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FOOTBALL POST-GAME NOTES
at Notre Dame 31, Stanford 10 (South Bend, IN - Notre Dame Stadium)
October 7, 2006
STANFORD
Stanford scored on its first drive of the game for the first time this season when Aaron Zagory connected on a 19-yard field goal with 1:15 to go in the first stanza to cap a 14-play, 71-yard drive ... Zagory has now made three of his last four field goal attempts.
Trent Edwards now ranks among Stanford's all-time leaders in pass attempts (6th, 865), pass completions (6th, 487), passing yards (7th, 5429), total offense (7th, 5624), touchdown passes (7th, 36) and completion percentage (10th, 56.3, 487-865 ... Edwards snapped a string of four consecutive games with an interception by not throwing a pick today.
Anthony Kimble's 57-yard touchdown pass to Kelton Lynn on a halfback option with 14:27 remaining in the fourth quarter was Kimble's first career passing attempt and the longest Stanford play from the line of scrimmage this season ... The touchdown was also the first for Stanford after the Cardinal had been scoreless for seven consecutive quarters since Trent Edwards hooked up Lynn on a 25-yard TD pas with 10:47 remaining in the fourth quarter against Washington State on September 23.
Anthony Kimble finished the game with season-highs of 63 yards rushing and 15 rushes.
Michael Okwo had 12 tackles to extend his personal-best string of double-digit tackle contests to four games in a row.
Wopamo Osaisai had a career-best and team season-high three pass breakups and now leads the club this season with four.
Toby Gerhart surpassed the rushing total of 2005 leader Jason Evans (248 rushing yards) and now has a team-best 261 on the season.
David Lofton had a career-high-tying six solo tackles and also his first collegiate sack.
NOTRE DAME
Today's attendance of 80,795 is the 189th consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Since 1966, every Notre Dame home football game has been a sellout except one - a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. Air Force. The Irish now have played in front of sellouts in 237 of their last 238 home games.
The Notre Dame win today ... made Notre Dame 5-1 for the first time since 1998 ... was the third straight victory for the Irish ... was the fifth consecutive victory over Stanford overall and sixth straight win against the Cardinal in Notre Dame Stadium ... improved Notre Dame to 15-6-0 in the all-time series with Stanford ... improved the Irish to 9-2-0 in the all-time series with Stanford in Notre Dame Stadium ... improved a ranked Irish squad to 11-2 all-time against Stanford ... improved Notre Dame to 15-3 all-time against an unranked Stanford squad ... improved Weis' record to 14-4 overall, 2-0 against Stanford and 3-1 against Pac-10 foes ... improved Weis' home record to 7-3 ... improved Weis' record to 3-1 in October games ... improved Weis' record to 8-4 in afternoon games ... improved Notre Dame's all-time record to 816-267-42 ... improved the Irish's all-time record at home to 294-90-5 ... improved Notre Dame's all-time record against the Pac-10 to 75-39-6
The following Notre Dame players extended streaks for consecutive starts: senior QB Brady Quinn (39), senior OT Ryan Harris (30), senior DT Derek Landri (30), senior DE Victor Abiamiri (19), senior WR Jeff Samardzija (19), senior OL Dan Santucci (18), senior CB Mike Richardson (18) and junior LB Maurice Crum, Jr. (18).
With Notre Dame's touchdown on the game's opening drive, the Irish recorded a touchdown on their opening drive of the game for the second time in 2006 and 10th time in head coach Charlie Weis' 18th career game on the sidelines.
The 17-play, 91-yard scoring drive that lasted 7:10 to open the game was Notre Dame's longest drive of the season in terms of plays, yards and time of possession. The length of the drive was the longest, in terms of yards, since the Irish marched 94 yards in the first quarter against Tennessee on Nov. 5 of the 1005 season.
Stanford's 14-play, 71-yard drive that resulted in a field goal was the longest scoring drive by a Notre Dame opponent this season.
Notre Dame failed to convert on a fourth-down attempt midway through the second quarter. The Irish had converted their previous three fourth-down attempts. Notre Dame now is 10-for-13 on fourth downs in 2006.
The Cardinal totaled 71 yards on their opening 14-play scoring drive. Notre Dame limited Stanford to just nine yards on its next nine plays and limited the Cardinal to just four total yards in the second quarter.
Notre Dame ran 43 plays in the first half, compared to Stanford's 23 plays in the opening half.
The Irish limited the Cardinal to 71 yards rushing on 31 carries. Notre Dame held Stanford to -11 yards rushing in the matchup last season.
Notre Dame had just eight sacks over its first four games of 2006. The Irish finished today's game with a season-high five sacks (the Irish sacked Stanford seven times in the 2005 game).
Notre Dame eclipsed the 30-point barrier for the third consecutive games and fourth time this season. The Irish have scored 30 or more points 14 times under second-year head coach Charlie Weis.
