Nothing in the world would've been easier than sleep walking through a week of practice, boarding a plane on Thursday for a long trip to South Bend, slogging through a three-hour beating at the hands of the Fighting Irish, and then crawling back to California to finish one of the most disappointing seasons in Stanford history. No one would've been surprised, and I'm not just talking about the fans. I don't think anyone connected with the Stanford program, inside or outside of the locker room, would've been surprised if that had been the path taken by the Cardinal.
The loss would have been expected, the season would have become a death march, and David Shaw's detractors would've been waiting on the tarmac with torches and pitchforks.
But somehow, against all odds and surprising even the most optimistic supporters (like me), the Cardinal showed immediately that they had put last weekend's defeat behind them. Even the opening three-and-out from the defense was surprising, but when the offense backed that up with one of its best drives of the season, Stanford fans everywhere must've sat up a bit straighter on couches all across Mighty Card Nation.
It's not that the drive was particularly dynamic, dominant, or creative, but it was efficient. In many ways, it was what we remember a Stanford offense to be -- solid run blocking, timely passing, and play calling aimed at exploiting advantages. Casey Filkins carried the ball four times, and Tanner McKee dropped back to pass four times, and the mixture of the two was effective. We saw some nice play design on a pass to my favorite wide receiver, Elijah Higgins, as Higgins faked a block on the outside to sell the idea of a wide receiver screen behind him to Michael Wilson, but then released on a slant. McKee hit him in stride for a casual 19-yard gain. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't the type of play we might see from an innovator like Mike Leach or Lincoln Riley, but it was subtle and effective. It moved the ball upfield.
A few plays later Stanford had a 1st and goal at the Notre Dame 2 when something beautiful happened. The Cardinal broke the huddle in a standard formation -- five offensive linemen, a tight end, three receivers, and a running back. Because of that personnel, the Irish couldn't load up on defense; they had to play it straight. But instead of going to the end zone fade, McKee handed the ball to Filkins, and Filkins pounded his way forward for a two-yard touchdown.
Any touchdown is a good thing, and any touchdown that gives you a lead in South Bend, Indiana, when you haven't won an FBS game in more than a calendar year is a great thing, but there was something about this score that meant even more. Notice that all three of the linemen on the right side of the line actually cross the goal line ahead of Filkins. They didn't just open up a crease for Filkins to shimmy through on his way to the end zone, they erased the Notre Dame defensive line. It was a welcome sight.
The Cardinal's next possession stalled at the Stanford 31, and for a moment it looked like disaster had walked in the door. Even though they had started out fast and appeared to be playing well, everything still felt tenuous. My wounds from the previous week still hadn't healed, so when the Irish rushed in and blocked Ryan Sanborn's punt, it was hard to fight off the pessimistic thoughts that began creeping in. When it appeared that Notre Dame had scored five plays later, the whispers in my head grew louder... until they were silenced by a penalty flag. The Notre Dame offense would look out of sync all night long, and they paid dearly for it here, as a lineman had strayed too far downfield. Two plays later the Irish had 4th and goal from the 2, but they passed on the field goal attempt and kept the offense out on the field. Who could blame them?
Notre Dame ran a nice play, with wide receiver Jayden Thomas cutting through the backfield and taking a handoff. It looked as if he was going to waltz into the end zone, but safety Patrick Fields knifed his way through the line of scrimmage and wrapped up his legs long enough for a few other white shirts to come in and finish him off.
It was a huge play, and it reminded me of a conversation I had had with Kyu Blu Kelly last summer at Media Day. He was talking about the importance of communication, and he explained that it's really about defenders recognizing the same thing and letting each other know what's about to happen. The wide receiver had started the play lined up outside, and Kelly was defending him. When the receiver started in motion back towards the backfield, Kelly naturally flowed with him, but you can see him calling and motioning to Fields. Fields then raises his hand in acknowledgment. Kelly knew the play was going in that direction, so safety help was no longer needed to his side. He was motioning Fields into the play, which allowed him a running start to get into the backfield to make the tackle. Kelly would go on to have a nice night making several other more obvious plays, but this subtle recognition was just as big, and it saved the Cardinal seven points.
Most of the second quarter passed uneventfully as the two teams traded several punts, but the Cardinal had an opportunity to close the half with points as they mounted a long thirteen-play drive that finally reached a decision point at 4th and 2 from the Notre Dame 28 with 1:45 to play. Shaw could justifiably have sent Joshua Karty out to get three points, but instead he made the bold move to keep his offense out on the field. McKee looked to his right hoping to find fullback Shield Taylor in the flat, but the pass fell incomplete. Taylor, McKee, and Shaw all immediately began lobbying for a penalty, and the replay showed why. An Irish defender had grabbed a fistful of Taylor's jersey and pulled him to the turf. It was textbook defensive holding, but the officials in South Bend sometimes call things with a touch of bias towards the Irish. Have you noticed?
