Stanford postgame

[INLaw]

Clemson could develop into a good rivalry if we could lock it in more often

 

[stlnd01]

Clemson could develop into a good rivalry if we could lock it in more often

That's kind of the trouble with our ACC scheduling deal. We play five ACC teams but we spread it around, so we only play any given team two out of every five years or so. Would love to get Miami or Clemson on our schedule annually but who breaks it to BC/Pitt/Syracuse that we don't come to their place as often?
Does anyone know if/when Stanford starts to count as one of our ACC games? Or will they go into the occasional rotation like everyone else?

 

[ND7983]

We'd be Michigan's 3rd most intense rival. This is why our games are so boring, there's no long standing hatred and the winners havent matterd in 10+ years of our best one (USC/ND). The SEC is on another level. Stanford is a snoozefest and they have more band members than fans. Navy is a respectfest. Hell, half of our fans hate teams we don't even play (OSU, Bama, Michigan) more than our "most hated rival", USC.

Most boring/irrelevant rivals of any semi serious program.

You can keep repeating that, doesn’t make it true.
You obviously have not been to a Michigan/ND game if you think it’s boring.
The hatred is real.
And Michigan fans root for MSU to beat ND.

The fact that you talk about Stanford being a rival shows that you don’t really know much about ND football & its rivals.

 

[JadedDomer]

You can keep repeating that, doesn’t make it true.
You obviously have not been to a Michigan/ND game if you think it’s boring.
The hatred is real.
And Michigan fans root for MSU to beat ND.

The fact that you talk about Stanford being a rival shows that you don’t really know much about ND football & its rivals.

Marcus Freeman, opening comment following Saturday's game: "It's a rivalry game, so you have to prepare for your opponent's best."

 

[stlnd01]

Marcus Freeman, opening comment following Saturday's game: "It's a rivalry game, so you have to prepare for your opponent's best."

🙄

 

[DillonHall]

You could almost substitute the word "rivalry" with "conference game," meaning it's a team that we play every year

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I haven’t gone back and rewatched, but I don’t remember seeing Evans in there at all. Saw both Flanagan and Raridon, but no Evans?

He played but don’t know if he had any targets. I remember when he injured his knee in the Pitt game & it was speculated he’d be out a year. It still hasn’t been a year (10/28) so he could still be having issues. Who knows?

 

[INLaw]

Shocked how much less we use the tight ends in pass game this year

 

[indianamouse]

Shocked how much less we use the tight ends in pass game this year

I'm not, denbrock usually doesn't use tight ends like we are used to

 

[INLaw]

I'm not, denbrock usually doesn't use tight ends like we are used to

Use em or lose em

 

[luckofirish8]

Finally got to see what the offense was intended to look like. Most in sync RL and Denbrock have been in any game. Stanford's defense isn't anything to write home about, but easy to see progress and a direction in this one.

 

[luckofirish8]

Use em or lose em

There is definitely an element of truth here to a degree, but Denbrock would trade an explosive WR for a reliable TE any day of the week. Just gotta keep building and hopefully someone can step forward at WR.

 

[INLaw]

There is definitely an element of truth here to a degree, but Denbrock would trade an explosive WR for a reliable TE any day of the week. Just gotta keep building and hopefully someone can step forward at WR.

Need to get the drops down at wr position at least two big ones yesterday

 

[IAIrish]

We have the most boring, watered down rivalries of any semi serious football program.

This is what you call a manufactured rivalry with a university that has similar academic ambitions, on par with valentines day.

 

[T-Boone]

I'm not, denbrock usually doesn't use tight ends like we are used to

That’s in teams that he has 2 first round draft picks. Evans is arguably our best receiver.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Shocked how much less we use the tight ends in pass game this year

People wanted to use WRs more.
People now want TEs more
Why do I let these things surprise me

 

[PolishDomer]

People wanted to use WRs more.
People now want TEs more
Why do I let these things surprise me

We need to punt more!

