Fighting Irish 4-1-1 – Stanford

4 elements that defined Notre Dame’s stunning rivalry loss to Stanford; 1 unique stat, 1 thing to pivot forward

By John Brice
Special Contributor

Somehow, after a three-game winning streak that spanned four weeks of its season, Notre Dame took a step back from an execution standpoint Saturday night inside sold-out Notre Dame Stadium.

The result? The Fighting Irish’s second home loss this season – and another game in which Notre Dame was poised to win if it just protected its fourth-quarter opportunities.

First-year coach Marcus Freeman laid bare the Irish situation after the 16-14 loss to intersectional rival Stanford.

“It’s just frustrating, man,” Freeman said post-game. “Frustrating. We’ve got to be better. We’ll find a way. Trust me. We’re 3-3, we’re going to evaluate and get better. There’s no other choice.

“We’ve got a bunch of seniors dying to improve. Today’s result is not what we wanted. We’re going to swallow this pill and get our heads back up, which we will. I might be the worst one (for being frustrated).

FOUR ELEMENTS THAT LEAVE NOTRE DAME AT 3-3 MIDWAY THROUGH ITS 2022 CAMPAIGN

38:38: The Irish were held scoreless for the first time this season, and the third time since 2019 after also being shut out in the first halves against Michigan (2019) and Cincinnati (2021) but the offense finally appeared to break through with Audric Estimè’s 10-yard scoring run, in which the sophomore tailback was scarcely touched, 7 minutes, 38 seconds into the third quarter.

5: Stanford and Notre Dame combined to fumble the football five times in the contest, but while the Cardinal twice dropped the ball on the ground, it did not commit a turnover in the game – though not without some controversy, as Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee appeared to uncork a pivotal fourth-quarter fumble that the Pac-12 officiating crew overturned.

Meanwhile, the Irish fumbled three times and lost two of those three miscues.

41: Tobias Merriweather’s first career catch, on the very first snap of the fourth quarter, vaulted Notre Dame to its first – and only – lead in this contest. The 6-foot-4, 198-pound freshman from West Camas, Washington, broke cleanly away from the Stanford defense and raced under Drew Pyne’s pass in the seam for a 41-yard score and a 14-13 lead after Blake Grupe’s extra-point kick.

“Both of those two calls were specifically for Tobias,” said Freeman, who noted the Irish nearly had n earlier touchdown toss to Merriweather in the third quarter that just went beyond Merriweather’s reach. “We missed first one a little bit, but we were looking for a specific coverage, saw it and called it. That’s what Tobias Merriweather can do.”

Added Pyne, “Tobias is a speed-demon. He runs really good routes, is a big target, has great hands. He’s been working his tail off to go make a play like that.”

2: Blocked punts this season, after sophomore linebacker Prince Kollie – who stepped in admirably to a larger role on the heels of Bo Bauer’s season-ending injury – thwarted Ryan Sanborn’s first-quarter punt to set up the Irish offense at Stanford’s 32-yard line.

Notre Dame’s offense marched to the Cardinal’s 5-yard line, even after it had a touchdown pass from Pyne to Michael Mayer negated by penalty, before a fourth-down run came up roughly a yard short.

ONE THING TO NOTE

The only time this season that Notre Dame’s defense allowed more than 30 points, the Fighting Irish cruised to their most convincing win of the season (to this point) in last month’s 45-32 triumph at North Carolina.

The Tar Heels won again Saturday, 38-35 against rival Duke, and improved to 6-1 in the process.

There will be no shortage of additional opportunity games to help Freeman establish his foundation moving forward. Notre Dame will face at least three ranked teams – Syracuse, Clemson and Southern Cal – in the season’s final five weeks following next Saturday’s home tilt against UNLV.

Right now, both Clemson (Nov. 5 at Notre Dame) and Syracuse (Oct. 29, away) are undefeated, and USC suffered its first loss late Saturday night at Utah.

ONE THING PIVOTING FORWARD

A bit quietly, Notre Dame is serving up a bit of a youth movement as the season unfolds.

On the defensive side of the ball against Stanford, sophomore Xavier Watts and freshman Gabe Rubio were tied for the Irish’s second-most tackles with seven apiece. Freshman Ben Morrison started again at cornerback for the Irish and finished with four tackles as well as a pass broken up.

Offensively, the Irish got the first career touchdown from Merriweather while they also continued to expand the roles in the offensive backfield of tailbacks Logan Diggs and Audric Estimè; the duo combined for 114 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.

Additionally, Notre Dame’s offense continues to see its left and right tackle positions anchored by second-year players Joe Alt and Blake Fisher.