This recap could have just as well been described as Audric Estime vs Stanford. If you are a Notre Dame fan you knew all about Junior RB Auric Estime but if not, and you watched this game, you certainly knew who he was afterwards. One of the Top-10 running backs in the nation who has rushed for 1,300+ yards and a school record 18 TD’s, Estime accounted for more points in this game than the entire Cardinal team combined in addition to being responsible for half of Notre Dame’s points in their 56-23 beat down of Stanford. If you checked in at the end of the 1st Qtr it seemed as though things were going fine for the Cardinal as they had scored first on a 34 yard Joshua Karty field goal and then twice more in the period to take a 13-7 lead. But after that it was all Notre Dame who scored three TD’s in the 2nd Qtr against another Karty field goal to go up 28-16, three more in the third to take a 49-16 lead, and then matched Stanford’s TD in the 4th Qtr with one of their own to win it going away.
For Notre Dame, Senior QB Sam Hartman connected on 8-of-14 for 140 yards, 2 TD’s, and 1 interception while also rushing four times for 47 more yards with Freshman WR’s Jordan Raison and Jaden Greenhouse collecting one score each. But it was on the ground where they just tore it up with Junior RB Auric Estime rushing 25 times for 238 of the team’s 381 yards and four of their five TD’s with Sophomore RB Gi’Bran Payne picking up the other score. For Stanford, four different players tried their hand under center with Sophomore QB Ashton Daniels throwing for more than half of their 42 attempts while connecting on 15 for 152 yards and 1 interception. The other three combined connected on just 6-of-17 for another 64 yards. They had more success on the ground led by backup QB Justin Lamson who rushed 10 times for 82 yards and 1 TD with Freshman WR Tiger Bachmeier picking up the other score on a 14 yard TD run into the end zone late in the first quarter.
The Fighting Irish out-paced the Cardinals in 1st downs, 26-to-19; rushing, 381-to143; total yards of offense, 521-to-359; converted their third downs at a blistering 75+% clip and were successful on their only 4th down attempt. Notre Dame will await for a bowl bid which should be announced on December 3rd while Stanford’s season, 3-9 overall and 0-7 at home, is mercifully over.