Stanford Beats Notre Dame by a Foot

Down to the final seconds of their first losing season since 1986, the Fighting Irish were ruined by the mistakes that have haunted them all year.

’ There were simply too many turnovers and too many defensive breakdowns as Notre Dame lost to Rose Bowl-bound Stanford, 40-37, on the final play Saturday night.

“I doubt we’ve ever given up as many big plays as we’ve given up this year,” Notre Dame Coach Bob Davie said. “When you can’t cover and you self-destruct and turn the ball over, you can’t win.”

Mike Biselli kicked a 22-yard field goal, his fourth of the game, as the time expired. It completed a 68-yard drive that included a penalty on Notre Dame’s Anthony Denman for roughing the passer and a 21-yard pass from Todd Husak to DeRonnie Pitts that got the ball to the Irish five.

Notre Dame tied the score, 37-37, with 1:32 left on a five-yard scoring pass from Jarious Jackson to Jabari Holloway and a two-point conversion by Joey Getherall.

Troy Walters caught scoring passes of 62 and 38 yards from Husak, and Aaron Focht returned a fumble 37 yards for a touchdown as Stanford (8-3) built an early lead and then had to rally to defeat Notre Dame (5-7).

“The game was sort of like our season--a lot of ups and downs,” Husak said. “I like the way it ended with the two-minute drive. I thought they had made a mistake giving us a minute and a half. Any time you have receivers like we do, it puts a lot of pressure on the defensive backs.”

Tony Fisher scored three times for the Irish, who fell behind 14-0 in the opening 88 seconds, but battled back to lead twice before ending up with seven losses in a season for the first time since 1963.

“It’s unfortunate to go 5-7. I never want to be in this situation again, and I never want this football team to be in this situation again,” Davie said. “I feel bad that we’re a 5-7 team and the seniors have to leave like that, but I’m not embarrassed by this football team.”

Stanford, playing in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 28 years, probably avoided the embarrassment of going unranked into that Jan. 1 showdown against No. 4 Wisconsin. The Cardinal, unranked all season, was on the cusp of the Top 25 last week.

Walters, who caught eight passes for 183 yards against the Irish, broke the Pacific 10 Conference record for yards receiving in a season. He finished with 1,456 yards receiving this season, breaking the mark of 1,373 set by USC’s Johnnie Morton in 1993.