Notre Dame vs Stanford: 3 Confidences & Concerns

ND vs Stanford: Confidences & Concerns

What I find most interesting about posting this list weekly is how many items may appear on the confidence side one week but on the concerns side the next, or possibly be neutrally listed by default on neither. Such is the fickle nature of college football.

The do or die nature of each of those cherished fall Saturday gridiron battles that comprise the shortest regular season of all major sports lend themselves to weekly mood swings and quickly varying  levels of confidence or worry. 

This being said, it really does feel like the Irish are settling in and finding themselves, who they want to be, starting to form their new Freeman Era identity. Maybe we underestimated how complex this process is / was out of the gate?

Marcus Freeman seems more comfortable week to week, Drew Pyne is playing about as well as any reasonable Notre Dame fan can ask for and the defense, while frustratingly inconsistent at times, for the most part plays winning football. The arrow is pointing up with two very winnable home games coming up. Let’s discuss our 3 Confidences and 3 concerns for Stanford Week.

Watch: Notre Dame highlights in rout of Stanford

What was your favorite moment of the blowout victory?

No. 6 Notre Dame should be moving up in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night when the new rankings are released.  Their 45-14 win over Stanford wasn’t competitive, although Stanford was able to end the Irish’s streak of not allowing a touchdown against previously in all of November.

Notre Dame was in complete control of Saturday night’s game and moved to 11-1.  Will it ultimately be a strong enough resume to get the Irish to their third College Football Playoff appearance in four seasons?

Related: Notre Dame cruises past Stanford – 5 instant takeaways

Time will tell on that but be sure to enjoy this night and season.  In what was seen by many as a potential rebuilding year, Notre Dame went 11-1 while getting a bunch of young players a ton of playing time and development.

Celebrate this game and season and check out the highlights from the victory below:

Related: Five plays that loomed large in Notre Dame’s 45-14 win at Stanford

No Notre Dame/USC for first time since 1945

The best intersectional rivalry in college football won’t take place in 2020 as the Pac 12 will play only conference games this fall

The best intersectional rivalry in college football won’t be taking place in 2020 as Notre Dame and USC will not meet for the first time since 1945.

The Pac-12 announced Friday that for football it’s member schools would only be playing conference games for the season, just like the Big Ten announced on Thursday.

That brings to an end a run of 74 straight seasons that saw Notre Dame and USC meet on the gridiron.

It’s one of those news stories that is not at all surprising after yesterday’s announcement from the Big Ten, but still stings to see for college football fans nationwide.

For Notre Dame it will also mean an end to the streak of playing Stanford every year, something they’ve done since 1997.

Notre Dame was scheduled to play at USC the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Related: What might Notre Dame’s 2020 football schedule look like?

93 Days Until Notre Dame Football Returns

In 93 days we will get Notre Dame football back. In the meantime, see what great play in Notre Dame history we look back on today!

Here come the Irish!

Well, in 93 days, anyway as that’s when Notre Dame and Navy are now slated to kickoff the 2020 college football season in Annapolis.

Yesterday we counted down 94 days with a look back at the Notre Dame vs. Navy series over the years.  Today at 93, we remember a highlight from an all-time game that ended in heartbreak for the Fighting Irish.

93:  Length of CJ Sanders kickoff return for a touchdown against Stanford in the classic 2015 contest

Watch it below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQG_HdSgVRE&w=560&h=315]

Great game.

Except the last 30 seconds.

Enjoy your Thursday.

Related: Way Too Early Game-By-Game Predictions for 2020 Notre Dame Football

 

Notre Dame Football: Plays of the Year – Number 8

Three blockers to take on three defenders all while it’s an incredibly easy throw for Ian Book to make to Tony Jones.  It may not have been as important as Book’s touchdown pass to Jones in the regular season finale at USC in 2018 but the execution is perfect on a type of play Notre Dame hasn’t executed well with any regularity for quite some time.

As we near the end of the 2019 calendar year its a good time to look back at everything that went on in 2019 both personally and for our favorite sports teams.  We’re counting down the 10 best plays of Notre Dame’s 10-2 regular season.

We will unveil the plays twice a day from now through Friday and feel free to leave comments in our forum if you agree or disagree or are just looking for some general Notre Dame or college football conversation.

Here’s what we have so far:
No. 10 – Cole Kmet Gives Notre Dame the Lead at Georgia
No. 9 – Kyle Hamilton Announces His Arrival

Which brings us to number eight:

Watching Notre Dame’s offense in recent years has left a lot to be desired in terms of the screen game.  How can you tell?  Just by reading that you already remember the most-successful and best looking screen pass of the 2019 season if you watched each Notre Dame game.

It’s something that has lacked execution for years and did for large chunks of this year.

But it was something that was finally executed perfectly in the final game of the regular season and got Notre Dame on the board for their first score of the day at Stanford.

Tony Jones, Jr. gets the love for capping the drive but the execution of this play is flat-out perfect.

Three blockers to take on three defenders all while it’s an incredibly easy throw for Ian Book to make to Tony Jones.  It may not have been as important as Book’s touchdown pass to Jones in the regular season finale at USC in 2018 but the execution is perfect on a type of play Notre Dame hasn’t executed well with any regularity for quite some time.

Stay tuned as we have seven more plays to count down before kickoff on Saturday.

Stanford A Decade Long House of Horrors for Notre Dame

There haven’t been many more painful losses in Brian Kelly’s now ten-year run than what happened to conclude the 2015 regular season.

Forget that.

There haven’t been many more painful losses for Notre Dame in the almost 30 years I’ve been watching as the regular season finale in 2015 was.

The Notre Dame versus Stanford rivalry for The Legends Trophy has had some iconic moments for Notre Dame.

The Goal Line Stand in 2012:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpK7QUG3cbE&w=560&h=315]

Ben Koyack in 2014:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUvS88s_cY&w=560&h=315]

Dexter Williams 2018 Debut:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZLXify02xY&w=560&h=315]

Unfortunately for Notre Dame these moments have been few and far between in odd-numbered years, when the Irish finish their regular season on the west-coast.

Notre Dame leads the all-time series against Stanford 19-13 (2012 being vacated) but hasn’t won at Stanford since the forgettable 2007 campaign that came to forgiving end with a rather forgettable 21-14 win at Stanford.

We’ve got all week still to get set for a regular season conclusion at Stanford, who has been incredibly disappointing this season, but let’s take a quick moment to look back on the five-straight Notre Dame has lost at Stanford, a trend they hope to finally end in the Brian Kelly era this Saturday.

First up:  2009 – Charlie’s Last Stand