Oct. 5, 2002

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

• For just the second time in the 114-year history of Notre Dame football, the Irish are selecting captains on a game-by-game basis. The only other time Notre Dame chose captains in this fashion was 1946 under legendary head coach Frank Leahy. Today’s Irish captains were: C Jeff Faine, WR Omar Jenkins, DE Ryan Roberts and CB Shane Walton. It was Faine’s third appearance as a captain this season, while Roberts and Walton each were captains for the second time in 2002.

• Notre Dame won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half. Stanford elected to receive, while the Irish chose to defend the North goal.

• Today’s game marked the 164th consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium (the first 130 at the old 59,075 capacity). The Stanford game also represented the 212th home sellout in the last 213 games (dating back to 1964), and the 142nd sellout in the last 165 games involving Notre Dame.

• Counting postseason play, Notre Dame has now had its last 116 games televised on one of four networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN), a stretch going back more than nine full seasons. The last time the Irish didn’t appear on one of those four networks was Oct. 31, 1992, when they defeated Navy, 38-7, at Giants Stadium. That game was only shown locally in South Bend on WNDU-TV.

• Notre Dame improves to 68-34-6 (.657) all-time against the Pacific-10 Conference, including a 15-7-1 (.673) mark in its last 23 games against the league, dating back to a 1992 win over USC.

• The Irish pick up their fifth win over a Pac-10 opponent in the last seven regular-season games.

• Notre Dame registers its 17th win in its last 18 October games, and moves its record in the month of October to 49-8 (.860) since the 1988 season.

• Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham becomes just the fourth mentor since 1913 to win his first five games at Notre Dame, joining Jesse Harper (nine – 1913-14), Frank Leahy (five – 1941) and Ara Parseghian (nine – 1964). Parseghian also defeated Stanford in the fifth game of that 1964 season.

• Notre Dame opens the season 5-0 for the first time since 1993, when the Irish won their first 10 games and ascended to No. 1 in the polls.

• The Irish extend their current winning streak to six games, dating back to the final game of last season. It’s the longest winning streak for Notre Dame since a seven-game run at the end of the 2000 season (Oct. 7-Nov. 25).

• The home team now has recorded seven consecutive wins in the Notre Dame-Stanford series.

• Notre Dame collects its 26th home victory in its last 31 games at Notre Dame Stadium, dating back to 1997.

• The Irish earn their 11th consecutive win and 20th victory in the last 22 games following a regularly-scheduled bye week.

• Notre Dame regains possession of The Legends Trophy, which is awarded annually to the winner of the Notre Dame-Stanford game.

• Sophomore QB Pat Dillingham made his first career start this afternoon. He’s the fifth Irish quarterback to make his first career start in the last 28 games. Also, since 1975, Notre Dame now is 17-6 (.739) when opening the game with a first-time starting quarterback, including a 13-2 (.867) mark over the last 18 seasons.

• Stanford’s first quarter touchdown pass from Chris Lewis to Teyo Johnson was the first offensive touchdown allowed by the Notre Dame defense in the first half this season.

• Senior PK Nicholas Setta converted a 30-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter. For his career, Setta now is 15-of-16 (.938) from 35 yards and in. His only miss in that range came from 32 yards away last season at Boston College.

• Notre Dame trailed at halftime for the first time in eight games when Stanford took a 7-3 lead to the dressing room today. The last time the Irish were behind at halftime was Nov. 3, 2001, when they trailed Tennessee, 7-3.

• Sophomore TB Rashon Powers-Neal picked up his first career touchdown on a three-yard run late in the third quarter.

• Senior PK Nicholas Setta converted all four of his PAT attempts today, including a 45-yarder late in the third quarter. The four PAT extended his current streak to 68 consecutive extra points made. The last time he missed a PAT was Oct. 7, 2000 vs. Stanford.

• Senior CB Shane Walton returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter. He is the fourth different Irish defensive back to score a TD this season – SS Gerome Sapp, CB Lionel Bolen and CB Vontez Duff all found the end zone against Purdue.

• Walton now has five interceptions this season, becoming the first Notre Dame player to record five thefts in one year since Lyron Cobbins also picked off five passes in 1995. The last Irish player with more than five INTs in a season was Todd Lyght in 1989 (8).

• Moments after Walton’s interception, ILB Courtney Watson notched his second career TD with a 34-yard interception return for a score in the waning moments of the third quarter. It marks the second time this season the Irish have scored two defensive TDs in one game (Gerome Sapp fumble return and Vontez Duff interception return vs. Purdue).

• Notre Dame registered three takeaways this afternoon, including Shane Walton and Courtney Watson’s interception returns for touchdowns, For the season, the Irish have recorded 16 takeaways, leading to 71 Irish points (including all three turnovers today). Notre Dame won the turnover battle today, 3-1, and now has a +9 turnover margin this year (16 takeaways, 7 giveaways).

• Sophomore TB Ryan Grant posted the second 100-yard rushing day of his career, running for 103 yards this afternoon.

• Sophomore TB Rashon Powers-Neal rushed for a career-high 108 yards today. His previous personal best was 43 yards vs. Purdue on Sept. 7.

• With today’s rushing performances by Grant and Powers-Neal, Notre Dame had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards for the first time since Autry Denson had 128 yards and Clement Stokes had 109 at Pittsburgh on Oct. 11, 1997.

• As a team, Notre Dame rushed for a season-best 249 yards, surpassing its 157-yard performance on the ground in the Kickoff Classic vs. Maryland.

• Notre Dame’s 21-point outburst in the third quarter was its highest one-period output since Oct. 28, 2000, when it tallied 21 points in the third stanza of a 34-31 overtime win over Air Force.