 

[NDohio]

1) If you had asked me before this game what two things I would have liked to see to inspire some confidence about the second half of the season — we’re halfway through already, he interjects with a wistful sigh — it would have been additional signs of life from the passing game and enough pop from the defensive line to help mitigate the losses of both Jordan Botelho and Boubacar Traore.

(Both of these things were discussed last week on the podcast with Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily if you haven’t listened and have interest. Also on the audio front, Jessica Smetana and I talked about the Stanford game and a fun day of college football here.)

Those boxes were checked with aplomb and while it’s still a small sample size we can start to say Marcus Freeman has his teams prepared coming out of bye weeks. (Now 4-0, three home blowouts by a combined score of 152-21 and BYU in Vegas.) It would have been fine to sneak by with a comfortable win but doesn’t hurt the cause to have 49-7 scrolling past for all of the primetime slate. Appreciated ESPN including the cumulative score of the last two contests against the Cardinal (105-30) as well.

2) Riley Leonard was so good. If we could lock in 72% completion percentage, 10 yards per attempt, four total touchdowns and no turnovers (although the completion to Pat Coogan was certainly angling to be an interception) the rest of the way that would be quite alright with me. His deep balls could have been a little sharper but the primary takeaway should be how smooth he looked in the RPO game. If he can keep hitting those slants (as he did for multiple touchdowns), put yourself in the headspace of the defense: The ball could be handed to a fast tailback, kept by the fast quarterback, thrown on the slant or you could have Leonard pull it and toss it out to the flat, as he did on the Eli Raridon touchdown. Nasty stuff that takes a lot of pressure off the offensive line which had some rough moments.

After being banished for his fumble in the last game, Jadarian Price was back with a vengeance. He’s so shifty at such a high speed, it’s like a video game demonstration of what all the different evasion buttons do. Jeremiyah Love made a 39-yard touchdown look easy, tacked on a 25-yard catch and in perhaps the best news of the day he got to be on the field to convert a fourth-and-short.

Best game in blue and gold for Kris Mitchell by a wide margin, and hey look at K.K. Smith being in the mix. Jayden Thomas should be on the field a lot because he always makes good things happen. Nice to see Cooper Flanigan back after missing a couple games while we patiently await the Mitchell Evans breakout performance (Saturday in Atlanta wouldn’t be the worst). Beaux Collins led the team in receiving but can’t be having consecutive games with drops nor the fumble. Steve Angeli showed the touch again in relief and the young tailbacks walloped the Cardinal reserves.

Stanford wasn’t particularly good at defense coming into this (84th in F+) but this was an annihilation. Over 7 yards per play, a 94th percentile success rate and perfect in six real red zone trips*. Notre Dame scored a touchdown on every drive this game save for three: A punt on the opening possession (ball was moving but marred by the holding penalty), the Collins fumble and time running out at the end on the doorstep.

* Notre Dame has failed to score twice in the red zone this season, both times while kneeling out victories (Miami was the previous one).

3) Joshua Burnham not just returning to the lineup but doing so in such splashy fashion (the fumble recovery in the stat sheet/interception by our eyes, five tackles, one for loss) is great news for a defense down their two best ends. That was not the only positive in the trenches, as Howard Cross and Rylie Mills* (three sacks between them) looked fresh coming out of the bye week and Bryce Young continues to play real, real well and real, real big for a true freshman. If Gabe Rubio can get further ramped up (already at 21 snaps) and give us anything these next two it would be a blessing.

* Freeman after the game: ”I challenged those two seniors, Rylie and Howard. I wanted them to be great because they're great football players, and those two specifically stood out to me just on the field. I'm sure I'll go back and watch film. They dominated the game. Those two big guys, we needed them to be dominant, and he this played dominant. That helps everybody around them. So really proud of those two guys.”

The two leading tacklers in this game were Drayk Bowen and Jaiden Ausberry, two sophomores, and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa continues to pop (a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and a fourth-down QB hurry). I don’t know if Jack Kiser was banged up against Louisville, but he led the linebackers in snaps after a dip against the Cardinals. Both Benjamin Morrison and Xavier Watts had interceptions wiped out by penalty, the flag on Morrison that negated Watts’ being of the very sketchy variety.

