Tonight was one of the most impressive all-around team performances of the Brian Kelly era. Notre Dame out-played Stanford in all three-phases of the game, and this was the first time I've seen the Irish staff so thoroughly out-coach Stanford.
My game observations:
OFFENSE
* Offensive coordinator Chip Long put together an absolutely brilliant game plan tonight. He used a strong inside-out attack, going right at Stanford early with between the tackles runs and getting the ball outside quickly with RPO's and out throws. When Stanford tried to adjust Long had answers for them all game long.
* I tweeted at halftime that Stanford would turn the heat up on Notre Dame in the third quarter and that's what they did. ND had to punt after a three-and-out on its first drive and went three-and-out again after a field goal drive. Long adjusted and really took it to Stanford after that. ND had some quick hitters up the middle, Long moved the pocket and he went to the G Scheme, which got the run game outside of the Stanford inside stunts/blitzes.
* My favorite sequence of the game was on Notre Dame's final drive of the first half with the game tied at 14-14. They hit two out throws to Miles Boykin on plays one and three of that series. On the second out Stanford jumped it pretty good but Ian Book threw it quickly and outside, so it was able to get caught. On the very next play Long went to a smash concept, which put Boykin on a corner route and a quick out cut to occupy the corner. The fact Stanford had jumped the previous out was a tell, and Book read it perfectly, getting the ball over top of the CB to Boykin on a corner for a 33-yard gain. It was brilliant play-calling and excellent execution.
* Tremendous balance tonight. ND had 278 pass yards (33 attempts), 272 rush yards (55 attempts). 10 of those runs were scrambles, so that would make it 43 passes and 45 rushes.
* Book was sharp once again tonight. He finished by completing 24-of-33 passes for 278 yards and 4 TD's. He got the ball out quickly early, gave his playmakers a chance and outside of a few bad reads/decisions, he was pretty good as a decision maker as well. There was a sequence in the third quarter where he wasn't sharp due to the Stanford pressures, and it almost cost him a pick, but he settled down and finished the game well in the fourth quarter, which is what you need him to do.
* Book under threw a deep ball to Claypool that should have been a touchdown, but after completing no intermediate throw against Wake Forest he attacked that zone very effectively, which is huge for him moving forward. He threw a perfectly placed deep out throw on the second series, over top of the underneath coverage and in front of the deep coverage. He didn't see the safety on the 4th-down throw to Kmet but it was well placed which allowed Kmet to make the play. His corner throw to Boykin was effective.
* Book didn't dominate with his legs tonight, but his runs were effective. He avoided at least two sacks and he was able to minimize losses at times, and at other times he was able to move the chains. His 8-yard scramble on a third quarter third-down didn't pick up the first down, but it got Notre Dame in a much better field goal position, and Yoon made the kick. He ran in a way that doesn't force teams to game plan for his legs, but it absolutely forces them to account for his legs. Stanford would drop deep and Book would see the openings and take off and move the chains. Teams are going to have to think about that moving forward.
* What a night from Dexter Williams. I'm actually not going to talk about how he ran the ball. Anyone with half a brain can see how well he ran. There were 4-5 plays that stood out to me that aren't in the stat sheets, and they are exactly why Dexter didn't play last year, and if he keeps it up he could have a monster finish to this season. On the TD throw to Weishar, go watch Williams pick up the linebacker. It was big time. I believe it was on the TD drive that made it 31-17, but I think it was a first down play where Book threw the ball away, but Williams stepped into the hole and put a hard shoulder into a blitzing LB and stoned him, which allowed Book to get the throw off. If he doesn't pick up the LB and do it with force that's an easy sack for Stanford and ND likely has to settle for a field goal. That was big time.
* Boykin was quiet last week but he was a monster tonight for Notre Dame. His route running was sharp, he did a good job pushing CB's off the line vs. Man/Cover 3, which opened up room on the out throws, and he did an excellent job finding room to work down the field against the zone. His blocking was strong and he made a number of excellent downfield grabs. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside got all the love coming into the game, but Boykin was the best receiver in tonight's game.
* His numbers don't show it (3 catches, 23 yards), but I actually liked what I saw from Chase Claypool tonight. I'll have to watch the film, but he seemed to give consistent effort, his blocking was really good when I saw him and he did an excellent job working open on the backline to give Book room to throw into a window for a TD.
* Tight end Alizé Mack finished the game off well, but he was inconsistent tonight. His blocking was good, but he had some misses as well. When he was on though, I really liked what I saw. He had a bad drop, but he made up for it with the game-clinching touchdown on a trick play. Getting Cole Kmet back allowed Long to do a lot of two tight end sets, and Notre Dame used that formation to really get movement up front and it opened up some stuff in the pass game as well.
* There were some pass pro issues at times, especially with RG Tommy Kraemer, but the OL really handled the Stanford DL well. The longer the game went on the more they started to dominate. They opened up inside run lanes, they protected Book very well in the first half and they put the game away late. Overall it was a really dominant performance. The bad news was obviously the injury to Alex Bars. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks, b/c he has been Notre Dame's best OL this season ... by far.