Now it was the Irish who were looking to score before the half, but when quarterback Drew Payne dropped back to pass on 1st and 10 from the Stanford 49, the pocket collapsed and Stephen Herron came up with a strip sack, turning the ball right back over to the Cardinal. And it wasn't an anomaly. The biggest difference in the Stanford team we saw on Saturday night and the one that had played the previous five games was the defensive line. They made the night uncomfortable for Payne with consistent pressure and at least two batted balls at the line of scrimmage. That pressure up front -- and almost all of it generated by a standard four-man rush -- in turn allowed the secondary to have its best game of the season. (This would prove to be important.)
The Cardinal took advantage of their fortune by bringing in Karty to hit a 45-yard field goal as time ran out, and Stanford, inexplicably, took a 10-0 lead into halftime.
Karty would push the lead to 13-0 with another field goal midway through the third quarter, this one from 43 yards out, but it wasn't terribly surprising when the Irish finally woke up and put together a six-play touchdown drive to cut the lead to 13-7. Then things got sticky when Shaw uncharacteristically went for it on 4th and 2 from the Notre Dame 41. The Irish defense stopped Casey Filkins short of the line, and then the offense cashed that in for another touchdown, and suddenly Notre Dame led 14-13 with almost an entire quarter to play.
Considering all that this team had been through, it would've been understandable if doubt would have crept in. As they looked around a raucous stadium and realized their nightmares from the previous six nights were all coming true, it wouldn't just have made sense for them to give in, it would have been expected.
But instead they dug deeper and mounted a drive of their own. It was a ten-play drive that featured a couple nice passes from McKee, a fortunate overturn of what was initially ruled a fumble, and some tough running from Filkins. There are many stories in this game, but one of them is certainly the continued emergence of running back Casey Filkins. When E.J. Smith went down for the season, most observers assumed that the Cardinal offense would suffer greatly due to the lack of experience at the position. No one could have imagined what we've seen from Filkins.
After averaging twenty carries a game over the previous three weeks, Filkins broke out with 32 carries against the Irish, gaining 91 yards with a touchdown. All of those yards were important, but it's his versatility that has really expanded the offense. He had four receptions on Saturday night, each of them a shovel pass that adds a layer of misdirection to the game plan. His last such reception was his most important of the game. McKee dropped back on 3rd and 12 from the Notre Dame 35, then flipped the ball forward to Filkins, who was able to slither through the muck at the line of scrimmage and gain eleven yards to the 24. Shaw must've been at least a bit tempted to try to get that 1st down, but since he has the most reliable collegiate kicker I've ever seen, he sent Kan't Miss Karty out to attempt a 43-yard field goal. He piped it right down the middle, naturally, and Stanford had a 16-14 lead.
But of course, there were still more than ten minutes to play, and the Notre Dame offense had come to life. They were able to move the ball efficiently down the field, converting a 4th down along the way and also benefitting from a pass interference penalty, but just as they were gathering momentum that seemed certain to lead to another score, the Stanford defense came up big. Notre Dame tailback Audric Estime broke through the line for a nice gain, but safety Kendall Williamson but his helmet on the ball when he came in to make the tackle, and the ball squirted out and onto the turf. Team captain Jonathan McGill corralled it at the Stanford 21, and the threat was turned away. After five games of handing out turnovers like candy on Halloween, the Cardinal played a clean game in South Bend and recovered two Irish fumbles. It would be the difference in the game.
Stanford's next drive was effective, in that it gained a couple 1st downs, burned up some clock, and forced the Irish to use all three of their timeouts. When they took over on their own 16 with only 2:30 to play, the Stanford defense appeared to be in the driver's seat.
Notre Dame earned one 1st down, but then Stephen Herron came up with his second sack of the game on 2nd 4, and things appeared to be slipping away for the Irish. Two plays after that, on 4th and 8, Jonathan McGill's tight coverage forced one final incompletion, and that was that.
Afterwards we heard about Stanford's strong week of practice, and analysts praised Shaw's leadership during this difficult stretch, but it was still one of the more improbable wins in recent memory. This team could not have come out of the locker room with any reasonable expectation of victory, and yet they returned to that locker room victorious. If I had a research team here at GMC, I'd direct them to find out the last time a team snapped a losing streak of four games or more with a win over Notre Dame in South Bend. Since I don't, I'll just have to assume it's been a long, long time.
More than anything else, though, this is a victory for these players, and it gave me goosebumps to watch them celebrate after the game. (It had been two months since they'd done the C-House chant, so they can be excused for stumbling through it a bit.) They gathered around the Legends Cup, a trophy few of them had seen before, and the season that once was lost, now had been found. This team won't win a conference championship and will have to fight tooth and nail to earn a bowl bid, but they earned a trophy with this win. Tangible evidence of a job well done. And there's another trophy out there, just waiting to be won back.
