October 13, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

No luck with the Irish

by Rick Eymer

Another lead into the fourth quarter, another costly mistake, and another game that the Stanford football team could have won got away.

While the Cardinal have improved measurably this season, there's still two lingering questions. Can this team win on the road, and can this team eliminate or overcome late mistakes?

Both questions can be partially answered when Stanford visits Washington State on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. in another turning point for the program under coach Buddy Teevens. Stanford is 1-11 under Teevens on the road.

Stanford is two quarters and 11 points shy of being undefeated at this juncture in the season following its 23-15 loss to host Notre Dame and former coach Tyrone Willingham last weekend.

Not many Cardinal observers could have seen that coming at the beginning of the season. Stanford hasn't had many opportunities for a big win like it did against USC, and again against the Irish.

The loss to USC was followed by an uninspired win over Washington. The Cardinal can ill afford another such effort against the Cougars in Pullman.

"Two close games," Stanford senior tight end Alex Smith said. "We have to figure out a way to finally put an end to these games. Against good teams you only get so many chances. Pullman will be a hostile environment, too. There are no easy games from here on out. It's a Pac-10 schedule and we'll see if we can try to run the table."

Smith, who caught five passes for 73 yards against Notre Dame, wasn't the only one looking ahead. Stanford players remain disappointed, but they also seem to think this will be no ordinary season.

"It's frustrating but it would hurt more if we weren't out there fighting," linebacker Jon Alston said. "We're going into this week of practice like we're going back to training camp. It's time for us to get better."

Six conference games remain on the schedule. The Cardinal need only to win three of the remaining contests for a chance at a bowl game, though they expect to win a few more than that.

"We have a great group of young men with some outstanding leaders on our squad," Teevens said. "They are very dedicated, and our strength and depth has improved greatly over the years. We love to compete, and we as coaches love our players for that."

Stanford punter Jay Ottovegio, who mishandled a snap in the fourth quarter that led to Notre Dame's go-ahead touchdown, may have made the most glaring error of the day, but his teammates simply wouldn't let him take all the blame.

"When it's that close you can't put this on his shoulders," said Alston, who recorded 10 tackles. "The offense made mistakes, the defense made mistakes and the special teams made mistakes and that's what it comes down to."

Quarterback Trent Edwards continues to play effectively and consistently. He finished with 267 passing yards and did not throw an interception. However, he wasn't able to pick up the pieces offensively in the fourth quarter after the Cardinal all but abandoned their running attack.

"We just allowed a couple of big plays," Teevens said. "The punt situation was tough, and they got into the end zone, and we did not respond when we needed to respond."

A more productive first quarter might have made the fourth quarter irrelevant. The first three scoring players were field goals by Michael Sgroi, including two on the Cardinal's first two possessions when they drove inside the Notre Dame 10.

"When you don't get touchdowns, good teams catch up to you," Smith said.

Stanford put together drives of 42 and 75 yards in the first quarter, and had a first-and-goal situation each time before settling for the field goals.

On the second drive, a 36-yard pass from Edwards to Menlo-Atherton High grad Greg Camarillo gave Stanford a first-and-goal on the Irish seven.

"We were moving the ball fairly well early in the ball game," Teevens said. "We put the points on the board that the Notre Dame defense would allow us. Unfortunately, in the end we needed seven points each time instead of the three we got."

The Stanford defense was also playing well, limiting the Irish to a combined 48 yards on their first three possessions.

"The difference may have been not putting the ball in the end zone in the first half," said receiver Evan Moore, who had five catches for 72 yards. "If we go up, 14-0 on the road, that's a whole different game; if you are going to win on road, especially against a good team like Notre Dame, you have to execute. We struggled to establish the run and in the previous games we were able to do that. If we can establish the run that makes them play man-to-man on our receivers"

Edwards gave Notre Dame some credit for keeping the Cardinal out of the end zone early.

"They picked up the intensity inside the 20-yard line," he said. "They just out hit us down there and made the plays. That is one of the reasons we lost the game because you can't settle for field goals against a team like this."

Running back J.R. Lemon, who scored Stanford's lone touchdown, missed much of the game with a sprained right knee.

David Bergeron led the team with 13 tackles. Julian Jenkins recorded two quarterback sacks.

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