Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 DECEMBER 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNOVERS TURN A TIGHT GAME INTO A ROUT For three quarters, Notre Dame and Stanford were engaged in a tightly contested football game. The Irish took a 20-17 lead with 1:23 left in the third quarter, but it was short- lived — the Cardinal dominated the final 16 minutes of the game. On the first play from scrimmage after Stanford took a 24-20 lead at the 13:46 mark, junior quarterback Bran- don Wimbush threw an interception. Stanford needed just three plays to go 29 yards and turn the errant throw into a touchdown and a 31-20 advan- tage with 12:21 remaining. That was followed immediately with a fumble by junior kick returner C.J. Sanders, which gave Stanford the ball just 18 yards shy of the end zone. This time, the Cardinal needed four plays to go up 38-20 with 10:10 to go in the game. Turnovers proved to be the differ- ence in the game. "Ultimately, in a college football game, you can't turn the ball over, and you've got to create turnovers to win the game," senior rover Drue Tranquill said. "We didn't do that." Wimbush was picked off a second time later in the fourth quarter, and the Irish defense couldn't gain any turnovers of its own. "Stanford made more plays than we did," head coach Brian Kelly stated following the loss. "We turned the football over late in the game. Each game that we've lost this year, we've turned the football over against quality opposition, against good football teams. Stanford is clearly a good football team." Notre Dame turned the ball over nine times in its three losses this sea- son and just six times in its nine vic- tories. The Irish defense forced just two turnovers in the three losses, and both came in Notre Dame's 20-19 loss to Georgia Sept. 9. Wimbush has been the primary donor when it comes to turnovers in the losses. He threw four intercep- tions and lost three fumbles in Notre Dame's three losses. "He knows in those kinds of situ- ations where he's working the ball into the short field that he's got a pro- gression," Kelly said of Wimbush's first turnover. "He's got to take care of the football. He knows where he needs to be with the football in those situations." Wimbush tried to hit fifth-year se- nior tight end Durham Smythe with a quick throw to the outside, but he failed to notice Stanford linebacker Curtis Robinson, who jumped in front of the throw for the interception. "I just didn't see the buck defender drop into my window," Wimbush said of his first turnover. "He made a great play on the ball." DEFENSE HOLDS STRONG EARLY AND FALTERS LATE Notre Dame's defense had its mo- ments against Stanford, but when you lose 38-20 it really does not mean much. The final numbers don't really tell the story of this game, even though Stanford scored 38 points and junior running back Bryce Love finished the game with 125 yards on 20 carries. For much of the game, the Irish de- fense kept Love and the Cardinal of- fense in check, allowing Notre Dame to take a lead into the fourth quarter. Stanford had just 328 yards of total of- fense and averaged 4.0 yards per carry. "I thought Mike had a great plan," head coach Brian Kelly said of defen- sive coordinator Mike Elko's game plan. "We matched personnel group- ings and had a pretty good sense of what they were going to do. "It's power football. You've got to win the line of scrimmage. It's not fancy. They've been really good all year at popping some plays." Love had just 31 yards on 10 carries at the half, and the nation's leader in runs of 30 yards or more didn't get his first long one until the third quarter, when he went for 31. It was his lone gain of 30-plus yards in the game. Notre Dame often went with four linebackers on the field in an attempt to slow down the Stanford ground at- tack. The plan worked early with the Irish linebackers and interior linemen disrupting the Stanford offense. "We wanted to limit the explosive plays by Love, and I think we did that effectively," senior linebacker Greer Martini said. The biggest problem for Notre Dame was handling the Stanford pass game. Sophomore quarterback K.J. Costello set a career high with four touchdown passes while completing 63.6 percent of his throws for 176 yards. Costello didn't complete a lot of STANFORD GAME NOTES BY BRYAN DRISKELL The Irish entered the fourth quarter with a 20-17 lead, but a pair of turnovers — a Brandon Wimbush interception and a fumble by C.J. Sanders on a kick return — resulted in a 21-point turnaround in a span of just 3:36. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • The loss dropped Kelly to 2-6 in his career versus Stanford and 0-4 on the road. • This marked the first time in program his- tory that Notre Dame had multiple touchdown receptions of at least 75 yards in a game. • Sophomore wideout Kevin Stepherson and junior wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown were the first pair of Notre Dame players to surpass 100 yards in the same game since Michael Floyd and Golden Tate accomplished that feat in a loss to UConn on Nov. 21, 2009.