College Football Old School Game of the Week: Notre Dame Clinches BCS Bowl Berth With Wild Win over Stanford

Brady Quinn threw for 432 yards and three touchdown passes in the Irish's win over Stanford in 2005.

As the Notre Dame Fighting Irish traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area to face off with the Stanford Cardinal in their regular season finale in 2005, the stakes were very high as the Irish needed a win to secure a spot to play in one of major bowl games in the Bowl Championship Series or the infamous BCS.

The Irish entered the game with a 8-2 record under head coach Charlie Weis, who was in his first season as the head coach of the Irish after serving as the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots in helping the Patriots win three Super Bowls in three out of the previous four years.

Weis' impact was immediate as the offense set numerous records with quarterback Brady Quinn, running back Darius Walker, and wide receiver Jeff Samardzija helped lead the Irish to an average of 37.2 points per game and scoring at least 30 points in all but one game during the 2005 season to put the Irish on the brink of a BCS bowl game for the first time since 2000.

Standing in the Irish's way of a $14 million payday were the Stanford Cardinal who entered the game with a 5-5 record needing a win to become bowl eligible.

The Cardinal were led by head coach Walt Harris, who was in his first season at Stanford after spending the previous eight seasons as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers.

With his starting quarterback Trent Edwards banged up with an arm injury, Harris' Cardinal were 18-point underdogs as they hosted the Irish it would be the last game at Stanford Stadium before it underwent renovations that would drop its capacity from 84,000 to 50,000.

The only thing standing in the Irish's way of a It didn't take long for the Irish to get on the scoreboard as Quinn connected with Samardzija on an 80-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game to give Notre Dame a 7-0 lead.

After the Cardinal went three-and-out on their first possession of the game, the Irish had the ball at their 40-yard-line when Quinn was picked off by Stanford linebacker Kevin Schimmelmann to give his team the ball at the Notre Dame 41-yard-line.

The Stanford drive got off to an auspicious start as Edwards was sacked on 1st down by Notre Dame cornerback Mike Richardson for a six-yard-loss to push the Cardinal back to the Irish 47-yard-line for 2nd & 16 when Edwards completed a 20-yard pass to running back J.R. Lemon for a 1st down.

Two plays later, Edwards would throw a 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Bradford that would tie the game 7-7 just 3:32 into the game.

It seemed like a track meet was underway especially after Quinn connected with Maurice Stovall for a 42-yard completion on the first play of the Irish's ensuing possession to put Notre Dame at the Stanford 30-yard-line.

From there, Walker would carry the ball on the next four plays running for 23 yards which was followed by a two-yard run by Samardzija to give Notre Dame a 1st & goal at the Stanford five-yard-line.

Following a two-yard-loss by Walker, Quinn found Samardzija in the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown to put Notre Dame back on top 14-7 midway through the first quarter.

Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija caught eight passes for 192 yards and scored two TDs.

After both teams punted on their next possessions, the Cardinal had the ball at their 20-yard-line as they proceeded on a drive that would go into the second quarter as Stanford traveled 57 yards before they faced a 4th & 1 at the Notre Dame 33-yard-line.

The Cardinal decided to go for the 1st down only to have it fail as Edwards' pass intended for Bradford fell incomplete, giving the Irish the ball at their 33-yard-line with 12:25 left in the second quarter.

The Irish would drive to the Stanford 38-yard-line until they were faced with a 4th & 6 situation when Weis decided to go for the 1st down which just like the Cardinal on their previous possession failed as Quinn was sacked for a 11-yard-loss by Jon Alston and Michael Okwo to give Stanford the ball at their 49-yard-line.

Edwards was sacked on 1st down for a three-yard-loss but came right back with a 16-yard completion to tight end Mark Traverso, followed by a 38-yard touchdown pass to Justin McCollum that with the extra point tied the game at 14 with 8:14 left in the first half.

The Irish would get the ball back at their 23-yard-line as they drove to the Stanford 22-yard-line primarily on the legs of Walker, who carried the ball five times for 19 yards and caught a 11-yard pass on the drive which ended with another Quinn interception as Stanford strong safety Brandon Harrison made the pick at the Stanford six-yard-line with 4:22 before halftime.

