Notre Dame might be for real, but the latest Irish victory, this 20-13 OT feather over Stanford, required a huge helping of fairy dust to secure.
The Irish forced OT with a 22-yard, last-minute field goal and then proceeded to score a touchdown on its overtime possession. Stanford took over, promptly got a first down at the Notre Dame 4-yard line, and began feeding Stepfan Taylor. Here's how the play-by-play looks, officially:
1st and Goal at ND 4: Stepfan Taylor, rush for 1 yard to the NDame 3.
2nd and Goal at ND 3: Stepfan Taylor, rush for 2 yards to the NDame 1.
3rd and Goal at ND 1: Stepfan Taylor, rush for no gain to the NDame 1.
4th and Goal at ND 1: Stepfan Taylor, rush for no gain to the NDame 1.
Game over. But taken out of the anodyne score-keeperese, that last play should read, "Stepfan Taylor, rush for no gain to the one-foot line, kept legs churning, spun against a pile of NDame defenders, wrenched his body and lunged ahead toward the goal line, only to have overeager officials blow whistle in ludicrous nod to halted forward progress that effectively ended the game a heartbeat before Stepfan Taylor fought the ball across the goal line and maybe broke the plane."
Hey, good teams get lucky. No. 7 Notre Dame just went to 6-0.