College Football Old School Game of the Week: Notre Dame Remains Unbeaten Thanks to Overtime Goalline Stand

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o meets Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor at the goal line at the end of the 2012 matchup between the Irish and the Cardinal.

 There are moments during a football season when fans realize that this could be a special season.

For the fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, that moment came during the end of their game against the Stanford Cardinal where the Notre Dame defense put together a goal line stand for the ages.

The Irish came into the game ranked #7 in the country with a 5-0 record thanks in large part to their defense which led by middle linebacker Manti Te'o had given up just 39 points up to this point in the season and had not given up a touchdown in their previous three games.

On offense, the Irish were led by quarterback Everett Golson who been named the starting quarterback by head coach Brian Kelly before the season as Tommy Rees, the team's starting quarterback from the previous season, had been suspended for the first game of the season after an offseason arrest at an off campus party.

Golson and the Irish looked to remain unbeaten as they hosted the #17 ranked Stanford Cardinal from the Pac-12 who came into the game with a 4-1 record having just come off a 54-48 overtime win over Arizona the previous week.

Stanford was led by second-year head coach David Shaw, who had taken over as head coach of the Cardinal after Jim Harbaugh left to become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers before the 2011 season.

Shaw's first year was successful as the Cardinal went 11-2 to finish the season #7 ranked in the country as Stanford played in its second straight BCS Bowl game.

But for 2012, the Cardinal would have to rely on a new quarterback as Andrew Luck, the team's starting quarterback for the previous three seasons had also left for the NFL as he was selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the #1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft.

Josh Nunes had been given the difficult task of taking over for Luck as he helped Stanford knock off #2 USC three weeks earlier as the Cardinal hoped he could lead Stanford to an upset of Notre Dame on a rainy Saturday in South Bend.

 After the Cardinal went three-and-out to start the game, the Irish got the ball at their 25-yard-line and proceeded to drive to the Stanford 49-yard-line until quarterback Everett Golson fumbled the snap from center as Stanford defensive back Usua Amanam recovered the ball at the Notre Dame 47-yard-line.

A 14-yard pass from Nunes to tight end Zach Ertz and three running plays that totaled 13 yards put Stanford at the Irish 20-yard-line when Nunes lofted a pass intended for wide receiver Kodi Whitfield only to have it intercepted by Irish cornerback Bennett Jackson to give the ball back to Notre Dame at their one-yard-line.

The two teams would trade punts until late in the first quarter when Irish defensive back Matthias Farley picked off a Nunes pass and returned it 49 yards to the Stanford 16-yard-line to help set up a 29-yard field goal by Kyle Brindza to give Notre Dame a 3-0 lead with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Cardinal would begin their next possession at their 25-yard-line as it appeared to go three-and-out as Nunes threw an incomplete pass on 3rd & 10 only for Irish defensive tackle Stephen Tuitt get called for roughing the passer to give Stanford a 1st down at its 40-yard-line.

A 22-yard pass from Nunes to Ertz would help the Cardinal drive down to the Notre Dame eight-yard-line to set up a 25-yard field goal attempt by Jordan Williamson when Tuitt made up for his mistake earlier in the drive as he would block the kick to keep the score at 3-0 in favor of the Irish with 9:46 left in the second quarter.

Manti Te'o would finish the game with a game high 11 tackles.

After another exchange of punts, the Irish got the ball back at their 10-yard-line as a quarterback sack and an incomplete pass would bring up 3rd & 16 when disaster struck as Golson was hit in the end zone by Stanford defensive end Ben Gardner to cause a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Chase Thomas for a touchdown to give the Cardinal a 7-3 lead with 6:06 to go in the second quarter.

The Irish would get the ball back at their 13-yard-line as they quickly drove into Stanford territory as running back Theo Riddick would run for 12 yards to start the drive which was followed by a 20-yard pass from Golson to wide receiver T.J. Jones and then a 23-yard run by Golson to put Notre Dame at the Cardinal 32-yard-line.

Six plays later, the Irish would bring on Brindza to attempt a 27-yard field goal but a bad snap would force the Irish to abandon the field goal attempt and give Stanford the ball back at its 26-yard-line with 1:34 left before halftime.

The Cardinal would go into their hurry-up offense as Nunes would complete four of five passes for 41 yards on a drive which would end with a 48-yard field goal by Williamson as time expired in the first half with Stanford ahead 10-3.

