Stanford’s hard-luck continued at home Saturday, as the Cardinal's offense failed to convert in the red-zone, senior kicker Derek Belch missed four field goals and Notre Dame rolled to its second straight win to close its disastrous 2007 campaign, and the Cardinal dropped their fourth straight game, 21-14.

Stanford (3-8, 2-6 Pac-10) fell to the equally-lowly Irish (3-9) in a game was marred by penalties, turnovers and miscues by both teams throughout. Still, the Cardinal found itself in a first-and-goal situation at Notre Dame’s 10 yard-line in the contest’s final minute, but could not convert as passes to senior receiver Evan Moore and sophomore wideout Richard Sherman were dropped at the back of the end-zone.

The Cardinal defense again had issues stopping the run, as Notre Dame’s Robert Hughes rushed for 136 yards on 18 carries. Hughes keyed what turned out to be Notre Dame’s game winning drive in the fourth quarter with four straight rushes for 55 yards and a touchdown, including a long of 44 that carried the Irish to Stanford’s eight yard-line.

Prior to Notre Dame’s decisive drive, however, the Cardinal-D played its way out of difficult situations again and again, notching four turnovers and five sacks on the day. But a Tavita Pritchard interception inside Stanford’s own 20-yard line led to one easy score for the Fighting Irish and helped Charlie Weis’ squad make it to the half with the score tied at 14.

Offensively, Jim Harbaugh’s Cardinal seemed to have difficulty finding their rhythm all game, a task that was made all the more difficult when Pritchard, the redshirt sophomore quarterback, had to leave the game after taking a brutal, clothesline-shot to the head at the end of a 19-yard scramble late in the third quarter.

Senior backup T.C. Ostrander took over under center for the Cardinal offense, and went 5-9 for 50 yards, but had to come out himself for parts of two drives in the fourth quarter when a hit to his elbow left him unable to properly grip the football. Despite early struggles, though, Ostrander appeared to give the Cardinal a chance to win, going 2-2 on his final drive of the day late in the fourth quarter before a pair of passes that looked catchable fell out of his receivers’ hands.

Senior receiver Mark Bradford and junior running back Anthony Kimble also put forth solid efforts in the Cardinal loss. Bradford was the only Stanford player to catch more than one pass, hauling in seven for 111 yards, while Kimble carried 20 times for a healthy 4 yards-per-carry average and a pair of touchdowns.

Stanford will look to close out its season on a winning note next Saturday, as arch-rival California visits the Farm for its first crack at the Cardinal in the new Stanford Stadium. A win would give the Cardinal just its second home victory in the past two seasons, and its first over a conference opponent.