Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports
Key Takeaways From Notre Dame's 45-24 Victory Over Stanford
Notre Dame went on the road yesterday and did something it hasn’t in a long time. Well, it accomplished a few somethings it hadn’t done in awhile, but the most specific was beating Stanford on the road for the first time since 2007.
While the offense and defense were sloppy early as the Irish fell behind early, the special teams gave the team a spark the quickly turned a 17-7 deficit into a 45-24 rout.
There were several takeaways from the game:
We Saw How Impactful Special Teams Can Be — Special teams coordinator Brian Polian inherited a disaster when he took over that unit following the 2016 season. Over the last three years, Notre Dame went from a train wreck on special teams — a unit that gave up five direct touchdowns in 2016 — to about as steady of a unit as the team has in 2019.
All season the Irish have done their job on special teams. They’ve covered well, they’ve kicked well, they’ve punted well and with one exception (Virginia) it has played mistake free football. The win over Stanford yesterday might not have been a win over Stanford without that unit making a game-changing play.
Notre Dame trailed Stanford 17-7 early in the second quarter, and neither side of the ball could get much going. The offense was struggling to move the ball, and the defense gave up 221 yards on Stanford’s first four possessions. After the defense finally forced a three-and-out, the special teams completely changed the complexion of the game.
Freshman defensive end Isaiah Foskey blocked a Stanford punt and sophomore end Justin Ademilola recovered it and took it to the 1-yard line. Three plays later the offense punched it in and turned a 17-7 game into a 17-14 game. That momentum shift sparked the team, as the defense forced another Stanford punt a possession later and the offense followed that up with a 3-play, 76-yard scoring drive that put Notre Dame up for good.
For good measure, long snapper John Shannon recovered a muffed punt late in the third quarter, and the offense followed that up with a drive that ended with a 42-yard Jonathan Doerer field goal, as the special teams all but put away the game.
Notre Dame Out-Talented Stanford — The Irish were dominated by Stanford when Brian Kelly first arrived in South Bend, losing 37-14 and 28-14 in his first two seasons. Stanford clearly had the better team, and it had the more talented roster. Over the last decade the Cardinal have had three Heisman Trophy finalists to Notre Dame’s one.
In past years, had Notre Dame been as sloppy on both sides of the ball as it was yesterday the result would have been the Irish finishing the regular season with a loss. Notre Dame won yesterday mainly because it clearly has superior talent to Stanford, which shows the dramatic roster shift that has taken place the last few seasons. Notre Dame’s talent has continued to upgrade while Stanford’s has steadily fallen back.
Over the last two seasons, Notre Dame has outscored Stanford 83-41, a dramatic turnaround from the first two years, when it was the Cardinal that outscored the Irish 65-28.
Stanford’s secondary was no match for Notre Dame’s offensive skill, and that group simply took the game over. Chase Claypool, Braden Lenzy and Cole Kmet made plays every time the ball was close to them, and that combination of talent overwhelmed Stanford in the second quarter as the Irish went from trailing 17-7 to leading 21-17 in a matter of minutes.
It was a sloppy offensive performance, and the offensive line continued its struggles (see below), but Stanford had no answers for Notre Dame’s offensive skill talent. Notre Dame’s 38 offensive points and 445 yards were more about having better players than they were about a well-executed game, and that right there does so much to explain Notre Dame’s resurgence in recent seasons.
The margin for error is much greater because the talent is so much better, on both sides of the ball, and during that same time Stanford has taken a major step back.
Front Seven Depth On Full Display — An argument could be made that the recent surge in talent for the Irish is most glaring along the defensive line. How many seasons in the past could Notre Dame enter a Stanford game without players like Julian Okwara, Daelin Hayes, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Jayson Ademilola and still win? Check that, and still blow them out?
Without those four linemen — which includes two starters and two backups who for much of their season out-played the starters — the Irish front scuffled a bit early, allowing Stanford to rack up a lot of yards early in the game, but in the second quarter the unit settled down and started to take over the game.
After Stanford’s fast start, the line turned up the heat and started getting hits on quarterback Davis Mills. That forced him to get the ball out quicker, which resulted in more incompletions, which resulted in the defense making more and more stops.
Jamir Jones began the season as a backup player that was expected to redshirt. Against Stanford, he was Notre Dame’s most impactful edge rusher for much of the game. Ade Ogundeji — another backup — had his second straight outstanding performance, so much so that he outshined starter Khalid Kareem, who also played a very good game against Stanford. The injuries inside also forced Ogundeji to line up at defensive tackle at times in the game.
Up the middle, freshman Jacob Lacey and sophomore Ja’mion Franklin stepped into more important roles, and both handled themselves quite well. Freshman end Isaiah Foskey was part of the end rotation, and his blocked punt on special teams changed the game.
The ability to lose that much talent to injury and still play as well as the Notre Dame line did yesterday is clear evidence of how far the roster has come from a talent standpoint. Line coach Mike Elston also deserves a great deal of credit for being able to push that group through adversity and get so many different players ready to impact the game in a positive manner.
Braden Lenzy Is A Game Changer — I explained just how much sophomore wide receiver Braden Lenzy can impact the game in the Players of the Game article, but it’s worth repeating here. Lenzy’s overall numbers won’t blow you away — eight touches, 96 yards of offense, but it’s how he got those yards that is so impressive.
His combination of speed, quickness and the ability to break tackles was on full display. He’s not a track star, he’s a football player with track speed, and we saw that yesterday. But even when Lenzy isn’t getting the ball, his speed forces opponents to key on him, which then opens up opportunities for his teammates.
That combination is what makes Lenzy a true game changer, and over the last three games that has been on full display.
Offensive Line Continues To Drag Down The Run Game — Brian Kelly has pointed to his team’s rushing yards the last two weeks when trying to defend the play of his offensive line. Notre Dame rushed for 252 yards against Boston College and 190 yards against Stanford, which on the surface seem like good numbers. But for a coach who says he’s process oriented, that doesn’t work.
Anyone that paid attention to that game saw that those yards once again were a result of quarterback scrambles and outside runs that had little to nothing to do with the blocking of the offensive line. And the success the offense did have came against a Cardinal defense that ranked 57th in rush defense and 77th in yards allowed per run coming into the game.
Notre Dame’s offensive line is to the 2019 team what the defense was to the 2015 team; a very talented unit that consistently produces below its talent level. The head coach made excuses for that unit in 2015, and we saw it bottom out a year later. He’s doing the same thing now with the offensive line, and if he doesn’t address the problems that have plagued the unit the last two seasons the Irish offense won’t come close to reaching its full potential, which means the team won’t reach its full potential.
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