The defenses would dominate the early part of the third quarter as both teams would go three-and-out on their first two possessions of the second half until the Irish used their running game to drive from their 13-yard-line to the Stanford 37-yard-line when Golson took off and run for 20 yards until he was hit by Cardinal cornerback Alex Carter to jar the ball loose as Gardner would make the recovery to give Stanford the ball at its 17-yard-line.

The Irish defense would force a three-and-out to give their offense the ball at their 48-yard-line as a 23-yard pass from Golson to Riddick would help Notre Dame drive to the Stanford 16-yard-line until a pair of false start penalties on right guard Mike Golic Jr pushed them back 10 yards.

A pair of runs which gained only two yards would set up 3rd & 18 when Golson connected with tight end Tyler Eifert for a 24-yard touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter that with the extra point tied the game at 10.

The Cardinal would begin its next possession at their 25-yard-line as they would drive down the field on the right arm of Nunes who would complete four of six passes for 52 yards on a 16-play, 68-yard drive that took over eight minutes off the clock and culminated with a 27-yard field goal by Williamson to give Stanford a 13-10 lead with 6:12 remaining in regulation.

The Irish would get the ball back at their 16-yard-line as running back Cierre Wood would carry the ball three straight times, picking up 23 yards to set up 3rd & 4 when Golson found Jones for 14 yards to give Notre Dame a 1st down at the Stanford 47-yard-line.

An illegal block penalty would push the Irish back to their 47-yard-line when Golson was struck with a helmet-to-helmet hit by Amanam at the end of a four-yard run to draw a 15-yard penalty and give Notre Dame a 1st down at the Stanford 34-yard-line.

However, Golson would have to leave the game with a concussion as Rees would come on to replace Golson with 3:24 left in regulation and the Irish needing at least a field goal.

A run for no gain and a false start penalty would push the Irish back five yards to set up 2nd & 15 when Rees connected with Eifert to bring up 3rd & 4 when Rees try to hit the tight end again only for Cardinal cornerback Terrence Brown get called for pass interference to give Notre Dame a 1st down at the Stanford 13-yard-line.

From there, the Irish kept the ball on the ground as Wood would run for three yards followed by a five-yard run by Riddick on 2nd down to set up 3rd & 2 when Riddick was stopped for no gain to bring up 4th & 2 as Kelly would send in the field goal unit to try and tie the game.

Brindza would come to kick a 22-yard field goal to tie the game at 13 with 20 seconds left in regulation as Stanford would take a knee to run out the clock and send the game into overtime as the Cardinal would win the overtime coin toss and elected to play defense to start the extra period.

Tommy Rees would complete all four of his passes for 43 yards in relief of Everett Golson.

Things got off to an auspicious start for the Irish as Rees would be sacked by Stanford linebacker Trent Murphy for a seven-yard loss to force a 2nd & 17 from the Cardinal 32-yard-line.

However, Rees would recover as he would complete a nine-yard pass to wide receiver DaVaris Daniels to set up 3rd & 8 when Rees hit Reddick for 16 yards and a 1st down at the Stanford seven-yard-line.

That is when Rees found Jones for a seven-yard touchdown that with the extra point gave Notre Dame a 20-13 lead as its defense would come onto the field hoping to keep the Cardinal out of the end zone and ending the game.

Much like Notre Dame, the Stanford offense would go backwards on its first play of their overtime possession as running back Stepfan Taylor would be dropped for a five-yard loss to set up 2nd & 15 when Nunes would scramble for 13 yards which was followed by a 13-yard run by Taylor to give the Cardinal a 1st & goal at the Irish four-yard-line.

Two more runs by Taylor for three yards would bring up 3rd & goal from the one-yard-line when Taylor was stopped for no gain to bring up a do-or-die 4th & goal when the Cardinal went back to Taylor one more time to get into the end zone and extend the game.

But Taylor would be stopped once again as Jackson and linebacker Carlo Calabarese would stop his progress as Notre Dame came away with the 20-13 victory, though Stanford believed that Taylor had gotten into the end zone after his initial progress had been stopped but to no avail.

While the loss would drop them from #17 to #22 in the polls, the Cardinal would recover as they would not lose another game for the rest of the season as they would go on an eight-game winning streak which included a 17-14 overtime win over 10-0 Oregon, a 27-24 win over UCLA in the Pac 12 Championship Game and a 20-14 win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl as Stanford would finish the season with a 12-2 record.

As for the Irish, they would ride their defense to an undefeated regular season which included in another memorable goal line stand in their regular season finale against USC which resulted in a 22-13 win to clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship Game as Te'o would finish second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

However, the Irish would get steamrolled by Alabama as the Crimson Tide won 42-14 to give the Tide its second straight national championship and third in four years.