STANFORD, Calif. — When Notre Dame needed a spark to get going late in the first half, the special teams delivered.
Isaiah Foskey’s blocked punt set up Ian Book’s second of four touchdown passes, and No. 16 Notre Dame reached double-digit wins for the third consecutive season by beating Stanford 45-24 on Saturday.
“It started with the punt block,” coach Brian Kelly said. “From there, we got some momentum and started to settle down a bit offensively.”
Book turned the blocked punt into a six-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Tremble late in the second quarter, then threw his first of two touchdown passes to Chase Claypool with 1:20 left in the half as the Fighting Irish (10-2) quickly erased a 10-point deficit and snapped a five-game losing streak at Stanford Stadium.
Notre Dame previously put together three straight seasons of at least 10 wins under Lou Holtz from 1991 to 1993.
Book threw for 255 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to Tony Jones Jr. in the first quarter. He has been especially sharp late in the season, with 12 touchdown passes and no interceptions in the last three games. Book’s 33 touchdown passes are second in school history to Brady Quinn’s 37 in 2006.
“He’s found a stillness in him that he’s never had before,” Kelly said. “He plays the game differently now.
‘‘His calmness is really about his confidence now and what he can do.”
Davis Mills threw two touchdown passes for the Cardinal (4-8), who have lost four in a row for the first time since 2007.
Stanford also finished with its first losing record since 2008, ending a streak of 10 straight bowl bids.
“It was on us, and we weren’t up to the task,” senior linebacker Casey Toohill said. “There were a lot of things in our own play that weren’t right and have to get corrected.”
Despite having nothing to play for, the Cardinal started fast and led 17-7 when Mills got stopped just short of a first down on a third-down run with about five minutes left in the half.
Foskey then blocked the punt from Ryan Sanburn, giving the Irish the ball at the Stanford 1. Three plays later, that turned into a touchdown.
“It was definitely a game-changer,” defensive lineman Adetokunbo Ogundeji said. “Special teams was big for us this whole game. . . . Special teams definitely got a spark for us in the first half.”