Stanford was scrappy and put together the opening touchdown drive — frankly, it’s borderline negligent to build a college football team without a mobile quarterback in the year 2024 — but even when they were able to string some plays together on ensuing possessions Notre Dame always rose to the moment to hew them on fourth down. Stanford didn’t make it into the red zone after their first drive and averaged only 3.4 yards per snap. Beatdown.

4) Not too much to report on the special teams front. Marcus Freeman said after the game that Mitch Jeter had a tight groin so they were taking precautions handing off some of the duties to Zac Yoakam. The opening kickoff of the second half breaking Notre Dame’s way after the entire NBC booth agreed Stanford would be getting it at the 35 was very funny. James Rendell’s lone punt attempt was really bad.

Loved Freeman going for it on fourth and short late in the first half at the Stanford seven only up seven. Perhaps the kicker health situation had something to do with that but will give full credit. He also called timeout before the failed Cardinal fourth down attempt that preceded that drive. There was an issue later in the game with having the correct number of players on defense, which cannot continue to be a thing.

Atrocious officiating, doesn’t seem like a good sign when the rules expert is talking about taking a look to “maintain the public confidence.” Minor suggestion for the university to take or leave, but there are so many cool and deserving people to potentially honor before you need to resort to celebrating a war criminal.

5) Winning Is Hard Round Up: Fun weekend. For the second straight week, a top 10 team lost with their quarterback running out the clock. In this instance it was Will Howard against Oregon, a dramatic conclusion to an awesome game. Ryan Day is now 1-7 against Top 5 teams (the Irish were ninth last year) and Ohio State will probably have to win at Penn State to participate in the Big Ten title game.

Speaking of Penn State, they rallied from a two-touchdown deficit to win at USC. Lincoln Riley butchered time management at the end of both halves and is now 11-10 in his last 21 and 5-8 in his last 13. Hey and speaking of Southern Cal head coaches, Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss led the entire way in Baton Rouge but allowed LSU to rally with a raggedy late touchdown drive before falling in overtime. (Bayou Bengals go to Kyle Field on Oct. 26.) That’s two losses in the last three for the Rebels, who probably need to beat Georgia to make the playoff after splashing a ton of cash in the transfer portal.

We had to hear so much about Tennessee’s offense and they went scoreless at home against Florida for the first 40 minutes before escaping in overtime after some Billy Napier late-game cowardice. Alabama barely prevailed at home against South Carolina. Tide and Volunteers on Saturday, the losing team is going to be feeling some things. Kentucky was a two-touchdown favorite over Vanderbilt but the Fighting Clark Leas won again. If not for blowing a lead in the final seconds against Georgia State and the double overtime loss against Missouri, the Commodores would be 6-0.

Illinois needed a late field goal and two-point conversion stop in overtime to avoid a catastrophic home defeat to Purdue. Poor Cal lost at Pitt after a late field goal miss - they're now 0-3 in ACC play, the defeats coming by a total of eight points. (The Panthers are 6-0 - quite the bounceback for Pat Narduzzi.) Maryland was a 10-point home favorite against Northwestern and lost 37-10, the Mike Locksley seat presumably quite warm. Utah lost at home to Arizona State. Colorado lost at home to Kansas State but they were down most of their receiving corps by the end, including Travis Hunter. NC State lost at home to Syracuse and they’re winless in conference play. Marshall had a 20-point fourth-quarter lead and lost in Huntington to Georgia Southern. (Clay Helton is 4-2 versus the Trojans’ 3-3, if you track that sort of thing.)

Virginia couldn’t hold a late lead against Louisville in Charlottesville. Central Florida was a Big 12 dark horse but they lost at home to Cincinnati and are now 1-3 in the league. Washington followed up their win over Michigan by flying to Iowa City and getting blown out. Toledo was a double-digit favorite going to Buffalo and got ripped. Rutgers let go of the rope against Wisconsin, losing 42-7 and the good feelings of the early season are fading. Texas trailed Oklahoma 3-0 after a quarter but cruised after that. (The Sooners’ wide receiver room has been crushed by injuries, but the QB situation is ugly.) Georgia had trouble separating from Mississippi State and travel to Austin this weekend.

