It wasn’t always pretty on Saturday evening in Palo Alto, although Notre Dame got the bad taste out of its mouth from last year with a definitive victory over Stanford to cap off the 2023 regular season. I eschewed the Pac-12 Network nonsense this weekend, gave Fubo the stiff arm like I was Javaontae Jean-Baptiste, and instead tuned into Paul Burmeister and the excitable Ryan Harris on the Notre Dame radio feed.
Here’s our 18S review of the last Fighting Irish game for a few weeks.
Stats Package
| STAT | IRISH | TREE |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 56 | 23 |
| Plays | 63 | 73 |
| Total Yards | 521 | 359 |
| Yards Per Play | 8.3 | 4.9 |
| Conversions | 8/10 | 6/20 |
| Completions | 8 | 21 |
| Yards/Attempt | 9.3 | 5.1 |
| Rushes | 48 | 31 |
| Rushing Success | 78.7% | 42.3% |
| 10+ Yds Rushes | 12 | 5 |
| 20+ Yds Passes | 2 | 2 |
| Defense Stuff Rate | 23.6% | 12.9% |
Offense
QB: D
RB: A+
TE: B
OL: A+
WR: B-
The Irish radio broadcast is wild because it’s so, so different from what you experience on television and on the NBC broadcast even. During the pre-game they were really talking up Hartman’s performance against Wake Forest and how awesome it was as he was looking to keep the momentum going in the finale. Well, that didn’t happen.
I don’t know how we’ll look back on this one season from Hartman but his Stanford performance was pretty weird. Just 8 completions for a hefty 140 yards and 2 touchdowns but coming along with an interception and lost fumble. He had a great day on the ground (absent the fumble). Good thing Stanford is terrible or his last regular season game could’ve been super dark.
Is a -200 passer rating bad?
It shouldn’t matter in the big picture but if Angeli’s last throw of this season (and maybe ever for Notre Dame??) ends up being an interception on his only launch of this game but it’ll stick in people’s memories anyway. I’m sure there are already a couple message board posts online arguing Angeli simply cannot win the job next year.
Rushing Success
Estime – 21 of 25
Price – 3 of 4
Payne – 5 of 6
Love – 4 of 7
Hartman – 4 of 4
Tyree – 0 of 1
Of course, Notre Dame didn’t really need to throw the ball in the lightly packed Stanford Stadium.
In perhaps his final game in an Irish uniform, Audric Estime was eating with 21(!!) successful runs for 238 yards and 4 touchdowns. This was a complete ass beating from Estime with 8 runs of at least 10 yards. He might lose out on the bowl stats which stinks, yet being one of the top overall rushers in the country is an amazing season and a great way to cap off a career.
In total, 381 rushing yards were the most by a Notre Dame offense since Boston College were obliterated by long runs back in 2017.
The radio broadcast described Jordan Faison as “Notre Dame’s best receiver” and, well, he led the team in catches and yards so I can’t really argue too much! He’s now moved up to 7th on the team in receiving yardage this season.
Was this the offensive line’s best game of the season? Not only did they pave the way for some gaudy rushing numbers but they didn’t allow a sack and Stanford finished with only a single tackle for loss. I can’t imagine that few of plays behind the scrimmage has happened against Power 5 opponents all too often.
A quick note that a tight end didn’t catch a pass again.
Defense
DL: B+
LB: B
DB: B
Without watching the full tape the gripes from this game come down to not creating a couple more turnovers (the TO battle looked real ugly early but finished at “only” +2 in Stanford’s favor), giving up a few too many big plays, and otherwise not pounding Stanford completely into the seams of the San Andreas fault.
At no point was it apparent Stanford could move the ball consistently enough to win this game. All of the guys they trotted out at quarterback were under severe duress and their running game was largely MIA before they tacked on some successful rushes late in garbage time to conceal a really poor effort on the ground.
Stanford’s top 9 plays did net them 223 yards. This seems to be Notre Dame’s MO this season–they will give up a half dozen to 10 or so explosive plays but really shut everything else down in dominant fashion. Nearly 25 yards per play is awesome but you can’t win a football game on 9 snaps.
On the other 63 snaps from the Cardinal (removing the kneel down) they created 136 yards of offense, for 2.1 yards per play. Shut down.
Stuffs
Liufau – 3
JJB – 2.5
Mills – 2.5
NaNa – 2
Botelho – 1.5
Harper – 1
Sneed – 1
Hart – 1
Kiser – 1
Bertrand – 1
Rubio – 0.5
This felt like the perfect game for Al Golden’s aggressive downhill blitzing. This was an example of how Marist Liufau, if surrounded by the right pieces, could make it in the NFL. At times he’s completely disappeared this season and then you watch him make some highlight plays (even against weaker competition) and there’s something…there.
