STANFORD, Calif. — 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 a fourth straight loss to end the regular season, 45-38, last night.

"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."

Weis only conducted a radio interview after the game, declining to take part in the postgame news conference. He did not address his job status, but that should come to a resolution soon.

Weis was set to go back to Indiana with the team instead of going on a recruiting trip as originally planned and will meet soon with athletic director Jack Swarbrick.

"Weis, who has six years left on his contract, has a 35-27 record in five years as Irish head coach. His .565 winning percentage is worse than the .583 marks that got his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie, fired.

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 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 would-be tacklers before scoring his 26th rushing touchdown of the season on a 4-yarder.

The Irish (6-6) allowed him to score in order to have time for a possible game-tying drive.

Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate helped move Notre Dame down to the 24 before Chase Thomas sacked Clausen for a 7-yard loss. On the final play, Clausen's desperation heave into the end zone was batted down by Michael Thomas.

All six losses by the Irish have been by seven points or fewer.