6) That marks four good performances in a row following the loss: Lighting Purdue on fire, outscoring Miami 28-0 after a horrific first quarter, a nice win over Louisville and then closing this past Saturday on a smooth 49-0 run. Combine a quality month with a lot of chaos at the top of the polls and Notre Dame is — for at least one more week — back on pace to reach the goal we set before the season.

That’s only if the Fighting Irish can continue to not just play well but also continue to improve. After a long homestand, things get a little trickier now: Consecutive neutral site games against two teams that run the ball well and could stress what has been the (relative) weakness of this spectacular defense. Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King was dinged up at the end of their game Saturday and if his mobility is even slightly hindered that’s going to make Al Golden’s life much easier. However, I’m not yet to the point where I assume this offense is going to perform every week nor that Freeman has totally kicked last season’s issues being ready away from home.

Real nice victory coming out of the bye but plenty of work left to do. Considering how things felt after Week 2, love that the Irish are firmly back in the mix for the playoff and we get to feel some legit pressure going into Atlanta. See you next week - until then, take care of yourselves and each other and enjoy some spooks.

Rakes Report - Chris Wilson

 

[GrangerIrish24]

People wanted to use WRs more.
People now want TEs more
Why do I let these things surprise me

I'm not liking all this passing that's going on. I really want them to run the quarterback more.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Tough break for Stanford on the ND kickoff where Bachmeier seemingly made a heady move by establishing himself out of bounds before touching the ball. Stanford should’ve gotten the ball at the 35 but replay didn’t overrule despite the booth being convinced it was a no-brainer. Only thing I could conclude is that it was marked at the 3 b/c Bachmeier touched the ball (even w/ his leg out of bounds). So that call could only be overturned w/ indisputable evidence. Watching the replay, Bachmeier danced around the ball extremely close to the point that maybe video couldn’t guarantee the ball didn’t contact his foot while dancing around it. I think that technicality is what led the call to be upheld. OR….ACC officiating is just horribly incompetent in all facets of the game.

 

[irishnd31]

I'm not liking all this passing that's going on. I really want them to run the quarterback more.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

My genius knows no limits.

 

[stlnd01]

Tough break for Stanford on the ND kickoff where Bachmeier seemingly made a heady move by establishing himself out of bounds before touching the ball. Stanford should’ve gotten the ball at the 35 but replay didn’t overrule despite the booth being convinced it was a no-brainer. Only thing I could conclude is that it was marked at the 3 b/c Bachmeier touched the ball (even w/ his leg out of bounds). So that call could only be overturned w/ indisputable evidence. Watching the replay, Bachmeier danced around the ball extremely close to the point that maybe video couldn’t guarantee the ball didn’t contact his foot while dancing around it. I think that technicality is what led the call to be upheld. OR….ACC officiating is just horribly incompetent in all facets of the game.

It felt a little too cute by Bachmeier, to be honest. The ball itself was in bounds and had basically stopped moving. Then he intentionally went and put his foot out of bounds before touching it because apparently if a kick returner catches the ball out of bounds it counts as an out-of-bounds kick?
I guess he was technically correct but that's really not at all the spirit of the out-of-bounds kickoff rule, and it may well be the refs decided to call bullshit on this one. I don't mind.

 

[ThePiombino]

Seemed a pretty heady attempt IMO.

 

[stpeteirish]

Tough break for Stanford on the ND kickoff where Bachmeier seemingly made a heady move by establishing himself out of bounds before touching the ball. Stanford should’ve gotten the ball at the 35 but replay didn’t overrule despite the booth being convinced it was a no-brainer. Only thing I could conclude is that it was marked at the 3 b/c Bachmeier touched the ball (even w/ his leg out of bounds). So that call could only be overturned w/ indisputable evidence. Watching the replay, Bachmeier danced around the ball extremely close to the point that maybe video couldn’t guarantee the ball didn’t contact his foot while dancing around it. I think that technicality is what led the call to be upheld. OR….ACC officiating is just horribly incompetent in all facets of the game.