Neither team would mount another scoring threat for the rest of the half as both teams traded punts until the halftime break with the game tied 14-14 and Stanford set to get the ball to start the second half.

However, the Cardinal would go three-and-out on their opening possession of the second half, punting the ball back to Notre Dame who took over at its 38-yard-line as the Irish would drive 62 yards in 10 plays as Quinn completed four of five passes for 45 yards on the drive including the 10-yard touchdown pass to Stovall to give Notre Dame a 20-14 lead.

The score would stay at 20-14 as D.J. Fitzpatrick's extra point bounced off the left upright and was no good.

When the Stanford offense came back onto the field for its next possession, it did so without Edwards, who left the game with an arm injury and was replaced by T.C. Ostrander.

Ostrander did not get off to a good start as the Cardinal would go three-and-out to give the ball back to Notre Dame at its 29-yard-line when Quinn connected with Samardzija for a 41-yard completion on the Irish's first play to give Notre Dame a 1st down at the Stanford 30-yard-line.

However, the Stanford defense would not permit another 1st down, forcing the Irish to settle for a 42-yard field goal attempt by Fitzpatrick, which sailed wide left and no good, to keep it 20-14 in favor of the Irish with 5:07 remaining in the third quarter.

The Cardinal took over at their 24-yard-line as Ostrander completed back-to-back passes to McCullum for 38 yards put Stanford at the Notre Dame 38-yard-line until two straight sacks forced the Cardinal to punt it away to the Irish who took over at their 13-yard-line.

Quinn would hit Stovall for 12 yards on 3rd & 7 to give Notre Dame a 1st down at its 28-yard-line when the Irish turned to the running game as they ran the ball four straight times culminating with a 38-yard run by Walker to the Stanford 11-yard-line on the final play of the third quarter.

The break between the third and fourth quarters was just what the Cardinal needed as they did not allow another yard on the next three plays forcing Weis to make a decision on 4th & 10.

Weis decided to send the field goal unit in but with Carl Gioia instead of Fitzpatrick to attempt a 28-yard field goal.

Gioia's kick sailed through the uprights to increase Notre Dame's lead to 23-14 with 13:29 left in the game.

Now down by two scores, the Cardinal needed a spark and they got on the ensuing kickoff as T.J. Rushing returned the kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown to bring Stanford to within two points at 23-21.

Stanford quarterback T.C. Ostrander came off the bench and completed 11 of 15 passes for 197 yards and threw one touchdown.

The Irish would get the ball back at its 20-yard-line as Quinn completed a five-yard pass to Stovall to start the drive which was followed by three straight runs by Walker for a total of 21 yards before Quinn went back to the air as he completed a four-yard pass to Stovall, then hit Matt Shelton for 25 yards to give Notre Dame a 1st down at the Stanford 25-yard-line.

Quinn would connect with Walker on a nine-yard pass that become 17 as Schimmelmann was called for a face mask penalty to give Notre Dame a 1st & goal at the Stanford eight-yard-line when Quinn handed it off to Travis Thomas who busted though for an eight-yard touchdown to push the Irish lead back to nine points at 30-21 with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinal would begin its ensuing possession at their 20-yard-line with two straight runs by Lemon that gained 14 yards until Ostrander connected with Traverso for a 21-yard completion and a Stanford 1st down at the Notre Dame 45-yard-line.

Two more completions to Traverso, a 23-yarder and another for eight yards, set up Michael Sgori's 31-yard field goal which trimmed the Irish's lead to 30-24 with 5:21 remaining.

The Irish would get the ball at their 31-yard-line hoping to drive down the field and get one more score to put the game away and seal their bid into a BCS bowl game.

Following a four-yard pass to Samardzija to start the drive, Quinn handed it off to Walker, who ran for 17 yards and a Notre Dame 1st down at the Stanford 48-yard-line.

