College football

Irish ride wild finish into likely BCS bowl

STANFORD, Calif. - Notre Dame needed every yard and every defensive stop to become eligible for its first Bowl Championship Series berth in five years.

Darius Walker ran 6 yards for the winning touchdown with 55 seconds left and took a direct snap to run in for the two-point conversion, and the No.6 Fighting Irish became all but assured of playing in one the four marquee bowl games with a 38-31 win over Stanford on Saturday night.

Brady Quinn passed for 432 yards and three touchdowns but also threw two interceptions, and Notre Dame survived a wild final few minutes for its fifth straight victory since a 34-31 loss to No.1 USC on Oct.15. The Irish won seven of their final eight under first-year coach Charlie Weis, who made a key decision to switch kickers in the fourth quarter, then gave his team a major scare when he switched back to starter D.J. Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick missed a 29-yard field goal left with 2:15 to play after an extra point missed off the left upright and his 42-yard field-goal attempt in Notre Dame's next possession went left.

Stanford took advantage.

The Cardinal, which will miss a postseason trip in coach Walt Harris' first year, went ahead 31-30 with 1:46 left after backup quarterback T.C. Ostrander's 4-yard touchdown pass to Matt Traverso. Ostrander set up the score with a 76-yard completion to Mark Bradford.

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:18:21]