My game observations:
OFFENSE
* Offensive coordinator Chip Long put together an absolutely brilliant game plan tonight. He used a strong inside-out attack, going right at Stanford early with between the tackles runs and getting the ball outside quickly with RPO's and out throws. When Stanford tried to adjust Long had answers for them all game long.
* I tweeted at halftime that Stanford would turn the heat up on Notre Dame in the third quarter and that's what they did. ND had to punt after a three-and-out on its first drive and went three-and-out again after a field goal drive. Long adjusted and really took it to Stanford after that. ND had some quick hitters up the middle, Long moved the pocket and he went to the G Scheme, which got the run game outside of the Stanford inside stunts/blitzes.
* My favorite sequence of the game was on Notre Dame's final drive of the first half with the game tied at 14-14. They hit two out throws to Miles Boykin on plays one and three of that series. On the second out Stanford jumped it pretty good but Ian Book threw it quickly and outside, so it was able to get caught. On the very next play Long went to a smash concept, which put Boykin on a corner route and a quick out cut to occupy the corner. The fact Stanford had jumped the previous out was a tell, and Book read it perfectly, getting the ball over top of the CB to Boykin on a corner for a 33-yard gain. It was brilliant play-calling and excellent execution.
* Tremendous balance tonight. ND had 278 pass yards (33 attempts), 272 rush yards (55 attempts). 10 of those runs were scrambles, so that would make it 43 passes and 45 rushes.
* Book was sharp once again tonight. He finished by completing 24-of-33 passes for 278 yards and 4 TD's. He got the ball out quickly early, gave his playmakers a chance and outside of a few bad reads/decisions, he was pretty good as a decision maker as well. There was a sequence in the third quarter where he wasn't sharp due to the Stanford pressures, and it almost cost him a pick, but he settled down and finished the game well in the fourth quarter, which is what you need him to do.
* Book under threw a deep ball to Claypool that should have been a touchdown, but after completing no intermediate throw against Wake Forest he attacked that zone very effectively, which is huge for him moving forward. He threw a perfectly placed deep out throw on the second series, over top of the underneath coverage and in front of the deep coverage. He didn't see the safety on the 4th-down throw to Kmet but it was well placed which allowed Kmet to make the play. His corner throw to Boykin was effective.
* Book didn't dominate with his legs tonight, but his runs were effective. He avoided at least two sacks and he was able to minimize losses at times, and at other times he was able to move the chains. His 8-yard scramble on a third quarter third-down didn't pick up the first down, but it got Notre Dame in a much better field goal position, and Yoon made the kick. He ran in a way that doesn't force teams to game plan for his legs, but it absolutely forces them to account for his legs. Stanford would drop deep and Book would see the openings and take off and move the chains. Teams are going to have to think about that moving forward.
* What a night from Dexter Williams. I'm actually not going to talk about how he ran the ball. Anyone with half a brain can see how well he ran. There were 4-5 plays that stood out to me that aren't in the stat sheets, and they are exactly why Dexter didn't play last year, and if he keeps it up he could have a monster finish to this season. On the TD throw to Weishar, go watch Williams pick up the linebacker. It was big time. I believe it was on the TD drive that made it 31-17, but I think it was a first down play where Book threw the ball away, but Williams stepped into the hole and put a hard shoulder into a blitzing LB and stoned him, which allowed Book to get the throw off. If he doesn't pick up the LB and do it with force that's an easy sack for Stanford and ND likely has to settle for a field goal. That was big time.
* Boykin was quiet last week but he was a monster tonight for Notre Dame. His route running was sharp, he did a good job pushing CB's off the line vs. Man/Cover 3, which opened up room on the out throws, and he did an excellent job finding room to work down the field against the zone. His blocking was strong and he made a number of excellent downfield grabs. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside got all the love coming into the game, but Boykin was the best receiver in tonight's game.
* His numbers don't show it (3 catches, 23 yards), but I actually liked what I saw from Chase Claypool tonight. I'll have to watch the film, but he seemed to give consistent effort, his blocking was really good when I saw him and he did an excellent job working open on the backline to give Book room to throw into a window for a TD.
* Tight end Alizé Mack finished the game off well, but he was inconsistent tonight. His blocking was good, but he had some misses as well. When he was on though, I really liked what I saw. He had a bad drop, but he made up for it with the game-clinching touchdown on a trick play. Getting Cole Kmet back allowed Long to do a lot of two tight end sets, and Notre Dame used that formation to really get movement up front and it opened up some stuff in the pass game as well.
* There were some pass pro issues at times, especially with RG Tommy Kraemer, but the OL really handled the Stanford DL well. The longer the game went on the more they started to dominate. They opened up inside run lanes, they protected Book very well in the first half and they put the game away late. Overall it was a really dominant performance. The bad news was obviously the injury to Alex Bars. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks, b/c he has been Notre Dame's best OL this season ... by far.
