Quick hits: Who saw that coming? Stanford continues habit of upsetting Notre Dame
Tom Noie
SOUTH BEND — Three thoughts and other news and notes and anecdotes from Stanford's 16-14 upset of Notre Dame, Saturday in front of 77,622 at Notre Dame Stadium.
∎ Everything about this one coming in said the same — Stanford stinks.
The Cardinal were 1-4 and looked nothing like the program that gave Notre Dame so much trouble not so long ago. But this Stanford team wasn't great on offense or defense or special teams or anything. Really. It was the kind of game the Irish, given what they'd done the previous three weeks, should cruise. Put up a lot of points, play a lot of guys, send everyone in the crowd home happy.
Think again.
Stanford stuns Notre Dame:How the points were scored: Stanford 16, Notre Dame 14
Notre Dame didn't score a single point in the first half. It didn't lead until seven seconds into the fourth quarter. It trailed 16-14 with 10:20 left. That's college football. Just when you know, when you think you know a team, something like Saturday happens.
How good is Notre Dame? How bad was Stanford. We thought we know. Guess not as much as we figured.
∎ Drew Pyne picked the wrong half to cease riding the feel-good wave of success he’d surfed the previous two-plus games. In wins over North Carolina and Brigham Young, Pyne looked the part of capable starting college quarterback. Confident. In command.
On Saturday, he regressed to the guy we saw in the first half of the California game when he made his first career start. Maybe it was the play-calling or the blocking or the weather (not really the last one). Whatever it was, Pyne just didn’t look or play the same. He finished the first half 7-of-16 for all of 59 yards and a 74.7 passer rating. You don’t win with those numbers. If they didn’t improve — if he didn’t - Notre Dame wasn’t going to.
∎ Nothing about the first half of this one was supposed/expected to draw parallels with last season’s home loss to Cincinnati, but it did in that for the first time since that game last season, Notre Dame went scoreless over a forgettable opening two periods.
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The Irish couldn’t move the ball, couldn’t covert on third downs, couldn’t point to at least one area and say, OK, we can do THIS well against that team. Nothing. to the point where there were noticeable boos at the break. Any good will accumulated over three-game win streak had quickly disappeared. This one was ugly in every aspect.
Notre Dame trailed 13-0 before it finally woke up. Way too late. No excuses for that no matter the eventual outcome. A veteran team didn't start like one.
Worth noting
Something happened inside Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night that hadn’t happened in 1,792 days – the Irish played without linebacker Bo Bauer in uniform, ready to contribute often on special teams and as of late, on defense.
Bauer was lost for the rest of the season — and his collegiate career — after suffering a left knee injury on Tuesday in practice. Saturday marked the first game of his collegiate career that he missed — he had played each of the first 56 — and the first time the Irish played a game without Bauer available since a 24-17 win over Navy on Nov. 18, 2017.
Bauer made nine tackles, including a big one on a goal-line stand in what turned out to be his final game against Brigham Young. He might be better remembered this season by the media for his willingness to sit through interviews on the Tuesday following the home loss to Marshall. Instead of declining to participate, which would’ve been easy, Bauer took the other road, saying it was part of his responsibility as a captain to be accountable. He was. Always.
He was a really good quote, too. That might not count for much, but it does for the guys who covered him.
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By the numbers
1: Fist bump offered to Irish head coach Marcus Freeman from former LUS coach Ed Orgeron during the team’s walk from the Basilica to the stadium on Saturday.
2: Number of Orange Bowl representatives (with their naturally orange blazers) in the press box for Saturdays’ game. A New Year’s Six bowl game looking at a two-loss Irish team? Really?
1-7: Notre Dame’s third-down conversion rate before finally figuring it out to get a first down late in the first half. What made it so baffling was the Irish had been so good on third down – 19-for-30 the previous two games combined.
3:28: Time it took Stanford to march 66 yards in eight plays and take an early 7-0 lead. The Cardinal made it look way too easy that opening drive. It took a whole lot of air out of the place.
16: Notre Dame’s longest play from scrimmage in the first half, which arrived on a scramble by Pyne.
50: Degrees at kickoff. Last week at this time, it was 72 degrees at kick, although that was indoors at Allegiant Stadium just off the Las Vegas Strip.
70: Members of the 1977 Irish football team who returned to campus Saturday to celebrate the 45th anniversary of its national championship season. The Irish went 11-1 losing only to … Mississippi.
Next up
A second straight home game, but this one at a better hour (2:30 p.m. kick) against an opponent making its first visit to South Bend in UNLV (4-2 heading into Saturday’s late game against Air Force). Two weeks after played in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium — UNLV's home field — Notre Dame host the Rebels (running apply to football?) during an Irish run of three home games over four weeks.
Nothing about the first half of this one was supposed/expected to draw parallels with last season’s home loss to Cincinnati, but it did in that for the first time since that game last season, Notre Dame went scoreless over a forgettable opening two periods.
The Irish couldn’t move the ball, couldn’t covert on third downs, couldn’t point to at least one area and say, OK, we can do THIS well against that team. Nothing. TO the point where there were noticeable boos at the break. Any good will accumulated over three-game win streak had quickly disappeared. This one was ugly in every aspect.
Notre Dame trailed 13-0 before it finally woke up. Way too late. No excuses for that no matter what the eventual outcome.
Worth noting
Something happened inside Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night that hadn’t happened in the last 1,792 days — the Irish played without linebacker Bo Bauer in uniform, ready to contribute often on special teams and as of late, on defense.
Bauer was lost for the rest of the season — and his collegiate career — after suffering a left knee injury on Tuesday in practice. Saturday marked the first game of his collegiate career that he missed — he had played each of the first 56 — and the first time the Irish played a game without Bauer available since a 24-17 win over Navy on Nov. 18, 2017.
Bauer made nine tackles, including a big one on a goal-line stand in what turned out to be his final game against Brigham Young. He might be better remembered this season by the media for his willingness to sit through interviews on the Tuesday following the home loss to Marshall. Instead of declining to participate, which would’ve been easy, Bauer took the other road, saying it was part of his responsibility as a captain to be accountable. He was. Always.
He was a really good quote, too. That might not count for much, but it does for the guys who covered him.
By the numbers
1: Fist bump offered to Irish head coach Marcus Freeman from former LUS coach Ed Orgeron during the team’s walk from the Basilica to the stadium on Saturday.
2: Number of Orange Bowl representatives (with their naturally orange blazers) in the press box for Saturdays’ game. A New Year’s Six bowl game looking at a two-loss Irish team? Really?
1-7: Notre Dame’s third-down conversion rate before finally figuring it out to get a first down late in the first half. What made it so baffling was the Irish had been so good on third down – 19-for-30 the previous two games combined.
3:28: Time it took Stanford to march 66 yards in eight plays and take an early 7-0 lead. The Cardinal made it look way too easy that opening drive. It took a whole lot of air out of the place.
16: Notre Dame’s longest play from scrimmage in the first half, which arrived on a scramble by Pyne.
50: Degrees at kickoff. Last week at this time, it was 72 degrees at kick, although that was indoors at Allegiant Stadium just off the Las Vegas Strip.
70: Members of the 1977 Irish football team who returned to campus Saturday to celebrate the 45th anniversary of its national championship season. The Irish went 11-1 losing only to … Mississippi.
Next up
A second straight home game, but this one at a better hour (2:30 p.m. kick) against an opponent making its first visit to South Bend in UNLV (4-2 heading into Saturday’s late game against Air Force). Two weeks after played in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium — UNLV's home field — Notre Dame host the Rebels (running apply to football?) during an Irish run of three home games over four weeks.