Throwback Thursday: Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS Stanford Cardinal 2005

There are very few full-game videos of the 2005 season for Notre Dame football on YouTube. It was a historic year for the Irish in Charlie Weis’s first season, and despite all that we know now — we all thought the future was bright (as bright as the pants and brighter than the helmets).

One of the brightest points from that year was their last game of the season. Brady Quinn was a golden god, and directed a Notre Dame offense that was seemingly unstoppable. Two close losses that year to the Michigan State Spartans and USC Trojans kept the Irish out of the BCS Championship game, but a BCS bowl was still on the line.

2005: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 38, Stanford Cardinal 31

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Notre Dame was 8-2 heading into this game and the Cardinal were 5-5 (11 game regular season). While the Irish were eyeing a BCS game, Stanford was trying to become bowl eligible under Walt Harris.

It was the very last game inside old Stanford Stadium, and ABC couldn’t help showing the demolition trucks waiting outside — as if once the teams left the field — IT WAS COMING DOWN. Funny how despite the new stadium, the same shitty turf remains to this day.

A few notes from this game:

• Jeff Samardzija only needed a few yards to crack 1000 yards on the season, and Maurice Stovall needed about 118 for 1000.
• Samardzija had 191 yards and 2 touchdowns while Stovall had 136 yards and a touchdown.
• Darius Walker needed some yardage to crack the 1000 yard mark as a rusher, and he turned in a 35 carry 186 yard performance with a touchdown and a 2 point conversion at the end of the game.
• Brady Quinn threw 2 interceptions in the first half. That brought his season total to 7.

It was a high-stakes game that the Irish should have won easily, but because of a defense that continued to be unreliable (and those 2 INTS), Stanford stayed in this thing until a last minute TD score pushed the Irish over the top.

The season stats were astounding as Brady Quinn took the keys of the Charlie Weis offense, and drove it like Mario Andretti in Indianapolis.