What a dumb rule (and one I had never heard of) The ball never goes out of bounds but its treated like it did if you step out of bounds first and then grab it? Rule makes not sense to me.

 

[greyhammer90]

What a dumb rule (and one I had never heard of) The ball never goes out of bounds but its treated like it did if you step out of bounds first and then grab it? Rule makes not sense to me.

IIRC, it's a quirk that results from the enforcement of standard rules regarding player contact when out of bounds, not it's own special rule.

 

[greyhammer90]

It felt a little too cute by Bachmeier, to be honest. The ball itself was in bounds and had basically stopped moving. Then he intentionally went and put his foot out of bounds before touching it because apparently if a kick returner catches the ball out of bounds it counts as an out-of-bounds kick?
I guess he was technically correct but that's really not at all the spirit of the out-of-bounds kickoff rule, and it may well be the refs decided to call bullshit on this one. I don't mind.

It's pretty standard to do that. I've seen it at least a dozen times in my time watching football. Definitely something that makes you go "oh yeah, that thing" every time it happens but its a very established strategy.

I think he just got unlucky with the call on the field and there being no good angle showing that his foot didn't make contact on that close bounce.

 

[BeatSC]

If Bueax drops another easy pass we have too many other options to keep him in there. Same goes with another fumble. He will be gone next year so no worries of transfers etc. bench him. This has been at least two games running.

 

[Hautian Domer]

Shocked how much less we use the tight ends in pass game this year

Something’s up with Evans.

 

[ND7983]

Tough break for Stanford on the ND kickoff where Bachmeier seemingly made a heady move by establishing himself out of bounds before touching the ball. Stanford should’ve gotten the ball at the 35 but replay didn’t overrule despite the booth being convinced it was a no-brainer. Only thing I could conclude is that it was marked at the 3 b/c Bachmeier touched the ball (even w/ his leg out of bounds). So that call could only be overturned w/ indisputable evidence. Watching the replay, Bachmeier danced around the ball extremely close to the point that maybe video couldn’t guarantee the ball didn’t contact his foot while dancing around it. I think that technicality is what led the call to be upheld. OR….ACC officiating is just horribly incompetent in all facets of the game.

It touched his foot.
Watch the ref directly next to him.
He is staring down at the ball, then the ball rolls towards Bachmeijer’s foot & changes it’s roll, the official immediately makes the “start the clock” signal with his arm (winding it in the air).
The clock doesn’t start until the ball is touched. So the official winding the clock means he saw the ball touch his foot.
Replay can’t overturn that unless it clearly shows otherwise, which it didn’t.
Stanford’s coach in the post game presser said the official told him he saw it touch his foot, so it was the right call.

Sidenote: The official “experts” on NBC, like Matt Austin, are wrong as much as they are correct. There are videos you can look up where other officials will pull out rule books & break down how he & others are wrong about rules. For instance, in the example above, the “expert” didn’t think that the ball might have touched the player & didn’t notice the official signal that it did touch him in real time?
My favorites were when both Mike Tirico & Doug Flutie called him out in the same season against the Virginia teams.
When VT had a huge INT called back because the DL jumped offside, & Austin said he wouldn’t call it, that he would give him a warning first. And Flutie responded “or you could just make the correct call, and then tell him to line up onsides the next time.” LOL
And when ND sacked the UVA QB & it was an obvious fumble, and replay confirmed it, Austin said he wouldn’t call it because the ball wasn’t moving enough for him on the way down. And Tirico made the reply that if it’s moving at all, it’s a fumble, and he and the replay booth both agree it was moving & was a fumble.
Matt Austin is good for at least one blunder a game. He wasn’t a good official when he was in the field. And it shows in the booth.