The kick is good.

The Legends Trophy came down to a Conrad Ukropina 45-yard field goal attempt. The senior kicker, who hadn’t even attempted a field goal all night, calmly lined up and kicked a beauty through the uprights to give Stanford a 38-36 win.

The No. 13 Cardinal (10-2, 8-1 Pac-12) defeated the No. 4 Fighting Irish (10-2) in one of the most exciting games at Stanford Stadium in recent memory.

It seemed over before that. Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer scored on a 2-yard run with 30 seconds remaining to put Notre Dame up 36-35, but the 30 seconds was all that Kevin Hogan needed to lead his team down the field.

For Stanford, Hogan shined in the last home game of his collegiate career. The fifth-year senior passed for 269 yards and 4 touchdowns, and he made the big passes just when Stanford needed them. The game-winning field goal was set up by a 27-yard pass to Devon Cajuste, who totaled 125 total receiving yards in the game.

Kizer led a sensational offensive effort for Notre Dame, passing for 234 yards and 1 touchdown and rushing for 128 and another score. Freshman running back Josh Adams also tore apart the Cardinal, running or 168 yards and a touchdown. The Notre Dame offense averaged 8.9 yards per play and managed to drain almost enough time off the clock to seal the win.

 

Almost.

Contact Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu.