This was a great win over a team that has given us fits over the past few years. I understand there were some questions about their defense, but remember this is the same team that held USC to 3 points in Week 2. They were led by an experienced QB with an explosive offense and a very good offensive line. Nonetheless, ND throttled this team and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
The first drive by Stanford was the most telling for me and it really set the tone for the game moving forward. Sure, they scored 14 points in the 1st half, but they were stymied on that 1st possession on a 3 and out. (run for no gain on 2 plays and an incomplete pass).
Ian Book- 24 of 33 (73%) for 278 yards with 4TDs and no INTs. He added 47 yards on 15 carries as well. He showed incredible pocket awareness and his elusiveness was really something to watch. The thing that really stood out to me was how fast he worked the offence. The second ND TD on the quick pass to Weishar was really something to see and reminded me of so many Tom Brady passes right up the middle on quick snaps. (He's not TB)
Miles Boykin- Wow! I didn’t see this coming in a game like this. 11 catches for 144 yards. He caught one from Book where he just seamlessly slipped through defenders to pick up a first down. Very impressive day for him.
Receivers in General- Yet again, they continue to spread the ball out to different receivers. Book’s 24 completions were spread out over 10 different receivers.
Stanford O-lIne- This is one of the strengths of their program. Have a look at the following article on their line the I read over the summer (http://insidethepylon.com/pylon-u/t...-best-2018-offensive-lines-stanford-cardinal/). As good as this line is, they were bullied by ND. In the second half of the game in particular, the ND front 7 pushed them around at will. By my count, not including penalties on either side, you have the Ultimate Geek Stat- Stanford gained only 35 yards of total offence in the second half.
ND Defense- It’s evident to most people that this is the best D that ND has had under BK and most likely the best since Holtz, but 2232 really captured how I feel:
Jerry Tillery- He was an animal on Saturday. He seemed to be in on every big play with 4 sacks and 4 tackles for loss. You win BGI Poster of the Year if you can tell me the last time a ND player had sacks on consecutive plays against a Top 10 opponent. It was incredible to watch. The game was well in hand at that point, but Stanford looked completely demoralized after that.
It Was Over When- Te’Von Coney intercepted Costello and returned it to the Stanford 20 in the 4th Q, setting up NDs final TD. You could argue that it was over when Tillery sacked Costello early in the 4th, but this was the exclamation point that said, “It’s over!” As for the Coney INT itself, it seemed anticlimactic watching it on TV. It was so fluid on Coney’s part that it just looked natural, almost as if he was expecting the ball would be thrown to him. It was an excellent play.
Swag- I saw many people post about the swag Coney showed after the interception, but the swag I liked was when Khalid Kareem was coming off the field due to an injury and he’s lifting his arm and telling the crowd to raise the noise level. That’s what I like to see.
Crowd Noise- I’d like to hear from people who were present in the stadium, but I’ve ever heard a louder crown on the TV at ND Stadium.
How Brian Kelly Got His Groove Back- He let go of a lot of the old ways (and people) and learned to let loose a little bit. He did a complete S&C overhaul. He brought in a proven defensive coordinator (Elko) and his trusted assistant (Lea) and built a very good defense. He took a chance and went with a QB that he thinks can run his and Long’s offence better than the incumbent QB. I’ve made mention several times over the past year in these posts that BK was going to go on a tear and you’re seeing it now. He’s confident. He’s relaxed. He is going to take it to teams moving forward. Here are a couple of quotes that I saw from BK’s interview on ESPN (an interview that he looked like a new man in, BTW):
“The emphasis all week was to finish off and we dominated the second half of this football game against a really good football team.”
On Book/Wimbush- “We made the switch because we were looking for a sense of urgency with our offense because we knew this schedule was only going to get more difficult.”
When you look at the results on the field, it’s hard not to be impressed with what he’s done. The offense was smooth on Saturday and we did to Stanford what they have been doing to us over the past few years. Just two years ago, no matter how well the games were going, the wheels always started to come off the bus in the 4th Q. Now, the 4th Q is a ND strength. An advantage.
