Gerhart punishes Irish
Toby Gerhart turned what could be Charlie Weis’ final game as Notre Dame coach into his own Heisman Trophy infomercial.
Gerhart ran for 205 yards and three scores, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass and scored the game-winning touchdown with 59 seconds left to help Stanford hand Weis and the Fighting Irish (6-6) a fourth straight loss to end the regular season, 45-38 at Stanford, Calif.
“There’s a bunch of 22-, 23-year-old young men right there finishing out their career losing the last four games,” Weis said in a postgame radio interview. “They feel miserable and I feel miserable for them.”
While Weis’ future may have already been decided, this signature performance by Gerhart may have been enough to earn him a trip to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist in two weeks.
“He’s made that statement the entire year,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “He was incredible to watch. He said it all by the way he’s played. He’s been about it and not talked about it. He just kept going at it week after week.”
He threw his touchdown pass to Ryan Whalen on fourth-and-4 to help the Cardinal tie the game early in the fourth quarter. After Stanford (8-4) stopped Robert Hughes on third-and-2 from the Irish 35 with less than 6 minutes left, Gerhart carried seven times for 54 yards on the winning drive, bowling over defenders before scoring his 26th rushing touchdown of the season.
Arizona 20, Arizona State 17: Alex Zendejas kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired, and the Wildcats defeated the Sun Devils at Tempe, Ariz., to retain the Territorial Cup.
Arizona (7-4, 5-3) won after ASU’s Kyle Williams – who had caught the tying TD pass minutes earlier – muffed a punt to give the Wildcats the ball at the Sun Devils’ 22-yard line.
It was another crusher for the Sun Devils (4-8, 2-7), who also lost to Georgia and California on last-gasp field goals this season.
On fourth-and-12 from Arizona’s 14, Danny Sullivan rolled out of the pocket and fired a strike to a diving Williams in the back of the end zone that tied the game with 2:02 left.
Then came disaster for ASU.
Williams muffed a punt, and Arizona’s Mike Turner recovered at ASU’s 22-yard line. Four plays later, Zendejas trotted on and nailed the game-winner, hitting it straight down the middle.
USC 28, UCLA 7: Malcolm Smith returned one of Southern California’s three interceptions 62 yards for an early touchdown, and the 24th-ranked Trojans (8-3, 5-3) regained their defensive pride while maintaining their city dominance with a victory over the visiting Bruins (6-6, 3-6).
Matt Barkley’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams with 44 seconds left led to an ebullient USC celebration that nearly set off an all-out fight between the teams in their 79th cross-town showdown.