Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/608448
DOMINANCE ON THE GROUND Since head coach Brian Kelly arrived at Notre Dame, the Irish have struggled to run the football against Stanford. In the five previous matchups, the Irish averaged just 88.8 yards per game on the ground and only 2.9 yards per rush. Stanford entered the contest with 26th-ranked rushing defense in the nation, so breaking that streak did not seem likely. It did not take the Irish long to prove that would not be the case. Behind the record-breaking performance of freshman running back Josh Adams, the Irish dominated Stanford on the ground, rushing for 299 yards at a clip of 8.5 yards per carry. It was the most rushing yards the Cardinal had allowed since Oct. 2, 2010, at Oregon. Adams set a Notre Dame single-game STANFORD GAME NOTES NOTRE DAME VS. STANFORD QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Stanford 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 12:55 7:31 9:29 6:15 20:26 15:44 36:10 Third-Down Conversions 5-5 0-2 3-3 0-2 5-7 3-5 8-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position STAN-23 STAN-24 STAN-25 STAN-22 STAN-23 STAN-23 STAN-23 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 2:05 7:29 5:31 8:45 9:34 14:16 23:50 Third-Down Conversions 0-0 1-3 1-2 1-4 1-3 2-6 3-9 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 1-1 1-1 Average Field Position ND-21 ND-20 ND-14 ND-22 ND-20 ND-19 ND-19 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Stanford 5 5 0 0 Notre Dame 4 1 3 0 BY BRYAN DRISKELL Freshman running back Josh Adams rushed for a career-high 168 yards, setting a Notre Dame single-game record for a first-year back. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA