Notre Dame Debriefing: Week 13 Stanford

For the 37th time, Notre Dame and Stanford battled for the Legends Trophy. The rivalry that started back in 1925 was reunited on Saturday. And just like for most of the series, the Irish dominated yet again. Although it looked like Stanford was going to keep it competitive in the first quarter. Jumping out to a 13-7 lead, with the Notre Dame playing very sloppy. The Irish were able to tighten their play up and pulled away in the second quarter. Propelling Notre Dame to a 56-23 win.

This was also the last time Stanford would play Notre Dame as a member of the PAC-12. Which is music to every fan of Notre Dame, after the mental gymnastics it took to watch the game. Why, well the game was on the PAC-12 Network. Which is only available in markets that have PAC-12 schools. Instead of being a national channel like the Big 10 or ACC Networks. The PAC-12 Network is broken down into six regional networks, each one covering a group of schools. This is a problem for a national brand like Notre Dame because 3/4 of their fan base was unable to get the game.

This is the exact reason why everyone is leaving the PAC-12. How is this conference supposed to compete when it only has regional networks, and the other conferences have national networks? However, this is a conversation for another time. Here are the major takeaways from the Irish last regular season game.

Javontae Jean-Baptiste Made His Presence Felt

A big reason for Notre Dame being able to turn it around so quickly was the play of Javontae Jean-Baptiste. The senior defensive lineman was an absolute game-wrecker on Saturday night. He had a total of three tackles, one and a half sacks, as well as two and a half tackles for a loss. This is the exact type of play you want from your defensive lineman. You want them to get after and be able to hit the quarterback often. That makes the quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket and causes him to start rushing throws. The threat of Jean-Baptiste definitely got into Stanford quarterback, Ashton Daniels, head which caused his play to suffer.

However, it wasn’t just Jean-Baptiste play on defense that helped change the course of the game. He also made a great play on a special team that helped the Irish. Early in the fourth quarter, Stanford was lying up for a field goal. Sure the game was pretty much out of reach, but Stanford could try to build some momentum. However, the kick was blocked by Jean-Baptiste and he returned for a touchdown. Making the score 56-16 ending any hope Stanford had. Sure the game was out of reach but the fact that Jean-Baptiste still was giving everything he has, says a lot about the culture Marcus Freeman is building.

Extremely Efficient Offense

To say that Notre Dame’s offense has been inconsistent all season would be an understatement. You had a stretch of games to begin the season where this offense looked unstoppable. However, there were also stretches where they couldn’t get out of their own way. You never knew which offense you were going to get. Which is very frustrating for anyone who is a fan of this team. However, the offense we got on Saturday shows how good this team could be. According to NBC Sports, the Irish succeeded on 60% of their offensive plays, which is in the 99th percentile of all FBS games.

If Notre Dame wants to contend for a national championship, this is the type of performance they need from their offense. They need to find a way to have consistency with their offense. They don’t have to play like this every game. However, if they’re able to be half as good of a performance and be able to do it consistently they’ll have a bright future. It now falls on the offense coaching staff to find what works, and what they can put into the game plan to have more consistency.

Where Does Notre Dame Go From Here

As any college football fan knows, this week is conference championship weekend. Once this week settles we’ll know the winner of each conference, as well as who is going to be participating in the college football playoffs. However, one team that won’t be playing this weekend is Notre Dame, due to them being independent. So it’ll be a week before we know when and where Notre Dame’s next game will be.

However, despite this, there are several models that are projecting where they’re going to be playing. The most recent projections have narrowed down Notre Dame bowl appearances to two bowls. The ReliaQuest Bowl and the Pop-Tart Bowl. Not the Bowl games the Irish wanted to be competing in but still a pretty good accomplishment. Their opponent is still up in the air, but there are three teams they could be playing. The models are projecting they’ll either play LSU, Ole Miss, or Wisconsin. Out of these three, the most interesting would be LSU. Mostly because of Brian Kelly and every Notre Dame fan still can’t forgive him for how he felt at Notre Dame. It’s going to be very interesting to watch this play out.

Thanks for reading! Credit for my feature image goes to David Madison. You can find more college football content at Belly Up Sports, and follow me on Twitter.