Gerhart, who rushed for 205 yards, scored his third touchdown with 59 seconds left to lead the Cardinal (8-4) and left Notre Dame with a bitter four-game losing streak. The Heisman Trophy hopeful also threw for a touchdown on a crucial fourth-down play midway through the quarter that led Stanford's rally in the final nine minutes.
When Michael Thomas batted down Clausen's pass in the end zone on the final play, the Cardinal ended a seven-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish.
After Notre Dame dominated the Stanford defense for three quarters, the players finally held when their team needed it the most.
Toby Gerhart (born March 28, 1987 in Norco, California) is a running back and an outfielder at Stanford University. Gerhart is considered a top prospect in the 2010 NFL Draft,as well as the Heisman Trophy.
Gerhart had a successful career at running back for Norco High School in Norco, California. As of December 2005, Gerhart has had the third highest career total of running yards in national high school football history with 9,662 yards. He led Norco High School to the CIF Division 5 Southern Section football championship on December 9, 2005. Gerhart also played baseball and did well academically. High-school football scouting website Scout.com named him the 40th-best running back prospect in the nation.
Gerhart's high school statistics garnered him interest from many top college football programs, but he ultimately committed to Stanford. He was initially competing with Anthony Kimble for the starting halfback role, but was rewarded with the official starting spot during the fourth game of the 2006 season (against UCLA). In 2007, he only played in one game, against San Jose State, in which he rushed for 141 yards. In 2008, Gerhart broke the Stanford single-season rushing record with 1,136 yards to go along with 16 touchdowns. On September 26, 2009, he became only the eighth person in Stanford history to rush for 200 yards in a game, with 200 yards on 27 carries against Washington. On November 7, 2009, Gerhart recorded his second 200-yard game of the season, running for 223 yards against the 7th-ranked Oregon Ducks, breaking the Stanford single-game rushing record previously held by Jon Volpe. On November 28th, Gerhart ran for 205 yards, and 3 rushing touchdowns in a 45-38 win over Notre Dame. This was his third 200-yard game of the season. Through 12 games in the 2009 season, Gerhart has 1736 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Gerhart is a starting outfielder for the Cardinal baseball team. He passed up the opportunity to play professional baseball after the 2009 season to return for his senior year at Stanford.