The JJB returned field goal for a touchdown was one of the most athletic plays I’ve seen this year. Can we create an award for it? Special considerations for the mean stiff arm on the kicker, too.
With Stanford averaging only 4.9 yards per play, the Irish went the whole regular season without allowing 6 yards or more in any single game. A possible matchup looms with explosive LSU in the bowl game but if quarterback Jayden Daniels (and other offensive pieces) sits out then all bets will be off that the Tigers can move the ball that well.
Final Thoughts
It was an interesting choice to go with a new red helmet for Stanford. From the front they looked like Alabama and from the side they looked like Indiana. They played like Indiana.
You don’t need to push me very much to argue that Stanford is probably destined for the FBS basement for many years to come. I mean, they are already there of course. Their last 4 non-Covid seasons have been a combined 13-35 overall. They’ve gone 3-9 in back-to-back-to-back seasons! I’d be super worried if I were Troy Taylor right now. They have a solid recruiting class coming in for 2024 but it’s coming off a lackluster 2023 cycle and the transfer portal is going to absolutely shrink their margin for error every season. Plus, their offense is a mess and that’s supposed to be Taylor’s calling card. The defense is an even bigger mess.
What’s the PFF grade for D.J. Brown on the season? Out of everyone on the roster, he makes the most aggressively bad decisions on the team. Watch his play on the early quarterback run and then the reverse for the touchdown–both in the highlight package below. It’s really, really poor safety play.
Chris Tyree’s 26-yard sideline catch was such a beauty. I really didn’t think he had this type of receiving ability in him.
I thought it was kind of funny that Jadarian Price initially fumbled the kickoff and then later lost a fumble. You’d think after initially not securing the ball the one thing you would do is protect the football once you picked it back up.
Just looking at some stats and true freshman Drayk Bowen was 2nd on the team with 3 solo tackles.
Notre Dame ends the regular season without any pass catcher getting to 500 receiving yards with the Sam Hartman transfer. It’s so wild. The radio broadcast mentioned Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor transferring possibly to Notre Dame and he just eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season in this game. It’d be a lot cooler if his name were Eric.
It was 13-7 Stanford in the 1st quarter and our Slack chat was pretty perturbed. The Irish would go on a 48-0 run and things calmed down considerably! The 1st team offense also never punted, good job.
Texas A&M looks set to hire Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. Take a mental note for the opener in College Station next year.
They will have to work with Liufau on head on tackling if he hopes to play in the NFL.
As I watched the game, my thinking was Stanford and Taylor are going to be a pain in the arse to play against if they get any talent.
Back up QB throws an INT on a pass to a freshman WR on a crossing route. Obvious miscommunication between the two. Shocking.
The game was easy to find “live” on YouTube for free. As was the Peacock game I’m told. The Pac 12 announcers were far less annoying (sans their goodbyes to the network) than NBC’s.
The game might be interesting but I don’t want to see and hear about Kelly for the next month.
NaNa had a nice game. Mickey looked good. Drayke Bowen looks to be a coaching favorite.
Yeah I’m with you re: Stanford and Taylor. They could be decent, and the move to the increasingly mediocre ACC will prob be good for them considering how strong the PAC had become
Maybe not re Stoops to A&M!
https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1728646243671224588
I’ll bet they go after elko. He’d be a good hire for them, though maybe not flashy enough for the guys with the money. I know I’d rather face a Mark Stoops-coached team in College Station next year than an Elko-coached one.
Elko to A&M, per reports now!
I know it’s a case of “he’s better than his replacement”, but DJ Brown is on the wrong end of so many plays that stick out in my memory.
Really hoping Kiser comes back. Bertrand should go to the NFL and I’m fine with Marist leaving (for the inconsistencies you mentioned), but having Kiser at Will next to Bowen would be noice.
I feel like Love and Sneed both need to turn down the speed knob like 5%, meaning they’d still both be really fast. Love gets through the hole so fast he’s guaranteed 5 yards but needs to slow down to setup the next move. Sneed is a freaking middle, just needs a little more control.
*freaking missile
Fairly sure Kiser made it clear he has no interest in a 6th year.
Does SBNation still have the Piesman Trophy, or did that go away when the owners decided to strip mine the site?
I searched for it and it looks like it was last awarded after the 2019 season unfortunately
IMO Ohio State was the best offensive line game of the year. It can’t be overstated how bad Stanford’s defensive line is (and their offensive line, for that matter).
End this series now.
