Blue and Gold Illustrated

December 2017

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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24 DECEMBER 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNING POINT An easily forgotten play is when the score was tied 17-17 midway through the third quarter and Stanford took possession at its 1-yard line. On first down, QB K.J. Costello fumbled the snap that the Irish almost recovered. However, the wheels came off in three ways for Notre Dame in a span of 3:36 in the fourth quarter with the Irish still leading 20-17. First, facing third-and-eight from the Notre Dame 19, Stanford con- verted its first third down (it had been 0 of 7) on a touchdown pass from Costello to tight end Kaden Smith. Second, Irish junior quarterback Bran- don Wimbush opened the next series with an interception toss that set up a 29-yard Stanford touchdown drive. Next, junior C.J. Sanders fumbled the ensuing kickoff that the Cardinal turned into an 18-yard touchdown drive. The score went from a 20-17 Irish lead with 13:46 left to a 38-20 Cardinal advantage by the 10:10 mark. STAT OF THE GAME Stanford won the turnover battle 3-0 — with all three Irish turnovers occurring during the decisive fourth quarter. That's just half of it. During Notre Dame's 8-1 start this year, it had outscored its opponents 108-10 off turnovers. Conversely, in the final three games the Fighting Irish were outscored 45-0 off turnovers. At Miami Nov. 11, the Hurricanes generated four turnovers to Notre Dame's none and converted them into 24 points in the 41-8 rout. While eking out a 24-17 victory versus Navy Nov. 18, the Irish fin- ished even at 1-1 in giveaways, but the Midshipmen scored a touch- down off theirs while the Irish didn't. At Stanford, two of the Irish turn- overs set up 29- and 18-yard touch- down drives for a 14-0 Cardinal ad- vantage. The third turnover came late in Stanford's end zone. PRIME NEMESIS FOR BRIAN KELLY Stanford's football program has been the bane of Brian Kelly's coaching career at Notre Dame. Whereas he is 5-3 versus archrival USC, Kelly is 2-6 against the "other California school," which overall has won seven of the last nine meet- ings with the Irish. The wound is extra deep because Stanford has in that time also become the most renowned school for com- bining academics with football, aver- aging 11 wins per season since 2010 (Kelly's first year at Notre Dame). It has built the program, identity and consistency the Irish have not. What Air Force was to Gerry Faust while going 4-0 from 1982-85, Michigan State was to Bob Davie (5-0 from 1997-2001), Boston College to Ty Willingham (3-0 from 2002-04) and USC to Charlie Weis (5-0 from 2005-09), so has Stanford been to Kelly. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY LOU SOMOGYI OFFENSE: WR KEVIN STEPHERSON For the second straight game, the sophomore wide receiver set a career high in receiving yards, this time finishing with 112 on just three catches. He hauled in an 83-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to get the of- fense rolling. Stepherson also had a big down-field block to spring ju- nior wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown on his 75-yard touchdown reception that gave Notre Dame a 17-14 lead in the third quarter. He also contributed a 10-yard run. DEFENSE: LB NYLES MORGAN AND LB TE'VON CONEY For most of the game, the defense kept the nation's top back — junior Bryce Love — contained. Love had only 31 yards on 10 carries at the half before compiling 94 yards on 10 attempts in the second half. The inside linebackers were a main reason why the Irish enjoyed early success. Morgan led the defense with seven tackles, including 1.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. He had a key early pass rush that forced a punt and also broke up a pass. Coney recorded six stops and two tackles for loss. SPECIAL TEAMS: PR CHRIS FINKE Notre Dame entered this matchup ranked 114th nation- ally in punt returns, averaging merely 4.3 yards a run- back. Against Stanford, though, the junior punt returner did his part to give the Irish a spark. With the game tied 17-17 late in the third quarter, Finke returned a Stanford punt 41 yards to give the offense the ball at the Cardinal 19-yard line. Finke later added a 20- yard return. TOP PLAYERS OF THE GAME BY BRYAN DRISKELL Senior linebacker Nyles Morgan (No. 5) recorded a team-high seven tackles and notched 1.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

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