Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 22, 2022 21 BY TYLER HORKA S tanford clearly missed the dress rehearsal. Or it just didn't plan one in the first place because it didn't think it would be neces- sary. A waste of time, perhaps. Nope. Making their way toward the visitor's tunnel on the north side of Notre Dame Stadium, one by one Stanford players realized it wasn't time to leave just yet. There was a small contingent of a few hundred, at the most, Stanford fans in the southeast corner of the venue clad in Cardinal red who wanted nothing more than their victorious visitors to come celebrate with them. They got their wish. Notre Dame players sadly sang their alma mater and quickly headed up the home tunnel. The Stanford players si- multaneously raced back to the other end of the field to relish in the pro- gram's first win over the Fighting Irish since 2017. The first win in South Bend since 2016. The first win over an FBS opponent since early October 2021. So, yeah. About that dress rehearsal. Why have one for something that in all likelihood wasn't going to happen? Because in college football, never say never. Stanford 16, Notre Dame 14. It doesn't matter who didn't see it coming. Included in that were Las Ve- gas oddsmakers and almost all of the 77,622 in attendance outside of the aforementioned Cardinal clappers. And even they would probably tell you they made the trip more so out of alle- giance than a gut feeling their team was going to emerge triumphantly. But that's why you play the game. Notre Dame (3-3) head coach Marcus Freeman said his team didn't overlook Stanford (2-4). It just got straight up beat. "They respect this rivalry," Freeman said of the Irish. "They understand — you ask any one of them — they under- stand how important this game is and how important preparation is. "And so, as I told them, it wasn't a lack of effort in the game, it wasn't a lack of effort in preparation, but it's not correlating over to the results that you want. So, you've got to look at what you're doing and how you're doing it and figure out a better way to do it." Junior quarterback Drew Pyne came back to earth, completing just 13 of 27 pass attempts for 151 yards with 1 touchdown. He also lost a fumble. For the first time as the Irish's starter, he was outdueled by the opposing QB. Stanford's Tanner McKee completed 26 of 38 passes for 288 yards. Stanford outgained Notre Dame, 385 to 301 in total yards. It was the first time Notre Dame was outgained since Week 2 against Marshall. Not a coin- cidence, that was also Notre Dame's last loss. It's back to the drawing board for Freeman and company. FIRST QUARTER STANFORD 7, NOTRE DAME 0 Top Moment: Junior linebacker Prince Kollie blocked a punt to set Notre Dame up on the Stanford 32-yard line. Feature Performer: Junior running back Chris Tyree carried 6 times for 17 yards in the quarter. He was also tar- geted in the passing game once, but the throw was incomplete. Stats: Stanford outgained Notre Dame 89 to 60. The Cardinal gained 6 first downs to the Irish's 2. Both teams ran 16 plays despite the Cardinal hav- ing a slight edge in time of possession, 8:20 to 6:40. Items: Notre Dame went three-and- out to start the game … Stanford scored a 2-yard touchdown on an 8-play, 66- yard drive on its first possession … Notre Dame turned the ball over on downs at the Stanford 5-yard line af- ter being set up by the blocked punt; the Irish were unsuccessful on an end- around to sophomore wide receiver Jayden Thomas. SECOND QUARTER STANFORD 10, NOTRE DAME 0 Top Moment: Notre Dame came up with a fourth-down stop at the Irish 28 with 1:41 left in the quarter. Feature Performer: Stanford run- ning back Casey Filkins had 37 yards from scrimmage. Stats: Stanford outgained Notre Dame 87 to 36. The Cardinal ran 24 plays to the Irish's 16. Stanford con- trolled the ball for 9:11. Both teams had trouble moving the ball; Stanford av- eraged 3.6 yards per play. Notre Dame averaged 2.3. I te m s : No t re Da m e s ta r te d t h e quarter with 3 straight rushes for 9 yards from sophomore tailback Logan Diggs … Fellow sophomore Audric Es- time moved the chains with 5 yards on fourth-and-1 … Pyne lost a fumble on a 6-yard sack … the turnover allowed Stanford to kick a field goal as time ex- pired at the half. THIRD QUARTER STANFORD 13, NOTRE DAME 7 Top Moment: Estime got the Irish on the board with a 10-yard rushing touch- down with 6:22 left in the quarter. Feature Performer: Junior tight end Michael Mayer caught 2 passes for 33 yards on the touchdown drive. Stats: Stanford outgained Notre Dame 114 to 102. The Cardinal ran 22 plays to the Irish's 14. Notre Dame av- eraged 7.3 yards per play to Stanford's 5.2. The Cardinal possessed the ball for 8:54. Items: Diggs had a carry of 26 yards on the first play of the Irish touchdown drive … Diggs had 40 rushing yards in the quarter … Pyne fumbled on the final play of the quarter, and he re- covered the ball for a loss of 4 yards … CARDINAL SIN Notre Dame loses to Stanford for the first time since 2017 Sophomore running back Audric Estime tied for the team lead with 57 rushing yards and scored a touchdown, but lost a costly fumble midway through the fourth quarter when the Irish were driving for the potential game-winning score. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER