Notre Dame Dominates Second Half, Cruises to Victory vs Stanford

It wasn’t always the prettiest of games, but Notre Dame defeated Stanford on Saturday night en route to its third straight 10+ win season and first win in Palo Alto since 2007.

Stanford started off with the ball and made quick work of the banged up Notre Dame defense. The Cardinal backup quarterback is a name to know moving forward in this rivalry, as he is a former 5-star out of Georgia and looks the part. Stanford would jump out to a quick 7-0 lead on the heals of a 5-5 drive from Davis Mills — eventually finding Brycen Tremayne on a jump ball for a 5 yard touchdown.

Notre Dame would answer quickly. Ian Book found the big play early on as well, completing 3 passes for over 15 yards on the opening drive — the last one being a 16 yard screen to Tony Jones for an Irish touchdown.

The last game of the regular season was 7-7 with a blink of an eye.

Stanford would continue to find their groove on offense — scoring on 3 of their first 4 possessions — while Notre Dame would end up punting 3 straight times. Suddenly, the 4-win Cardinal had a 10 point lead on the Irish nearing halftime.

Notre Dame needed life and they would find it in an unlikely source — true freshman defensive end Isaiah Foskey out of nearby De Le Salle High School. He would provide himself with an amazing homecoming gift — a blocked punt — and give his team the ball on the 1 yard line.

Book would find Tommy Tremble 3 plays later, and just like that Notre Dame was only down by 3.

Stanford would punt again, and Notre Dame would get a chance to either tie the game or go up with a touchdown at halftime. Book and the offense turned to its star wideout for answers. Chase Claypool was extremely quiet in the first half before this last drive, but Book would hit him on consecutive plays — the second one a 41 yard bomb in the end zone. Notre Dame led at half, 21-17.

The second half was a completely different story for an Irish team searching for its coveted 10th win and 32nd in a three year span. Field conditions were atrocious and it showed itself to be just that many times throughout the game. I swear if I had to see one more running back slip while trying to accept a handoff or Claypool fall out of his break I was going to rip my hair out. However, the conditions were nothing like Michigan or other rain games Notre Dame has struggled in under Kelly. The passing attack was barely hindered, if hindered at all.

Claypool would find the end zone for a second time in the game, and his 8th touchdown in his last 5 games. He would also finish the regular season with 12 total — 3 shy of the Notre Dame single season record. 109 yards in the bowl game will also put him over 1,000 receiving yards on the year and with some elite wide receiver company. Both seem very attainable.

The Irish defense that started off poorly to begin the game, but did a tremendous job in the second half — holding the Cardinal to only 7 garbage time points and scoring one of their own to seal the victory.

Clark Lea has made a habit of dominating out of the tunnel in the second half with his defensive adjustments, and yesterday was no different. He adjusted brilliantly to Stanford’s offensive game plan, and essentially made Davis Mills a non-factor the rest of the game.

Lastly, I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the play of Braden Lenzy in this game. This was truly the first game that Chip Long and the offensive coaching staff made him a integral part of the game plan and it paid off as he led the team with 98 total yards. He didn’t score on his long plays like we are accustomed to at his point, but his speed a special thing to watch and really should have Notre Dame fans excited for the next few seasons. He had been coming on strong late, and this game really proved the coaching staff’s trust in the young man is growing.

Now we all wait. It was another really solid season for Notre Dame, but also a little disappointing in other ways. They finished 10-2, however, they lost their two toughest games and that eliminated them from a playoff berth and possible chance at a NY6 bowl. Going into this week against Stanford, it actually seemed somewhat likely that the Orange or Citrus bowl could work out. Simply put, they put their fate in the hands of other teams and the playoff committee, and they didn’t cooperate. Notre Dame will likely be going Camping, much to the chagrin of most Irish fans.