Recap: Stanford falls to #5 Notre Dame on Senior Day
On Saturday, Stanford fell to #5 Notre Dame 45-14 on Senior Day at Stanford Stadium. Notre Dame senior quarterback Jack Coan went 26-35 for 345 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception for a 170.2 passer rating while junior running back Kyren Williams rushed for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries. Senior wide receiver Kevin Austin led the Irish in receiving yards with 125 yards on 6 receptions.
Stanford sophomore quarterback Tanner McKee went 20-25 for 172 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interceptions while sophomore tight end Benjamin Yurosek had 5 receptions for 87 yards and 1 touchdown. The touchdown was a career-long 49 yard touchdown for Yurosek. Notre Dame improves to 11-1 on the season while Stanford falls to 3-9 (2-7).
“Evening everyone. Someone asked me earlier in the week if I was going to be glad when the season is over. The answer was no,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said to start his post-game remarks. “This team has worked so hard and is such a joy to be around, even through difficult times.
“These seniors, some I've known for a long time now, right? Recruited Gabe Reid before he went on his mission. Came back and then did five years with us.
“Tucker Fisk, played with his dad, to be with him this whole time. Dalyn Perry, Thomas Booker has become the special young man, and that is both on and off the football field. Isaiah Sanders for what he brought to this football team over the last two years.
“Special group of guys. Really is. So sad to see those guys go. So many more I could name but I'm not going to go through the whole roster. But really sad to see those guys go.
“You know, wish I could have given them a better senior year. But difficulties find us. It's not what happens to us but how we respond. This program will respond.
“I said in the press conference on Tuesday and I'll say it again of take your shots now. I have no problem. Take your shots now. Love the guys we have coming back. Love some of the groundwork that we laid, but our standards in this program are extremely high. Extremely high.
“A lot of excuses, a lot of reasons why we didn't play the way we want to play. Excuses don't matter. They don't matter. We've got some great players, great young people, great young people coming in. We have a top 15 class right now in this year's recruiting class and we're not done yet.
“Going to add those guys to the guys coming back, and I'm not going to say we're rebuilding anything. We're going to play better. A lot of things we have to do, a lot of discussions we have to have. Some difficult discussions. But like I said, the standard that we set here is extremely high. Going to take a little break, jump into recruiting, and then the work starts. We have a special group coming back. We're going to have a special season.”
Stanford got the ball first to start the game but ended up punting on their opening drive. When Notre Dame got the ball back, Jack Coan connected with wide receiver Braden Lenzy for a 16 yard touchdown to conclude the drive. 7-0 Notre Dame was up with 9:39 to go in the 1st quarter.
On the next Stanford drive, Tanner McKee wasn’t able to connect with wide receiver Elijah Higgins on a 3rd and 7. Stanford punted resulting in a Notre Dame fair catch at their own 13 yard line. There was now 7:23 to go in the 1st quarter.
Stanford was able to get a stop on the next drive and force a punt as linebacker Jacob Mangum-Farrar broke up the pass. The ball was nearly picked off. It was now 1st and 10 for Stanford on their own 26 yard line with 4:45 to go in the 1st quarter.
Stanford wouldn’t do much on their next possession as they ended up punting the ball back to Notre Dame, resulting in a fair catch at the Notre Dame 31 yard line. The Irish were complaining that they didn’t signal fair catch, but the refs didn’t buy their beef.
At the end of the 1st quarter, Notre Dame led 7-0 and had the ball on the Stanford 19 yard line with four downs to work with. They went for it on 4th and 4 and converted thanks to a clutch catch by Kevin Austin.
Notre Dame would finish off the drive with a two yard touchdown reception by tight end George Takacs. 14-0 Irish were in front with 14:30 to go in the 2nd quarter. Stanford would soon turn the ball over, as Tanner McKee fumbled, giving the ball back to Notre Dame on the Stanford 23 yard line. The game was on the verge of becoming a blowout that many were expecting.
Stanford’s defense found a way to hold Notre Dame to a field goal as penalties pushed the Irish back. With 11:26 to go until halftime, Notre Dame led 17-0. Stanford would punt the ball on their next possession but did so in impressive fashion as Ryan Sanborn did a nice job of avoiding the block and punting the ball 43 yards where Jonathan McGill immediately tackled the return man. Notre Dame had the ball on their own 25 yard line with 9:56 to go in the half.
Notre Dame would march down the field and score a touchdown as Kyren Williams found the end zone from one yard out. With 4:47 to go in the half, Notre Dame led 24-0.
Stanford almost found the end zone on their next possession as Isaiah Sanders connected with Benjamin Yurosek for a 44 yard touchdown only for it to be called back on a dubious personal foul call on running back Austin Jones. Stanford instead had to settle for a 58 yard field goal attempt by Joshua Karty right before halftime, which had the leg, but not the accuracy. Karty’s kick was set up by an absolutely pathetic punt by Notre Dame that fluttered for only 30 yards. Down 24-0 at halftime, it was clear Stanford wasn’t going to win the game. The only question was how would they respond.