I hate how everyone, including our administration, has forced turning this into a “rivalry game”
But hey they’re our Aspirational Peer if what we’re aspiring to is having multiple alumni in jail for billion dollar fraud cases at the same time.
You know, the secular, research-focused school with no football fans located in a major city in California is just like ND!
Counterpoint: Matt Schlapp, who should be buried underneath the jail.
What a weird game and broadcast. Four turnovers, but a 33-point win that was uncompetitive early in the third quarter. Announcers praising the condition of Stanford’s field, which had a big brown rectangle of dead grass that seemingly every play happened on. Thanking every Pac-12 Network employee by name while decrying the state of college football. Apparently Ty Willingham was in attendance. What the hell?
Always good to smash the Tree, but hopefully the ACC gives us a break from this pointless series for a while.
Also, I think the “rivalry” trophy case is full again now that Freeman got the Jeweled Shillelagh and whatever we play Stanford for back.
As strange as it was, I found myself thinking several times that they were better announcers than Jac and Jason
I bet NBC could get them cheap in a few days.
Would take them at double the price over Jac & Jay. They were entertaining, one was named Yogi, and Larry Fitz made an appearance.
I like that they talked about Ty but never showed him, even tho he should’ve been easy to find amongst the dozens of people in attendance
“Always good to smash the Tree, but hopefully the ACC gives us a break from this pointless series for a while”
In total agreement if by “a while” you mean about the time the future red-giant sun expands to swallow Earth’s orbit.
I’m reasonable, I would take until Pangaea reforms.
SP+ updated this morning, notre dame finished 9th. about 1 point ahead of lsu and 4 points behind bama for 8th. Offense finished 17th and defense 11th. Offense feels a bit high and defense a bit low but oh well.
Was shocked to see penn state 5th in final sp+. Any interesting five wide fullbacks topic this offseason would be assessing stock of usc, clemson, oklahoma, penn state and notre dame. who ya buying? who ya selling?
Mega stock report article sounds fun.
That sounds interesting! Also/tangentially related, I’m going to ask for it one more time in case it wasn’t affirmatively rejected by management earlier – I for one would be interested in a writers’ room survey in where everyone thinks ND will be as a program in two or three years. Im mostly curious about who is most optimistic/pessimistic about things right now, but also it could be fun (or painful, I suppose) to look back at the appropriate time to see who was most right, a la the recruiting class prediction/reciews posts.
I am also interested in this discussion in general, but as a precursor, I’d love to see a discussion on MF’s choices heading to the always decisive Year 3. Obviously, Golden’s decision will be pretty huge, and so obviously is the OC issue. ( recall Lou Holtz getting Barry Alvarez for ’88 and what a difference that made.) but also, other choices: portal stuff perhaps?
I’d like to see ND play at least one game on the West Coast every two years. As of 2026 right now we’ll play a WC game every other year. After 2027 we will have none unless we play Navy every other year on the WC and reach an agreement with USC.
Oregon is having difficulty finding room for Oregon State. Washington reuped with Washington State annually. UCLA looks like it has filled out their non-conference schedule. Stanford was USC’s longest rival (since 1905) and that’s come to an end.
I would hesitate to put money down on USC continuing with us annually. They will be traveling more frequently to the Midwest for B10 games. Perhaps for the same travel reasons, Stanford does not want to play us annually, too. San Diego State? Fresno State? Oregon State?
If those are not palatable, we could play more Midwest or Texas teams sandwiched in a SMU game. On the future schedules are A&M, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Arkansas and Alabama. Purdue is an annual game for four years. More games with Indiana? Missouri? Kansas?
I like Navy in different places every other year. Maybe we end WC games except for occasional home-and-aways. ND Future Football Schedules
If we don’t play USC annually that’s really sad. They’re our one true rival – the only peer program we play annually – and if that goes away that’s a serious serious bummer.
If our ongoing series are Navy and Stanford independence is not only not worth it, it’s an affirmative mistake.
I’d think renewing the rivalry is a priority for the Athletic Department. But if it is not renewed, it’s another side effect of conference realignment and USC’s choice to join the BIG. ESPN/Fox will televise those USC home games and would love for the rivalry to continue, especially seeing the viewership for this season’s ND prime time games. It’s probably just up to USC.
We’ll just have to deal with getting West Coast exposure without USC and Stanford.
Point of order: JJB stiffarmed the holder, Watts had already pancaked the kicker. JJB + Watts vs. Kicker + Holder is a hilariously bad mismatch on paper and, as it turns out, on grass as well.
They did the same against USC – 1 TFL and 0 sacks. I’ve had that drilled into my head from the dozens of hours of USC podcasts I listened to following that obliteration