Despite traveling 2,239 miles and operating on a three-hour time zone difference, Notre Dame fired on all cylinders in its 49-20 triumph over Stanford. The win virtually cements the Irish’s place in the College Football Playoff, marking their 10th consecutive victory following two early season defeats to Miami and Texas A&M.
Donning their crisp away whites and shiny gold helmets, Notre Dame took the field at Stanford Stadium to a roaring applause from the large contingent of Irish faithful in attendance. Even on senior day, the Cardinal home crowd was drowned out by a thunderous “Let’s go Irish” chant before kickoff.
The deafening noise made from seemingly all of Notre Dame’s California-based chapters grew significantly louder as junior running back Jeremiyah Love did Jeremiyah Love things on the Irish’s first drive. The Heisman hopeful knifed his way through the antsy Stanford defense for a calm and cool 54 rushing yards, including back-to-back 18-yard gains. Once the hard work was complete, Love lowered his center of gravity from three yards out and punched in the first score. Just like that, it was Notre Dame 7, Stanford 0.
It took less than 90 seconds of game-action for freshman quarterback CJ Carr and company to take the field again thanks to a quick three-and-out from the Cardinal. Unfortunately for the rowdy Notre Dame fans, their jubilant mood was offset because of an injury to Love. After quintessentially spin-moving his way around a Cardinal defender, Love was met with a knee to the ribs. He stayed down for over a minute before slowly making his way toward the sideline.
Love stayed out of the game for several series before eventually returning. Freeman explained the process of his return in his post-game press conference, sharing, “I told him ‘you know how you feel. I know you’re hurting. But you have to make a decision about what would be best for the team. You feel like you can go?’ That’s what’s best for the team. I know he wanted to go out there and put on a Heisman worthy performance, and we owed it to him to say ‘if you feel like you can go, go.’”
In the short-term the answer to that question was no, and Love’s right-hand man junior running back Jadarian Price entered the game. Stanford had no answer, and Price exploded for a pair of 14-yard receptions and 15 yards on the ground. Like his dynamic partner in crime, Price’s final carry ended up in the back of the end zone.
Stanford’s interim head coach Frank Reich experienced deja vu during Stanford’s next drive, as the Cardinal went three-and-out.
With that, the first quarter drew to a close. Notre Dame opened the second with fireworks. After Carr’s intended pass for senior wide receiver Malachi Fields on third down had a little too much mustard behind it, Freeman opted to send out his punting unit. In yet another story we’ve seen before during the Freeman era, the gutsy head coach decided to go for it on a fake punt. That decision proved successful, sparking a SportsCenter worthy highlight as junior defensive lineman Joshua Burnham received the snap. Burnham quickly tossed it to the junior safety Luke Talich, who sprinted 84 yards to the house.
“It was something we’ve been working on for a couple of weeks. We knew if we got a certain look we would check to it. We got the look that we wanted and we checked to and we executed,” Freeman said.
With the lead growing larger and the likelihood of a blowout looming greater for Stanford, the Cardinal tried their own fourth down luck. Seven yards from a fresh set of downs, Stanford’s redshirt freshman quarterback Elijiah Brown was unable to find an open receiver, setting Notre Dame up on their own 46.
Freeman’s platoon made quick work of their advantageous field-position, driven largely by the exemplary play of sophomore running back Aneyas Williams. The former four-star recruit who played a pivotal depth piece in the Irish’s run to the National Championship a season ago has slowly but surely worked into a larger role through the past few weeks. From his career high 72 yards against Navy to his 30-yard touchdown against Syracuse, Williams has turned lemons into lemonade every time he’s been given a chance. This was no different against Stanford. Williams rushed for 23-yards and a touchdown paired alongside an impressive 25-yard grab off of a wheel route. His excellence extended the Irish lead to 28-0.
“Aneyas practices hard every day,” Love said of his teammate. “He makes sure he is ready for his opportunity when it comes. Everytime his opportunity comes, Aneyas is ready.”