Walker would then run for three yards which was followed by a two-yard run that was nullified by a holding penalty to push Notre Dame back to its 45-yard-line to face 2nd & 17 when Quinn connected with Stovall for 42 yards and a 1st down at the Stanford 18-yard-line.

From there, the Irish kept on the ground for the next three plays as the Cardinal called all three of their timeouts in order to save some time on the clock as Notre Dame prepared to kick a 29-yard field goal that they hope would put the game away.

But instead of sending in Gioia who had made a field goal and an extra point earlier in the fourth quarter, Weis sent Fitzpatrick back in to attempt the 29-yard field goal.

But Fitzpatrick's kick would sail wide left and no good to keep it 30-24 as the Cardinal took over at their 20-yard-line with 2:15 left on the clock and needing a touchdown to take the lead.

After Ostrander's pass intended for Bradford fell incomplete on 1st down, Ostrander went back to Bradford and fired a pass for Bradford who made the catch then ran down the left sideline before being knocked out of bounds at the Notre Dame four-yard-line after a 76-yard completion.

Then after Ostrander was stopped for no gain on 1st down, the backup quarterback found Traverso in the end zone for the four-yard touchdown that with the extra point gave Stanford a 31-30 lead with 1:46 to play.

Now trailing for the first time in the game, the Irish would need Quinn and the explosive Notre Dame offense to put together one more drive to get the go-ahead score and send Notre Dame to a big time bowl game.

The Irish took over at their 20-yard-line as Quinn found Samardzija for 30 yards to begin the drive, then hit Samardzija again for 17 yards to put the Irish at the Stanford 33-yard-line when Quinn was forced to scramble for three yards on 1st down to set up 2nd & 7.

That is when Quinn went back to Stovall who made a 21-yard catch despite being interfered with to go give Notre Dame a 1st & goal at the Stanford nine-yard-line.

Walker would get the call on 1st down running for three yards before running it in for the six-yard touchdown to put Notre Dame back on top 36-31.

The Irish would go for two to make it a seven-point game as Walker took a direct snap and ran it in for the two-point conversion to make it 38-31 with 55 seconds left in regulation.

Notre Dame running back Darius Walker finished with 35 carries for 184 yards and one touchdown plus five catches for 55 yards.

With no timeouts remaining and starting at their 20-yard-line, the Cardinal would need to pull off a miracle to try and force the game into overtime.

Ostrander would complete his first two passes for 18 yards to give Stanford a 1st down at its 38-yard-line when two straight incomplete passes lead to a 3rd & 10 when Ostrander was called for intentional grounding to push the Cardinal back nine yards to its 29-yard-line to face a do-or-die 4th & 19.

Notre Dame defensive end Victor Abiamirini would sack Ostrander for a 20-yard-loss to give the Irish the ball at the Stanford nine-yard-line where Quinn took a knee to run out the clock as the Irish came away with the 38-31 victory to secure their spot in a BCS bowl game.

The heartbreaking loss for Stanford dropped them to 5-6 meaning the Cardinal would not being playing in a bowl game in Harris' 1st season as head coach.

Things would get dramatically worse the next year as the Cardinal won only one game which lead to Harris being dismissed as head coach after just two seasons.

He was replaced by former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh who would rebuild the Cardinal into a power in the Pac-10 conference which many felt began with the Cardinal's historic upset over USC in 2007(To read about that game, click on the link which is highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/college-football-old-school-game-of.html).

As for the Irish, they would be selected to play in the Fiesta Bowl where they would face off with the Ohio State Buckeyes where the Irish would give up 617 yards of total offense as the Buckeyes would knock off the Irish 34-20 as Notre Dame finished the 2005 season with a 9-3 record and #9 ranking in the final AP poll and #11 in the coaches poll.

Quinn, Walker, and Samardzija would all return the following season to lead the Irish to another BCS bowl game where Notre Dame would be crushed by the LSU Tigers 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl to finish the 2006 season with a 10-3 record and top-20 ranking in both polls.

Following the 2006 season, the wheels would came off in South Bend as the Irish would go 17-21 over the next three years leading Weis' firing after the 2009 season.