Some of the important data cuts from ND’s 49-7 win over Stanford.
With a big 49-7 victory over the Stanford Cardinal, Notre Dame extends their win streak to four games through Week 7 of the 2024 season. This win brings the Irish to 23-14 overall in their series history against the Cardinal.
Things got off to a predictably slow start but Notre Dame looked a lot better as the game went along.
Here’s the data story.
Scoring Overview
The 1st quarter is the only period of the game that could be considered competitive, with the Irish and Cardinal going 7-7 in terms of scoring. ND tallied up 14 points in the second quarter, had a monster 3rd quarter that resulted in 21 points and finished out the 4th quarter (following a lightning delay) with 7 points. Stanford wasn’t able to find the scoreboard again after their early 1st quarter touchdown.
Scoring Details
For the second game in a row this 2024 Notre Dame offense showed some legitimate diversity. Riley Leonard hit a lot of major milestones at a quarterback in South Bend and did more of his scoring through the air than on the ground. The team had three passing touchdowns for the day and four rushing touchdowns. Stanford’s only score came via the ground game.
Drive Summary
The Irish’s offensive drive summaries are starting to look like a successful, power program’s again. This weekend they managed to convert seven of their ten drives into not only points but touchdowns. The team only punted on their first, stalled campaign and in their fourth drive they fell victim to a strip/fumble. A lot of people had/have strong feelings about Beaux Collins giving the ball up on this play but it was a really odd scenario and I don’t imagine anyone would’ve caught it if the Stanford defender hadn’t rightfully made a big deal out of it. Not a pass for the turnover but things happen.
A key takeaway here is that when Stanford’s lackluster offense made mistakes and gave the ball back to ND, they were able to do things with it. And that’s a big, welcomed change from how things were playing out earlier in the season.
Offensive Benchmarking
It was an excellent performance for ND’s offense, if you focus on trends and benchmarks. They recorded their second highest outing in terms of total offense with 477 yards.
This was the team’s best passing performance through Week 7, with 248 yards through the air. And that’s right around what Notre Dame was averaging last season per game under Sam Hartman. It’s taken a long time to get there but it is what it is. Passing accuracy was strong when compared to the stats from earlier 2024 games.
The Stanford matchup was the third best rushing performance for Notre Dame this season, with 229 yards recorded on the ground. It was a big bounce back from the Louisville game when ND only put up 117 rushing yards. In that game they also only averaged 3.8 yards per carry but found their groove against the Cardinal with an average of 5.9 yards per carry.
Receiving
Transfer wide receivers Kris Mitchell (Florida International) and Beaux Collins (Clemson) led the team in receptions against Stanford. They each contributed in different ways given their four receptions a-piece. Mitchell only had 32 yards but pulled in a passing TD from Riley Leonard. Collins didn’t find the end zone but recorded 85 receiving yards. Eli Raridon was the only Irish tight end to see real action this weekend. He had one reception for five yards but turned that into 6 points. This team still doesn’t have a passing/receiving identity but they’re still somehow pulling it together.
Rushing
Notre Dame’s rushing group presents a lot to be excited about both in the moment and looking further down the road. Junior running back Jadarian Price got the most utilization against Stanford with 12 carries. He turned those efforts into 49 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love only had six carries but he converted them into 53 yards and one touchdown. Riley Leonard mostly traded his rushing stats for passing stats this gam but still had six carries for 31 yards and one touchdown.
Freshman running back Kedren Young had a breakout performance with seven carries for 39 yards and fellow freshman RB Aneyas Williams made his presence more known against the Cardinal. He logged 3 carries for 28 yards and one touchdown. Say what you want about Stanford’s defense but you’ve got to be a straight up contrarian for the sake of it if you deny Notre Dame’s rushing depth. Even if you remove the Leonard factor.
Defensive Summary
Stanford scored on their first drive but Notre Dame’s defense gave them hell for pretty much every snap afterwards. The Cardinal had three turnover on downs as well as a fumble. And that is how they ended their longer drives. In the four situations where they punted, the drives only totaled four yards, twelve yards and -1 yards (x2).
Total Tackles
Sophomore linebacker Drayk Bowen had one of his biggest games of the season so far with seven total tackles. Freshman linebacker Jaiden Ausberry and junior defensive lineman Joshua Burnham also made size-able contributions in the tackling area. These aren’t necessarily household names yet but show how important the defense’s depth is this season given the injuries.
Solo Tackles
Howard Cross III emerged back onto the scene in a big way this game. Not that he wasn’t a crucial part of the unit earlier on in the season but this is one of the first games of 2024 that the stats tell his story. The senior defensive lineman had four solo tackles. Other veterans also carried a lot of the solo tackling load. In total, they accounted for 43% of the team’s solo tackles against Stanford. Senior linebacker Jack Kiser recorded three solo tackles and senior defensive lineman Rylie Mills had two solo tackles.
Detailed Defensive Stats
Cross III tallied up two tackles for loss as well as two of the team’s five sacks. From this vantage point, Rylie Mills (on tackle for loss and one sack) Loghan Thomas and Ben Minich (0.5 tackles for loss and one sack) also made big contributions. It was a day that I don’t imagine the Stanford offensive line or quarterback Ashton Daniels will forget about, physically or mentally, for quite some time.
Final Thoughts
This has been one of the most exciting college football seasons, from a big picture view, in a long time. I think we’re seeing what “parity” might actually look like in the sport. Folks have been screaming about the lack of competitiveness for a long time and now that it’s here I understand why we’re not really sure what to do with it.
The Irish were definitely on the wrong side of things to start off the season. But I’m able to enjoy the ND’s games themselves as well as bask in the chaos other porgrams are experiencing, now that Notre Dame is trending in the right direction. Let’s just hope things keep going in that direction.
Cheers and Go Irish!!