Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1512120
26 DECEMBER 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Karty's 56-yard field goal attempt, Jean- Baptiste grabbed it off the ground and bolted toward open space. Weselman had the best shot at him, but he hit the deck after being violently stiff-armed. Jean- Baptiste tip-toed down the right sideline to the end zone, where he scored his first career touchdown. It was Onye's second blocked field goal of the season, and the team's third. The other one belongs to Jean-Baptiste himself. "I told Onye, just like, make sure you put your right hand up," Jean-Baptiste said. "And then he blocked it, and I'm just running around like, 'Where'd the ball go,' picked it up and just got to running." It was the cherry on top for what was a great game, a great month and a great season for Jean-Baptiste, his first and only in a Notre Dame uniform after transferring from Ohio State. Jean-Baptiste picked up 1.5 sacks in against Stanford, bringing his season to- tal to 4. Of those 4, 3.5 have come in the past three weeks. Those numbers don't tell the full story, either — Jean-Baptiste has been consistently disruptive since he first donned the blue and gold. After playing rotational reps for four years in Columbus, Ohio, Jean-Baptiste has blossomed into a stud with the Irish. "I'm so proud of him," head coach Marcus Freeman said. "[He] came here for an opportunity. He's taken full ad- vantage of it. He's truly been a great example of a guy who has improved throughout the season and is playing his highest level of football right now." Jean-Baptiste, as his account on the website formerly known as Twitter in- dicates, still has a lot of love in his heart for Ohio State. He live-tweeted much of the Buckeyes' loss to Michigan Nov. 25. "I caught the second [quarter] to around the fourth," Jean-Baptiste said. "I got nothing more. I don't wanna talk about that." The fifth-year defensive end chimed in on a few other Ohio State games throughout the season. He posted, "That's what I'm talking bout MARV!!!", referring to star junior wideout Marvin Harrison Jr., Oct. 28. However, Jean-Baptiste has a lot of love for Notre Dame, too. Despite not being with the Irish last season, Jean-Baptiste knew how much beating Stanford would mean to Notre Dame. He made it his mission to help bring the Legends Trophy back to South Bend after the Cardinal took it in upset fashion. "You could see how bad everyone wanted it, and just me coming in and see- ing how important it was to them made it STANFORD VS. NOTRE DAME QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Stanford 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 10:22 5:03 7:47 9:35 15:25 17:22 32:47 Third-Down Conversions 1-4 0-2 1-5 3-5 1-6 4-10 5-16 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 1-3 0-1 0-0 1-4 1-4 Average Field Position SU-39 SU-34 SU-25 SU-34 SU-37 SU-29 SU-34 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 4:38 9:57 7:13 5:25 14:35 12:38 27:13 Third-Down Conversions 2-2 3-4 2-2 0-1 5-6 2-3 7-9 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 1-1 Average Field Position ND-24 ND-32 ND-45 ND-45 ND-28 ND-45 ND-37 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards SU ND Nega ve 11 2 0-5 39 28 6-9 5 16 10-19 13 13 20-29 1 2 30-39 0 1 40-49 1 1 50 or more 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Stanford 4 2 2 0 Notre Dame 5 4 0 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND39 Hartman run for 25 yards to the SU36 • 2-9 ND35 Hartman pass to Tyree for 26 yards to SU39 • 1-10 SU39 Estimé run for 39 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 SU45 Hartman pass to Faison for 45 yards and a touchdown • 2-5 SU 25 Estimé run for 25 yards and a touchdown Stanford • 3-1 SU34 Lamson run for 49 yards to the ND17 • 2-9 SU26 Daniels pass to E. Smith for 53 yards to ND21 • 2-16 SU37 Lamson pass to E. Smith for 25 yards to ND38 Jean-Baptiste returned a blocked field goal 60 yards for his first career touchdown. PHOTO BY JIM HOLTAN MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame improved its all-time record against Stanford to 23-14 and evened its re- cord at 9-9 in Stanford Stadium. • With 2 touchdown passes against the Car- dinal, graduate student Sam Hartman moved his career total to 134. That matches Graham Harrell of Texas Tech for fourth on the all-time FBS list for touchdowns passes. • Graduate student defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah set a career high with 2 tackles for loss against Stanford. • Sophomore running back Gi'Bran Payne set a new career high with 35 yards rushing. • Freshman linebacker Drayk Bowen regis- tered a career-best 4 tackles.