A Tale of 2 RBs- One, Bryce Love, was a 2017 Heisman finalist with all world numbers who was expected to replicate that this year. The other, Dexter Williams, was a guy coming off a 4 game suspension with questions as to whether he was an all down back and who issues in pass coverage. If someone asked before the game who you’d rather have on your team, I’m sure the answer changed after the game. Geek Stat Comparison- Love was a respectable 73 yards on 17 carries for 4.3 YPC while Williams had 161 yards on 21 carries for 7.7 YPC. Love had a 39 yard TD run and Williams had a 45 yard TD run. The most true measure of their overall effectiveness, however, is to look at their impact on the game without those 2 long runs. Subtracting the big gain from each player, we have Love gaining 34 yards on 16 carries for 2.1 YPC and Williams gaining 116 yards on 20 carries for 5.8 YPC. Love was stifled by the ND front 7 and Williams bulldozed the Stanford D. Like this:
Post of the Game-
David Shaw- I really have a lot of respect for him as a coach and think he’s done a great job at Stanford, but Saturday just wasn’t his day. There wasn’t anything glaring that stood out to me as any type of coaching mistake, his team just got out-muscled.
Pressure- It’s every bit as good as a sack. I was shocked by the game graphic that showed Julian Okwara, Daelin Hayes and Khalis Kareem have 45 combined QB pressures which is tied for most by a trio of edge defenders in the FBS. When’s the last time ND could say that? Very impressive.
The Crossover Point- You just watched it. Stanford’s dominance is over. As good as Stanford may be moving forward, the days of them pushing ND around are gone. They’ll certainly be competitive, but from now on ND will be the rougher, tougher, team and be pushing them around.
O-line- It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was a damn good one. Geek Stat- The Line allowed only 1 sack and for tackles for loss while compiling 550 yards of total offense. This was a great post under the thread title of “Jeff Quinn:”
Alex Bars- This is a tremendous loss for the team but injuries happen and there’s a lot of depth on the o-line. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been impressed by Trevor Ruhland filling in. I remember when Ruhland committed as a Rivals 3 star, people were less than thrilled, but Hiestand looked at him as a mauler and he got an offer. It goes to show the importance of recruiting depth at every position. You’re not going to get a starter with every scholarship, but you can get good players that help the team.
Special Teams- Another great game. Polian has really solidified the various units on STs. Claypool making tackles on KOs is really something to see. Maybe he should be on D.
@vinnieboombah - Nailed it on the Official Prediction Thread:
I think that’s at least the 2nd time he’s hit it exactly. Well done Vinnie! Any inside information for us from the past weekend?
A Final Thought-
I look forward to the game at Virginia Tech next week. I have every confidence in this new look team.
Have a great week, everyone.
The first drive by Stanford was the most telling for me and it really set the tone for the game moving forward. Sure, they scored 14 points in the 1st half, but they were stymied on that 1st possession on a 3 and out. (run for no gain on 2 plays and an incomplete pass).
Ian Book- 24 of 33 (73%) for 278 yards with 4TDs and no INTs. He added 47 yards on 15 carries as well. He showed incredible pocket awareness and his elusiveness was really something to watch. The thing that really stood out to me was how fast he worked the offence. The second ND TD on the quick pass to Weishar was really something to see and reminded me of so many Tom Brady passes right up the middle on quick snaps. (He's not TB)
Miles Boykin- Wow! I didn’t see this coming in a game like this. 11 catches for 144 yards. He caught one from Book where he just seamlessly slipped through defenders to pick up a first down. Very impressive day for him.
Receivers in General- Yet again, they continue to spread the ball out to different receivers. Book’s 24 completions were spread out over 10 different receivers.
Stanford O-lIne- This is one of the strengths of their program. Have a look at the following article on their line the I read over the summer (http://insidethepylon.com/pylon-u/t...-best-2018-offensive-lines-stanford-cardinal/). As good as this line is, they were bullied by ND. In the second half of the game in particular, the ND front 7 pushed them around at will. By my count, not including penalties on either side, you have the Ultimate Geek Stat- Stanford gained only 35 yards of total offence in the second half.
ND Defense- It’s evident to most people that this is the best D that ND has had under BK and most likely the best since Holtz, but 2232 really captured how I feel:
It continues to be the story of the past 2 years. The 2nd Stanford TD, which occurred early in the 2nd Q, reminded me of that 2015 game at Stanford where the ND D couldn’t stop the Cardinal at all. This series was well executed by Stanford and many on the game chat were having déjà vu all over again. After that, though, it was all downhill for Stanford. Geek Stat- ND had 5 sacks and 9 tackles for loss in the game and held Stanford to 229 yards of total offense. As everyone saw, it was the most sacks by ND in one game since 2005.
Jerry Tillery- He was an animal on Saturday. He seemed to be in on every big play with 4 sacks and 4 tackles for loss. You win BGI Poster of the Year if you can tell me the last time a ND player had sacks on consecutive plays against a Top 10 opponent. It was incredible to watch. The game was well in hand at that point, but Stanford looked completely demoralized after that.
