Stanford sums it up.

Saturday’s game against Stanford was possibly closer than the score showed, but the Irish were definitely beaten by a better team.  Notre Dame gave itself plenty of reasons (excuses) to lose; miscues, penalties and poor execution.   Special teams were unreliable to non-existent.   Players looked confused, coaches seemed frustrated, play appeared inconsistent and fans were disappointed.

Offensively, Notre Dame could have photo copied a summary of the season and laid it out against the Cardinals.  With 92 yards receiving and a touchdown, Michael Floyd (who broke Golden Tate’s single season reception record with his 94^th catch) can only do so much and needed to have the ball thrown to him (with accuracy) more often.  Tommy Rees was not the leader the team needed and with an interception and a lost fumble, has not developed and grown as hoped.  The offensive line was porous, allowing defenders into the backfield (when they weren’t jumping off sides).   

Maybe the loss of Jonas Gray was a bigger issue than initially thought; Notre Dame amassed a total of 57 yards on the ground (121 were initially gained but 64 were lost in the run game) with an average of 1.8 yards a carry.   Stanford’s defense was very good with five sacks (costing 44 yards), eight tackles for a loss (costing 53 yards) and two interceptions (with a total of 42 return yards).   The offense could not get any kind of rhythm going, losing the time of possession battle and only converting 5 of 15 third down conversion opportunities.

Despite giving up 28 points, the Irish defense actually looked decent, all things considered.  Notre Dame has not been known for their pass coverage this season and with receivers at 6’4” and 6”8” working with a quarterback of Luck’s caliber, it is going to make for a long day.  Add Stanford’s running game that finished with 196 yards rushing (led by Taylor’s 120 yards)the Irish defense was kept guessing and on its toes all night.  With Notre Dame having to stay honest against the rush, it’s no surprise that Luck had four touchdown passes (to three different receivers) along with his 233 yards.