Notre Dame vs. Stanford: Score, Grades and Analysis for Legends Trophy 2013

Tommy Rees regained the trust of some Notre Dame fans this season by avoiding the big mistake and coming through multiple times in the clutch. Apparently, no one told Wayne Lyons about the new Tommy Rees.

Lyons intercepted Rees twice in the fourth quarter and Tyler Gaffney rushed for a career-high 189 yards, as Stanford held on late for a 27-20 victory over Notre Dame at Stanford Stadium.

Rees' picks came just a quarter after he had spearheaded the Irish's comeback attempt, as they sat two scores behind the Cardinal for much of the contest. He found TJ Jones from six yards out and DaVaris Daniels from 14, helping Notre Dame turn a 21-6 third-quarter deficit into a 24-20 nailbiter going into the fourth.

Jordan Williamson's 28-yard field goal with 9:16 remaining finalized the score, but Stanford's own struggling offense kept giving Notre Dame chances that Rees could not take advantage of. Lyons' interceptions came on the Irish's final two drives, including their final drive in which Rees found the Stanford defensive back on an underthrown deep pass that could have been a touchdown.  

The senior quarterback, making his final regular-season start for the Irish, finished with 199 yards on 16-of-34 passing with two touchdowns against as many picks. Rees' late struggles helped obscure the foibles of Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan, who threw two interceptions—one in the fourth quarter—and had only 158 yards passing.

Hogan struggled mightily after giving Stanford its first lead of the game on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Devon Cajuste, which made the score 7-3 with 5:52 remaining in the first quarter. Cajuste led all Cardinal receivers with 75 yards on three grabs. 

Instead, as it has been throughout the season, Stanford's offensive production came from Gaffney and the power running game. A majority of Stanford's 261 rushing yards came via Gaffney, who allowed the Cardinal to control the ball for nearly 35 minutes. The senior running back toted the rock 33 times to gain his 189 yards and had a one-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give Stanford a 14-7 lead.

In the rare times when David Shaw gave Gaffney a break, Anthony Wilkerson also acquitted himself quite well, rushing for 34 yards and a touchdown. Hogan had 32 yards on eight carries. 

A season after ranking among the nation's best against the run, Notre Dame finishes 2013 on a wayward skid. The Irish allowed opponents to rush for more than 200 yards in four of their final five games, a stretch in which they played themselves out of BCS bowl contention. Last season, it took until their final game against Alabama to give up such a high number on the ground. 

Notre Dame's struggles to stop the ground game allowed Stanford to take a 14-6 lead going into the break and go up 21-6 on Wilkerson's 20-yard jaunt with 11:01 remaining in the third. Gaffney allowed the Cardinal to overcome the mistakes of Hogan, who has now thrown multiple interceptions in two of his last three games.

Stanford's next hurdle will be Arizona State in the Pac-12 championship game. The Cardinal can earn their 13th Rose Bowl berth in school history against the Sun Devils, who will host the festivities should they defeat Arizona. Shaw has gone to BCS bowl games in each of his first two seasons since taking over for Jim Harbaugh.

As for Notre Dame, the team's dreams of BCS glory for a second straight season have long since subsided. The Irish were ranked No. 25 in the country coming into Saturday, and will likely fall outside the rankers' purview again despite nearly pulling off an upset. With an 8-4 record, it's highly likely their season will finish in the month of December.

Each of Kelly's first two seasons in South Bend were eight-win seasons. It will be interesting to see whether the reaction will be any different this time around, just one year removed from an undefeated regular season and BCS National Championship Game berth.

Player Grades

Tommy Rees (QB, Notre Dame): C

This was a game typical of Rees' performance in 2013. At many different points, it looked like he was going to make the big mistake to cost the Irish the game. He struggled with accuracy, missed a ton of easy throws and was generally nerve-wracking to watch.

Only the mistakes didn't come. Rees completed only 47 percent of his passes, but the inaccuracies fell to the ground rather than into the hands of Cardinal defenders. As Stanford tried pulling away and sticking a stake into the Irish's heart, Rees twice drove down the field and scored touchdowns in the third quarter.

And then Rees finally made that critical error at the worst time. Twice.

It was a good-bad performance that would have been remembered more fondly had the Notre Dame defense been able to keep Tyler Gaffney from churning up the field. But, alas, Rees' last regular-season game as the Notre Dame quarterback ends as many of his did: with Golden Domers wondering if a better player could have pulled out the win.

Tyler Gaffney (RB, Stanford): A

Another day, another dominant outing for Tyler Gaffney. The senior back, who took a year-long break to play minor league baseball, came back and has been one of the nation's most powerful and consistent runners. This was the sixth time in his past seven outings going over the 100-yard mark, with the only outlier being last week's 63-13 win over Cal in which he barely saw the field after halftime.

Suffice it to say Gaffney made up for lost time against Notre Dame. Churning his legs and rarely going down on first contact, Gaffney was a chore to deal with for the Irish, who have struggled at times this season containing the run.

This week was yet another piece of evidence showing just how much they miss Louis Nix. With Gaffney keeping a majority of his runs within the tackles, Nix is the exact type of player who would have given the Stanford offensive line fits.

Alas, instead it was just another huge night for Gaffney.

Kevin Hogan (QB, Stanford): C

It's been an interesting few weeks for Hogan. Last Saturday's victory over Cal was the best night of his life, throwing a career-high five touchdowns without an interception.

Sandwiched between that game are two contests in which Hogan has looked shaky against solid competition. USC flustered the junior signal-caller into his first two-interception game of the season, and the Irish secondary did the same on Saturday. In fact, going back to Stanford's victory against Oregon State on Oct. 26, it's been a very long time since Cardinal fans have seen the version of Hogan who made them so bullish early on.

With a tough Arizona State team upcoming, it will be interesting to see whether Hogan can get back into a rhythm. Otherwise, the Cardinal's January bowl game might not be the one they want.

Tarean Folston (RB, Notre Dame): C

Kelly's running back rotation has been a week-to-week guessing game, and this week Folston's number got called. The highly touted freshman found a wall of Stanford defenders waiting for him on nearly every play, as did the remainder of the Irish ground game.

Folston, as he's been since joining the four-man fray, was still easily the most effective option. He had Notre Dame's long carry on the night (15 yards), averaged more yards per carry than Stanford typically gives up (3.6 compared to 3.0) and made it look more likely than ever that Kelly will feature him heavily in the bowl game.

We're still talking about a 50-yard evening here, so no great shakes can be awarded. But the future is bright for Folston. 

What's Next?

Stanford moves on to next week's Pac-12 Championship Game matchup with Arizona State, where David Shaw and Co. will attempt to make their second straight Rose Bowl. Notre Dame awaits bowl invitations to see where it will head next.

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