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STANFORD, Calif. - Julius Jones quickly took the stress out of Tyrone Willingham's return to Stanford, running for 106 yards in the first quarter of Notre Dame's 57-7 victory against the Cardinal on Saturday.
Jones finished with 218 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first Fighting Irish player to rush for more than 200 yards three times in the same season. Ryan Grant ran for three touchdowns as Notre Dame scored its most points in nine years.
Brady Quinn threw a 65-yard touchdown to Matt Shelton and a 45-yarder to Maurice Stovall.
Willingham, coaching his first game at Stanford since leaving to coach Notre Dame after the 2001 season, greeted several of his former players on the field after the game.
The Irish won their third in a row and were sharp coming off their bye week in moving within one victory of becoming bowl eligible. The Irish, who haven't lost the week after an open date since Nov. 12, 1994, at Florida State, play at Syracuse in their final game.
Stanford lost its final three games, including its worst home loss ever Saturday, but still improved from coach Buddy Teevens' 2-9 first season last year.
Quentin Burrell recovered a fumble and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, and Garron Bible returned a fumble 44 yards for a score. Notre Dame scored its most points since beating Navy 58-21 on Oct. 29, 1994.
Stanford quarterback Chris Lewis was under constant pressure. Notre Dame had three sacks and allowed 9 yards during the first quarter.
On the first play of the Cardinal's second series in the third quarter, Lewis hit Mark Bradford for a 65-yard score. But that was one of few bright spots for Stanford.
Lewis struggled throughout the game, and he gave way to backup Kyle Matter early in the fourth. Matter wasn't any better. Regular backup Trent Edwards was hospitalized all week after emergency surgery on his left thigh injured in last week's loss to California.
Jones, coming off his career-best three-touchdown performance two weeks ago, broke two tackles on his 10-yard touchdown run early in the game. Jones had 74 yards of the Irish's 90 on the opening drive, the team's longest of the year.
Jones' 25-yard carry on the first play from scrimmage put him over the 1,000 for the season. He is the eighth Notre Dame player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
A small crowd of 46,500 witnessed the rout compared with the 80,795 who attended last year's game at Notre Dame Stadium. Many fans started leaving at halftime, when the Cardinal trailed 34-0.