Oct. 9, 2004

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Oct. 9, 2004 – Notre Dame Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
(Notre Dame 23, Stanford 15)

NOTRE DAME-STANFORD SERIES HISTORY AND GAME NOTES

• Notre Dame now leads the all-time series with Stanford, 13-6, including an 8-2 record at Notre Dame Stadium, where the Irish have won five in a row over the Cardinal.
• The home team now has won eight of the past nine games in the series, with last year’s 57-7 Irish win in Palo Alto marking the only road win in that span.
• Notre Dame’s current three-game winning streak matches its longest in the Stanford series. The Irish also won three in a row over the Cardinal in 1964 and 1988-89.
• Notre Dame’s defense has held Stanford to a total of 29 points (9.7 ppg.) in their last three matchups. Conversely, the Irish have scored 111 points (37.0 ppg.) during those same three games, which coincide with Tyrone Willingham’s move from Stanford to Notre Dame.
• The Irish record their ninth home victory in the past 10 meetings with a Pac-10 Conference team since 1998 (only loss was to USC last season).
• Notre Dame improves to 72-36-6 (.658) all-time against Pac-10 teams, including a 42-13-1 (.759) mark at Notre Dame Stadium.
• Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham remains undefeated in three career games against Stanford, the school he coached for seven seasons.
• Notre Dame retains possession of the Legends Trophy for the third consecutive year, and moves to 2-1 this season in “trophy games” – the Irish defeated Michigan State (Megaphone Trophy), but lost to Purdue (the Shillelagh Trophy).

NOTRE DAME TEAM NOTES

• Notre Dame registers its 800th win, becoming the second program in NCAA Division I-A history to reach that milestone (Michigan is the other). The Irish have an all-time record of 800-260-41.
• Including all four wins this season, Notre Dame is 12-4 (.750) in “one-possession games” (decided by eight points or less) since Tyrone Willingham took over as the Irish head coach in 2002. The only times the Irish have not won a close ball game under Willingham’s guidance were against Boston College in 2002 (14-7) and 2003 (27-25), Michigan State in 2003 (22-16) and BYU in 2004 (20-17).
• Notre Dame mounted its longest scoring drive of the season (in terms of time) in the third quarter, using up 6:27 en route to a one-yard touchdown dive by senior RB Ryan Grant. Previously, the longest drive had taken 4:19 last week against Purdue (resulting in a 26-yard field goal by senior K D.J. Fitzpatrick).
• Notre Dame head coach Tyrone Willingham is the fourth Irish mentor to face a school where he held the same title, taking on Stanford for the third time since he arrived in South Bend. Counting today’s 23-15 win, Irish head coaches now are 17-1 all-time when playing their former employers (only loss was Dan Devine vs. Missouri in 1978).
• The Notre Dame run defense has been exceptionally sturdy since head coach Tyrone Willingham and defensive coordinator Kent Baer arrived on the scene in 2002. Over the last three seasons, the Irish have held 18 of 31 opponents to less than 100 yards rushing, including four games this year (BYU – 22; Michigan – 56; Purdue – 99, Stanford – 67).

NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• With 67 yards rushing this afternoon, senior RB Ryan Grant has moved into 18th place on Notre Dame’s career rushing list with 1,847 yards. Today, he passed Ricky Watters (1,814 from 1987-90), Christie Flanagan (1,822 from 1925-27) and Jim Crowley (1,841 from 1922-24) on the Irish all-time chart.
• Grant also rushed for two touchdowns this afternoon and now has three TD runs this season. In three career games vs. Stanford, Grant has rushed for six touchdowns (one in 2002; three in 2003; two today).
• Sophomore quarterback Brady Quinn completed 11 of 24 passes for 173 yards in the win over Stanford. In his last three outings (Washington, Purdue and Stanford), Quinn has completed 54 of 102 passes (.528) for 871 yards. The 871 yards is the second-best three-game total for an Irish quarterback, trailing only Joe Theismann with 947 yards in 1970 (272 – Georgia Tech; 149 – LSU; 526 – USC).
• Senior tight end Jerome Collins set new career highs with three catches for 45 yards. Collins was moved from defensive end/outside linebacker to tight end this past spring.

NOTRE DAME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• With the Stanford game televised nationally by NBC, the Irish extended their streak of appearances on one of four major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS or ESPN) to 142 consecutive games, a stretch that covers 10 full seasons (1993-2003). The last time the Irish didn’t appear on one of those four networks was more than 11 years ago (Oct. 31, 1992), when Notre Dame downed Navy, 38-7, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. That game was shown locally in the South Bend area on WNDU-TV.
• Today’s game captains for Notre Dame were: DE Kyle Budinscak, LB Mike Goolsby, RB Ryan Grant and WR Rhema McKnight. The Irish have chosen captains on a game-by-game basis throughout Tyrone Willingham’s tenure at Notre Dame.
• Stanford won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, while Notre Dame chose to receive and defend the South goal.