Notre Dame-Stanford: 5 instant takeaways
Notre Dame and Stanford met in a game that appeared on paper to be about as one-sided as you could hope for if you’re a Fighting Irish fan. But that’s why the old saying goes “and that’s why they play the games!”
Notre Dame came out of the gate and I struggle to find the proper word to describe their effort.
Awful.
Pathetic.
Uninspired.
Disinterested.
In a game Notre Dame was favored by 16.5 points, the Irish looked like the uninspired ones who were coming off a heartbreaking loss on their home field before having to travel on a nearly five hour flight.
Here are five instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s truly abysmal showing against Stanford as the Irish were shocked 16-14 by the Cardinal.
Slow Start Yet Again
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Notre Dame scored three points on their season-opening drive at Ohio State and scored three points last week as they intercepted a pass the first play of the game and took over with the ball at the BYU 44.
Those are the only six points Notre Dame has scored in the first quarter this season. Stanford came out and marched right down the field, cutting like a warm knife through butter while Notre Dame’s offense looked confused and overmatched against an opponent that simply wasn’t the case with.
Tobias Merriweather Can Play!
It’s crazy to say this but Tobias Merriweather, who Notre Dame fans have seemingly as far to get reps for at least a month, can play!
Merriweather beat his man in the third quarter and had an easy touchdown had Drew Pyne not overthrown him. He then answered in the fourth by burning another defender and not having Pyne miss him that time. Maybe I’m crazy but perhaps he should have been getting more reps sooner?
Overturned Fumble
I’m not one to sit and blame officials for wins and losses because I don’t think fixes are in. With that said, that doesn’t mean that all official crews just get a passing grade, either.
It is beyond me how how the fumble was overturned in the fourth quarter before Stanford was able to kick the eventual game-winning field goal with 10:20 left to play in the fourth quarter.
With all of that said – I can’t stress this enough – the officials were not good and that overturn was especially bad, but Notre Dame has Notre Dame to blame for losing this game. Nothing else.
Sloppy, Sloppy, Sloppy
MATT CASHORE – USA TODAY NETWORK
There are a lot of things to look at wonder, why?
Dropped passes, some truly horrific play calling in the first half, more missed tackles than one could possibly count all of, and just an overall lack of urgency seemingly all night long.
[autotag]Drew Pyne[/autotag] might be the greatest young man the world has ever seen, but even if that’s the case he turned back into a pumpkin compared to how he looked against BYU a week ago and North Carolina a few weeks back.
It’s not all on Pyne. Audric Estime, who we were told has never fumbled in his life, now has two lost fumbles in fourth quarters in the past three games. This one proved mega-costly as it seemed like Notre Dame was en-route to retaking the lead late.
So many frustrating things from tonight, there are a bunch more to list that we’ll get to in the coming hours here at Fighting Irish Wire.
378 Days
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It had been 378 days since Stanford had beaten an FBS opponent before Saturday night in South Bend.
378.
That’s over a year.
That’s when they upset Oregon in Palo Alto last season and they haven’t beaten a team that plays in FBS since.
I’m trying to not be hyperbolic and be too much of a victim of the moment but I’m have real problems not looking at things and saying this loss trumps even the Marshall disaster from earlier this year.