To Stanford’s credit, they responded well to start the second half as Jonathan McGill got an interception on Notre Dame’s opening drive. That would lead to a touchdown by Austin Jones, making it a 24-7 game with 13:06 to go in the 3rd quarter. Notre Dame struck right back as Jack Coan would run into the end zone to make it a 31-7 game with 11:31 to go in the 3rd. A 61 yard reception by Kevin Austin set it up.
31-7 would remain the score as the game headed into the 4th quarter. Stanford’s defense made some sound plays like a sack by freshman defensive end Aaron Armitage. To their credit, Stanford played hard and wasn’t about to roll over and die.
That being said, Notre Dame had the ball across the 50 yard line to start the 4th quarter following a Stanford punt. Notre Dame freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner found the end zone shortly on a 33 yard touchdown run to make it a 38-7 lead for Notre Dame with 14:33 to go.
On Stanford’s next possession, they found the end zone as well as Tanner McKee would connect with Benjamin Yurosek on a 49 yard touchdown, a career-high for Yurosek to make it a 38-14 game with 11:44 to go. A 13 yard reception by junior wide receiver Elijah Higgins helped to set that up.
With under one minute to go, Kyren Williams would find the end zone for a second time for Notre Dame to make it a 45-14 game, which ended up being the final score.
Touching quickly on Notre Dame, they had to win this game and win big. I think as a whole, they did what they had to do, though in some respects, the game was actually closer and a bit more competitive than I thought it would be. I don’t think it’ll hurt Notre Dame’s resume, but ideally they wouldn’t have allowed Stanford to put up 14 points. Actually in truth, they’re lucky Austin Jones got called for the dubious personal foul call that called back that touchdown. Otherwise Stanford may have walked out with 21 points instead.
As for Stanford, this loss obviously stings, but it was to be expected after the way the last few weeks have gone. Compared to the loss to Cal and the loss to Utah, Stanford actually looked better in this game. The offense seemed to have a little more life and then the defense actually made some plays. They forced a few punts, got a couple sacks, and for the second straight week Jonathan McGill got an interception.
“We missed him so much,” Shaw said of McGill. “He was the MVP of our spring football. Borderline dominant. He was everywhere. It was awesome. Came back, and he would admit he's a little rusty. Missed a lot of time, missed training camp. Was out there, was healthy, was in shape, but there is in shape and then there is in shape and in the season.
“So in two games he had a couple rough downs, couple things just a little disjointed on, but he gives his team a spark. His leadership is top notch. His play making ability is the reason they call him the Honey Badger, right? He finds the ball, interceptions, pulling the ball out, made some big time open field tackles both last week and this week.
“A little rusty, missed a couple also, but we're a better defense when he's on the field for us, and I'm excited about getting to play 12 with him next year.”
Up next for Stanford is the offseason. They got a top 20 recruiting class coming in, ranked #16 in the latest Rivals 2022 Team Rankings and there’s the possibility they add their best piece yet with linebacker David Bailey. So, there is help coming to The Farm next year that can help David Shaw get this program back on track.
Of course, there are many who feel this season was about more than just injuries and not having enough healthy bodies. Some are advocating for changes to the coaching staff, signaling Stanford needs to turn a new page on that front. It’ll be interesting to see how much of that criticism David Shaw takes to heart and whether or not he’ll make any changes to his staff. I’m sure a lot of it will come down to who in particular is advocating for those changes.
At this point, all that Stanford can do is look at this season as a whole, talk about what didn’t go right, why it didn’t go right, and what needs to be done to improve things for next year. David Shaw admitted he’ll likely have a better answer for that in a few weeks:
“That's a great question. I'll have a better answer for you in a month. And I'm not going to say the injuries don't play into it, right?
“I mean, Michael Wilson has missed time since before training camp. Came back and played really well but was a little disjointed. Tanner missed some time, came out, came back in. Bunch of guys going in and out.
“The hard part for me is when we execute. I say this kind of jokingly, it's too bad you guys don't come to practice but I don't want you to come to practice, but if you were able to come to practice you would see us go out there and execute.
“A lot of plays we didn't execute tonight we execute extremely well. So for me, that's a lot of our intention now, and to translate that to gameday.
“Got a lot of guys coming back and I'm going to ask for a higher level of maturity. Things that we do well all week we should come on gameday and do well. Gameday is the reward. Gameday is the day you get a chance to shine and do it full speed.
“We practice well. This group practiced well the entire year. We came out and didn't always do the things that we practiced well. So some things coaching-wise, I won't go into detail, we need to look at, look at a lot of personnel things in all three phases with the guys coming back; make sure that we can go out there and execute like we're capable of.
“That's the game. You know, that's the game. It's a game of execution and play making. If you can handle those two you win. If you don't, it's going to be tough to win.”
Note: Are you someone who is not a subscriber to CardinalSportsReport.com and are interested in checking out our premium content and joining the conversation on our message boards? Rivals.com is running a promo that runs through December 3rd that allows you to get the first year of a subscription for just $20.21. RIVALS2021 is the promo code. Click here to subscribe with the promo code.