Slap the Sign
Fansided

Notre Dame Football: 3 Things Learned From Notre Dame-Stanford

By Andrew Hall

PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 25: Brandon Wimbush #7 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish passes the ball against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 25: Brandon Wimbush #7 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish passes the ball against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

In the final game of the season, the Notre Dame football program attempted to prove they were not the team that took the field in Miami, Florida. Here are three things that the Irish learned in their game against Stanford.

Elko Exposed?

Tonight, Notre Dame allowed 38 points to the Cardinal. Since the victory over the Wolfpack, the Irish have given up 33.25 points per game. Granted, some of these points were from Notre Dame turnovers. However, the numbers do not lie.

Throughout the year, Mike Elko and the Defensive Line covered up a lot of the deficiencies in the secondary. Since the big victory over USC, Notre Dame has only generated 4 sacks in 5 games.

More from Slap the Sign

The turnover situation is not much better. The Irish have only forced 3 turnovers in the same time period.

Wimbush Limiting Notre Dame’s Success

Brandon Wimbush is undoubtedly an extremely talented Quarterback. He is faster and has a better arm than 99% of the Quarterbacks in the FBS subdivision. However, he completely controls how the Irish will play on offense.

Tonight, he played well for the first three-Quarters of the game. However, after the Irish fell behind 24-20, Wimbush threw an extremely costly interception. From that point forward, Notre Dame completely fell apart.

Wimbush finished the game with 249 yards passing on 11 of 28 passing with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

David Shaw Owns Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly should tip his visor and call David Shaw his daddy. Against Shaw, Kelly is 2-5. His two victories against Shaw were miracles. In 2012, the Irish stopped the Cardinal at the goal-line in a controversial ending. In 2014, Notre Dame needed a late 4th down touchdown pass from Everett Golson to Ben Koyack to win.

Notre Dame and Stanford are peers. The Irish with a better football pedigree should be able to edge the Cardinal. However, Stanford is dominating the Irish on the field. This hurts recruiting tremendously.

Next: 30 Things All Notre Dame Fans Should Do Before They Die

Notre Dame awaits its bowl fate.  determined on Dec. 3 following Championship weekend. Most likely, the Irish will not land in a  New Year’s Six game.

Home/Notre Dame Football