Stanford Cardinal cornerback Ethan Bonner (13) is thrilled after defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sat Oct 15, 2022 at Notre Dame (@GoStanford photo)

By Barbara Mason

Last Saturday Stanford (2-4) dropped a heart- breaker in the final seconds of their game against Oregon State 28-27. Fast forward and the Cardinal were facing (3-3) Notre Dame in South Bend on a chilly Saturday night.

The Fighting Irish are coming off three wins in a row, most recently beating BYU 28-20. The Cardinal held on Saturday night at Notre Dame for a 16-14 squeaker to pick up their second win of the season and snapped the Fighting Irish’s winning streak.

The passing and rushing excellence that we saw from Notre Dame last week was nowhere to be found in the first half of this game. The struggling Cardinal started strong in the first quarter. Casey Filkins rushed for two yards to give Stanford an early 7-0 lead. Stanford would finish off the first half with a 45 yard Joshua Karty field goal taking a 10-0 lead into the locker room at half time.

The Stanford Cardinal would extend their lead in the third quarter with a second Karty field goal, this one a 43-yard kick and a 13-0 Stanford lead.

The expected Notre Dame domination in this game was absent in the first half but came to life in the third quarter when an Audric Estime ten yard romp gave the Fighting Irish their first touchdown of the game.

Notre Dame still trailed 13-7 but with a lot of time left on the clock there was a real shift in momentum. With time running out in the third quarter the Cardinal went on 4th and 2 and failed. Stanford was 0-2 on fourth downs.

The Notre Dame offense was wearing the Cardinal defense down going into the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish would start the quarter with a 41- yard touchdown from Drew Pyne to Tobias Merryweather to give Notre Dame their first lead of the game 14-13. After 2 1/2 lackluster quarters Notre Dame had turned this game around.

The Stanford offense continue to test the Notre Dame defense and Karty kicked his third field goal of the game, this one another 43-yarder taking back the lead for the Cardinal 16-14.

With 6:35 left in the game Notre Dame fumbled and the upset-minded Cardinal recovered. Stanford was able to hang on for the win 16-14. This game had so many highs and lows but it was the Cardinal defense that came up huge.

Next Saturday the Cardinal will take on Arizona State. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM.

Stanford Upsets Fighting Irish 16-14