SOUTH BEND - The Notre Dame Fighting Irish got bit by some old friends Saturday in South Bend.
In the 37-14 loss to No. 16 Stanford, Notre Dame saw former kicker Nate Whitaker set a school record with five made field goals, while former tight end Konrad Reuland had three catches for 48 yards.During his time at Notre Dame, Whitaker made the team as a walk-on, appearing in two games as a freshman.
In his sophomore season with the Irish, Whitaker was the team's primary kickoff specialist, getting just one shot at a field goal, missing a 50-yarder against Penn State. In that season, he did kick two extra points, missing one and making one against Purdue.
After transferring to Stanford, he sat out his junior year before taking the field last season. Once he did take the field, he was named honorable mention All-Pac-10, converting 16 of 22 field goals.
As a fifth-year senior, all Whitaker has done is make all eight of his field goal attempts, as well as 20 of 22 extra points this year.
"I like to think I proved a little something to the people out here today," Whitaker said about his five field goal performance, which were distances of 24, 41, 36, 33 and 29 yards. "I felt like I missed some opportunities when I was out here at Notre Dame and it was nice to come out here and show people what I am capable of."
And Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh was aware that Whitaker may have had a little extra motivation against the Irish, as he also made three field goals in a 45-38 win in Palo Alto, Calif. last season.
"I know this game meant a lot to him and his family," Harbaugh said. "To come out and play well, and really even his kick offs were equally important."
In fact, Harbaugh raved the most about his special teams, which is coached by Brian Polian, Notre Dame's special teams coach from 2005 to 2009.
"I'm as fired up as anything about the kickoff coverage," Harbaugh said. "That was really impressive by our guys. I thought Brian Polian did a tremendous job. With the exception of the fumbled punt, kickoff coverage was good. Nate Whitaker tying a Stanford school record was huge. I was pleased with the play of our special teams and the way our defense played. Thought that was an outstanding performance by our defense."
Like Whitaker, Reuland also left Notre Dame after his sophomore season, having played in seven games as a true freshman and three in his sophomore campaign.
After his three games as a sophomore, Reuland transferred to Saddleback College before moving on to Stanford to satisfy NCAA rules for sitting out a season between transfers between Division-I schools.
Following the game, Reuland was greeting some of his old teammates, including tight end Mike Ragone, who's advancement up the depth chart may have led to his transfer.
"I'm trying to keep a cool head about it, but it's definitely a great feeling," Reuland said. "I heard we are the only Stanford team to beat ND twice in a row in the locker room after the game. It's a little surprising. It feels great to beat them the two years I was able to play here, to never lose to them. It's a great feeling."
Another factor in his transfer may have been the recruitment of tight end Kyle Rudolph, who had caught 21 passes for 287 yards and two scores coming into the game.
Going against Stanford's defense, Rudolph was limited to one catch for one yard.
"We did a good job of chipping Rudolph, denying him free access to get into our defensive secondary," Harbaugh said. "I thought we did a good job of containing him. He's a heck of a player."
Rudolph did make a quick trip to the locker room during the first quarter, leading some to believe he may have been less than 100 percent. However, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly wasn't saying.
"I know they played special attention to him," Kelly said. "He had a hard time, sometimes, getting a release. We were looking for him a couple times, but we just ran out of time. Sometimes, the ball got bounced out to Michael (Floyd), but it was late."
Junior receiver Michael Floyd did catch eight passes for 110 yards, helping junior quarterback Dayne Crist eclipse the 300-yard mark, completing 25 of 44 attempts for 304 yards and a score.
Against a strong Stanford defense, Crist had to get some yards in the air, as the running game was limited to 44 yards.
With the rushing attack snuffed, Stanford was able to drop more players into coverage, making the windows for Crist to fit the ball into pretty tight.
"We had a tough time fitting the ball into tights seams," Kelly said. "It was a lot of three-down, drop-eight (defenses). When they drop eight, you have to make some accurate throws."
Stanford junior quarterback Andrew Luck, which many predict will be the No. 1 pick in April's draft, had no trouble with accuracy, completing 19 of his 32 passes for 238 yards.
"He got the ball downfield and made some real good throws to Konrad Reuland, Griff Whalen and the big one to Stepfan Taylor out of the backfield," Harbaugh said. "He had a very good day. He managed the game extremely well."
Stanford now sits at 4-0, while Notre Dame is at 1-3, but Harbaugh is aware of what first-year coach Kelly is going through. As a first-year coach at Stanford, Harbaugh went 4-8, but improved each year, going 5-7 and 8-5 last year.
"It's just been a lot of hard work by our players," Harbaugh said about the turnaround. "They play to win and play for each other. That's the kind of attitude you want out of your ball club."
It's that attitude that Kelly sees in his team.
"They're not going anywhere," Kelly said about his team. "They're going to be back next week and they're going to strap it back up and they're going to fight and play as hard as they can. We're going to build this program to where it needs to be.
"There's going to be a lot a 1-3 football teams across the country," he added. "Some are going to finish 1-11, some will be be 8-3 and 9-3. It's what you decide to do from here-on-out."
And for Whitaker and Reuland, they decided what they needed to do, and it seems to be working out for both.
"Konrad (Reuland) and I both love it out here but we made our decision for a lot of reasons and it was proved in our win tonight," Whitaker said.
