Stanford coach blames whistle from crowd for missed TD chance

It looked like a great play by Matthias Farley. Stanford coach David Shaw had other ideas.

With Saturday night’s game at Notre Dame Stadium tied 10-10 in the fourth quarter, Stanford drove all the way to the Notre Dame 3-yard line. Facing third-and-2 from the 3, the Cardinal handed the ball to Stepfan Taylor, who was met in the backfield by an untouched Farley for a 7-yard loss. Stanford had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Jordan Williamson.

Shaw said his team had heard a whistle from the stands, and had given up on the play. And he was none too happy about it, saying it was a common occurrence in South Bend.

“That’s why our guys stopped playing,” Shaw said. “It was verified, it was heard. The play did not stop. … The whistle came from the crowd. I don’t know what can be done about it. I’ve heard from many people it’s happened here a few times.”

Farley said he never heard a whistle.

“I did not hear a whistle, no sir,” he said.

And did he realize Stanford had given up on the play?

“I was pretty focused so I wasn’t concerned about it,” he said.

Irish coach Brian Kelly also said there was no whistle. And he shrugged off Shaw’s suggestion that it’s happened before in Notre Dame Stadium.

“Look, I will tell you that I’ve been in a lot of stadiums, and very rarely do you hear a whistle,” he said. “I hear my name a lot, but I usually don’t hear a whistle. So I don’t know where that came from.”