Notre Dame Puts Hurt on Stanford

Not quite a blowout, though far from a scare, No. 12 Notre Dame had a comfortable day against winless Stanford.

Brady Quinn threw for three touchdowns, Darius Walker ran for a season-high 153 yards and a touchdown and the Notre Dame defense played its best game of the season in a 31-10 win over the Cardinal on Saturday at South Bend, Ind.

“I’m content with this game,” said Irish Coach Charlie Weis said, whose team improved to 5-1. “First of all, the defense goes out there and gives them a long drive and basically shuts them down the rest of the day. That’s a good thing. The offense I thought was fairly meticulous. It’s not about scoring 50 points; it’s about how you feel about how you’re playing.”

Weis, who threatened the Irish players with a long, hard bye week if they didn’t play well against Stanford -- which nearly upset the Irish last season -- was pleased that Quinn was 27 of 37 passing for 232 yards, that the Irish rushed for 204 yards, converted on seven of 13 third downs and didn’t have a turnover.

“You can sign me up for that most weeks,” he said.

The Cardinal (0-6) was held to 226 yards in total offense and had to settle for a field goal on first and goal from the four-yard line early in the game, but Stanford Coach Walt Harris found reason for hope.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we made some improvements, I thought, offensively at times,” Harris said. “Defensively, I think it still continues to get a little better. Special teams was better.”

The Irish, who won their first eight games in 2002, are off to their second best start since also starting the 1998 season 5-1.

Stanford is off to its worst start since losing its first six games in 1983 en route to a 1-10 season.

It was the second straight 100-yard game for Walker and his second best game rushing. Walker, who also had six catches for 45 yards, rushed for 186 yards in 35 carries against Stanford last season.

The Irish finished with a season-high 204 yards rushing against the Cardinal defense, which entered the game last in the nation in rushing defense at 282.8 yards a game.

Washington State 13, Oregon State 6 -- Alex Brink threw for 270 yards and a touchdown to lead the Cougars (4-2, 2-1) over the Beavers (2-3, 0-2) at Corvallis, Ore.

It was Washington State’s first win in Corvallis in 10 years and its first win in October since 2003.

Last season, Brink threw for 531 yards, but four interceptions proved costly against the Beavers and Washington State lost, 44-33. This season the Oregon native completed 19 of 32 passes with one interception.