Senior QB Brady Quinn ?... completed a pass in his 42nd consecutive game, now just one game shy of Ron Powlus' (1994-97) school record of 43 straight games with a completion ?... recorded his 72nd career touchdown pass with his 8-yard strike in the first-quarter to senior WR Jeff Samardzija ?... tossed his 73rd career touchdown pass with his 16-yard pass in the second quarter to senior WR Rhema McKnight ?... registered his 74th career touchdown pass with his 1-yard pass in the fourth quarter to senior TE John Carlson ?... completed a pass to seven different receivers ?... posted his 12th career game (fourth in '06) with at least three touchdown passes ?... has totaled 16 touchdown passes in the past five games, after failing to throw a TD pass in the opener versus Georgia Tech
Junior RB Darius Walker ?... moved into sixth place on the Irish career rushing list, passing Phil Carter (1979-82) ?... his 32-yard touchdown rush was his third rushing TD of the season and 19th of his career ?... the 32-yard scamper was his longest rush of the season ?... the touchdown also gives him 22 career scores ?... he eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the second time in 2006 and 11th time in his career ?... passed Jerome Heavens (1975-78) for ninth on the all-time all-purpose yards list ?... passed George Gipp (1917-20) for eighth on the all-time all-purpose yards list ?... passed John Lattner (1951-53) for seventh on the all-time all-purpose yards list ?... moved into ninth place all-time in career total yards, passing Don Miller of the Four Horsemen backfield (1922-24) ?... finished with 153 yards rushing (second-most of his career) ?... his career-high was 186 yards rushing last season against Stanford ?... rushed for 339 yards the past two seasons against the Cardinal (421 yards for his career against Stanford, in three games played) ?... registered 140 yards rushing in consecutive games for the first time in his career (146 last week vs. Purdue)
Senior TE John Carlson ?... passed Anthony Fasano (367; 2002) for seventh-most receiving yards in a single season by a Irish tight end ?... his six catches today give him 28 for the season, which is sixth-most in Notre Dame single-season tight end history (passed Pete Chryplewicz, 1996, and Anthony Fasano, 2004) ?... the six receptions is a single-game career high ?... he also moved past Mark Bavaro (395, 1984) for sixth-most receiving yards in a single season by an Irish tight end
Senior WR Jeff Samardzjia ?... surpassed Ken McAfee (1974-77) for seventh all-time in career receptions ?... passed Derrick Mayes (1992-95) for sixth all-time in career receptions ?... moved ahead of Maurice Stovall (2002-05) for fifth all-time in career receptions ?... registered his 21st career touchdown (20th receiving) on an eight-yard pass from senior QB Brady Quinn in the first quarter ?... fielded his first career punt (replacing absent senior SS Tom Zbikowski) ?... caught a season-high seven receptions (all in the first half) ?... attempted his first career pass
Senior WR Rhema McKnight ?... moved past Tim Brown for third all-time in career receptions ?... caught his seventh touchdown pass of the season and 14th of his career ?... his seven touchdown grabs is tied for seventh in single-season Irish history with Tom Gatewood (1970) ?... he has caught a touchdown pass in five consecutive games ?... surpassed Jim Seymour (1966-68) for second in career receptions Senior DE Victor Abiamiri ?... recorded his third, fourth and fifth sack of the season (giving him 15 for his career) ?... moved into sole possession of ninth place on the career sacks list (since 1982) ?... has totaled seven sacks versus Stanford during the past two seasons (his 10 tackles in the '05 game versus the Cardinal included four sacks)
Sophomore SS Ray Herring ?... made his first career start for the Irish and led team with nine tackles (five solo) ?... first player other than Tom Zbikowski to start a game at strong safety since Garron Bible on Dec. 6, 2003, at Syracuse
Senior SS Tom Zbikowski ?... streak of 29 consecutive games started for Notre Dame was snapped (streak started on Sept. 4, 2004, at BYU)
Freshman RB Munir Prince ?... recorded a season-best 11-yard carry in the second quarter ?... registered a single-game, season-high 17 yards rushing (entered the game with just four yards on six career carries)
Senior FB Ashley McConnell ?... registered his second catch of 2006 and first since a three-yard scoring reception against Michigan earlier this season
Senior TE Marcus Freeman ?... recorded his third catch of the season and first since the Penn State game earlier this season ?... the 25-yard grab in the second quarter was the longest of his career (previous career best was 16 yards)
Sophomore WR David Grimes ?... made his first career start
Senior K Carl Gioia ?... 35-yard field goal tied his career-long; also was team's first field goal since the Penn State game earlier this season
Junior LB Maurice Crum ?... made the first interception of his career in the fourth quarter of today's game
Freshman RB James Aldridge ?... entered game on the final drive for his first game action with the Irish ?... rushed four times for 25 yards, with one of the rushes producing a first down
GENERAL
Stanford won the toss and elected to defer to the second-half. The Cardinal defended the south end zone in the first half.
Notre Dame was ranked 12th in the Associated Press poll at kickoff. Stanford came into the game unranked in the AP poll.