Nov. 30--Notre Dame's College Football Playoff hopes disappeared through the uprights as time expired Saturday night when walk-on Conrad Ukropina kicked a 45-yard field goal to give Stanford (10-2) a 38-36 victory in Palo Alto, Calif. It came 30 seconds after the Irish (10-2) had taken the lead.
Offense
B-. The Irish outgained the Cardinal 533-422, but the red-zone woes continued. Notre Dame settled for field goals on three of four trips inside Stanford's 20. Amir Carlisle also dropped a would-be touchdown pass and DeShone Kizer fumbled at Stanford's 22 with 29 seconds left in the first half. Freshman Josh Adams (168 rushing yards, TD) and Will Fuller (6 catches, 136 yards, TD) were bright spots.
Defense
C-. The Irish slowed the nation's leader in all-purpose yards, Christian McCaffrey (228), but the back of the defense again struggled. This time Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan (17 of 21, 269 yards, 4 TDs) and receiver Devon Cajuste (5 catches, 125 yards, TD) burned Notre Dame. The Irish also allowed Stanford to convert 8 of 12 third-down plays.
Special teams
A. C.J. Sanders returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, and the Irish kicked off five times to McCaffrey and held him to 109 yards. Justin Yoon was 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts.
Coaching
C. Long drives continued to be a problem for Notre Dame's defense as it gave up four more touchdown drives of at least 75 yards to run its season total to 25.