It Was Over When- Te’Von Coney intercepted Costello and returned it to the Stanford 20 in the 4th Q, setting up NDs final TD. You could argue that it was over when Tillery sacked Costello early in the 4th, but this was the exclamation point that said, “It’s over!” As for the Coney INT itself, it seemed anticlimactic watching it on TV. It was so fluid on Coney’s part that it just looked natural, almost as if he was expecting the ball would be thrown to him. It was an excellent play.
Swag- I saw many people post about the swag Coney showed after the interception, but the swag I liked was when Khalid Kareem was coming off the field due to an injury and he’s lifting his arm and telling the crowd to raise the noise level. That’s what I like to see.
Crowd Noise- I’d like to hear from people who were present in the stadium, but I’ve ever heard a louder crown on the TV at ND Stadium.
How Brian Kelly Got His Groove Back- He let go of a lot of the old ways (and people) and learned to let loose a little bit. He did a complete S&C overhaul. He brought in a proven defensive coordinator (Elko) and his trusted assistant (Lea) and built a very good defense. He took a chance and went with a QB that he thinks can run his and Long’s offence better than the incumbent QB. I’ve made mention several times over the past year in these posts that BK was going to go on a tear and you’re seeing it now. He’s confident. He’s relaxed. He is going to take it to teams moving forward. Here are a couple of quotes that I saw from BK’s interview on ESPN (an interview that he looked like a new man in, BTW):
“The emphasis all week was to finish off and we dominated the second half of this football game against a really good football team.”
On Book/Wimbush- “We made the switch because we were looking for a sense of urgency with our offense because we knew this schedule was only going to get more difficult.”
When you look at the results on the field, it’s hard not to be impressed with what he’s done. The offense was smooth on Saturday and we did to Stanford what they have been doing to us over the past few years. Just two years ago, no matter how well the games were going, the wheels always started to come off the bus in the 4th Q. Now, the 4th Q is a ND strength. An advantage.
A Tale of 2 RBs- One, Bryce Love, was a 2017 Heisman finalist with all world numbers who was expected to replicate that this year. The other, Dexter Williams, was a guy coming off a 4 game suspension with questions as to whether he was an all down back and who issues in pass coverage. If someone asked before the game who you’d rather have on your team, I’m sure the answer changed after the game. Geek Stat Comparison- Love was a respectable 73 yards on 17 carries for 4.3 YPC while Williams had 161 yards on 21 carries for 7.7 YPC. Love had a 39 yard TD run and Williams had a 45 yard TD run. The most true measure of their overall effectiveness, however, is to look at their impact on the game without those 2 long runs. Subtracting the big gain from each player, we have Love gaining 34 yards on 16 carries for 2.1 YPC and Williams gaining 116 yards on 20 carries for 5.8 YPC. Love was stifled by the ND front 7 and Williams bulldozed the Stanford D. Like this:
Post of the Game-
I love the sentiment and I love when kids share these games with their parents. I hope I have that chance with my son.
David Shaw- I really have a lot of respect for him as a coach and think he’s done a great job at Stanford, but Saturday just wasn’t his day. There wasn’t anything glaring that stood out to me as any type of coaching mistake, his team just got out-muscled.
Pressure- It’s every bit as good as a sack. I was shocked by the game graphic that showed Julian Okwara, Daelin Hayes and Khalis Kareem have 45 combined QB pressures which is tied for most by a trio of edge defenders in the FBS. When’s the last time ND could say that? Very impressive.
The Crossover Point- You just watched it. Stanford’s dominance is over. As good as Stanford may be moving forward, the days of them pushing ND around are gone. They’ll certainly be competitive, but from now on ND will be the rougher, tougher, team and be pushing them around.
O-line- It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was a damn good one. Geek Stat- The Line allowed only 1 sack and for tackles for loss while compiling 550 yards of total offense. This was a great post under the thread title of “Jeff Quinn:”
Alex Bars- This is a tremendous loss for the team but injuries happen and there’s a lot of depth on the o-line. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been impressed by Trevor Ruhland filling in. I remember when Ruhland committed as a Rivals 3 star, people were less than thrilled, but Hiestand looked at him as a mauler and he got an offer. It goes to show the importance of recruiting depth at every position. You’re not going to get a starter with every scholarship, but you can get good players that help the team.
Special Teams- Another great game. Polian has really solidified the various units on STs. Claypool making tackles on KOs is really something to see. Maybe he should be on D.
@vinnieboombah - Nailed it on the Official Prediction Thread:
I think that’s at least the 2nd time he’s hit it exactly. Well done Vinnie! Any inside information for us from the past weekend?
A Final Thought-
I look forward to the game at Virginia Tech next week. I have every confidence in this new look team.
Have a great week, everyone.
Last edited:
