’m very pleased with our running backs.”

And the running game overall, which accounted for 322 of Stanford’s 514 yards in total offense.

“We have a lot of weapons and if we need to go deep, we go deep,” Mitchell said. “But we like to run the ball and we definitely got enough carries today.”

Bookman added: “Mitchell carried the ball 30 times and really wore them down by the time I got in there. When your time comes, you just hope you’re ready to make the big play.”