Stanford finally produced something offensively in the following drive. The Cardinal picked up some free yardage through a facemask from senior defensive lineman Jason Onye and a premature jump offside from sophomore safety Adon Shuler. This did enough to provide them with well-enough field position to opt for a field goal. Graduate student Emmet Kenney nailed the 39-yard attempt, giving Stanford some sort of moral reward.
Notre Dame got the ball back with 2:31 on the clock. After a quick three-yard pass to senior Eli Raridon on second down, Carr tied Burnham for the game’s lead in passing yards. From there, the Irish’s momentum simmered down. But, they were able to get right back on the field after Stanford threw the ball down the right sideline in the direction of sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore. The Midseason All-American picked the ball off, paving the way for a 55 yard-Notre Dame drive capped off by a swift 12-yard receiving touchdown from Price. With that, the Irish marched into the break halfway to 70 points, leading 35-3. Moore was ultimately targeted a surprising six times, an abnormally large amount for one of the premier players nationwide in his position.
If the second half was an offensive explosion, consider the second half more of a slow cook. If you ask some Irish fans, it could even be considered a burn. After all, Notre Dame was outscored 17-14 in the next 30 minutes of play.
Things started off strong for the Irish. An inch-perfect throw from Carr to junior wide receiver Jordan Faison landed for 54-yards. A few plays later, Carr delivered a bullet to Faison in the end zone. With relative ease, Notre Dame moved out to a 42-6 lead. From that moment on, the Cardinal appeared to finally obtain a sense of control.
Halfway through the third quarter, the Cardinal went on a methodical seven minute 33 second drive, moving nearly the entire length of the field. Although they were only rewarded with three points, the drive proved Stanford can piece together a strong run of plays on a stingy Notre Dame defense.
At the dawn of the fourth quarter, the Cardinal branched out once again. This time, they went 91 yards in seven plays. A large 27-yard gain from talented senior tight end Sam Roush coincided with another considerable gain courtesy of junior wide receiver Caden High. These big-time gains culminated in a nine-yard touchdown. Not enough to make Notre Dame worry in the grand of things, but certainly enough to make them question their execution.
As soon as Stanford started to develop this new-found confidence, Williams washed it all away with a monstrous 51-yard touchdown on third down. In the game to feed the rock to him was sophomore quarterback Kenny Minchey. Williams’ swift run was nicely helped along by a powerful block from freshman receiver Cam Williams to clear the way.
Stanford did their best to hang in the game, stringing together one scoring drive to make the game 49-20. The Irish defense didn’t have an answer for the quick feet of redshirt junior quarterback Charlie Mirer. His 30-yard scramble on third and eight from the Notre Dame 40 appeared to deflate the defense’s morale.
The strong outing gives Notre Dame a favorable position headed into the College Football Playoff selection day on Sunday, Dec. 7. If you ask Freeman, the win solidifies Notre Dame’s spot as one of the best in the land.
“You talk about a team that is probably playing as well as anyone right now, have won 10 straight games in a row, I think all of them by double digit points maybe, and you want the 12 best teams now. I know about the conference champions and the highest ranked group of five team, but you talk about who are the best teams now. Not week one. Now. It’s hard to argue we’re not one of those teams,” Freeman said.
Indeed, it is hard to argue with Freeman’s statement. Even Notre Dame’s two early losses were by a combined four points to highly-ranked opponents. Since then, the defense has soared to new heights under Ash, Love has produced a Heisman-caliber season and Carr looks all the part of a future first-rounder.
However, the CFP committee have their own way of doing things. In years past, decisions such as the exclusion of an undefeated Florida State team have caused controversy. With 12 teams in the mix, it’s a near certainty that there will be some drama next Sunday. Add in the Miami factor, and questions about Notre Dame’s place in the playoffs loom all the more relevant. For the Irish, all they can do now is hope that the committee rewards their strong body of work.
