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Stanford Cardinal @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Recap

Stanford 37, Notre Dame 14

The Stanford Cardinal really didn't execute that well on offense against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It didn't really matter. Not even close, actually.

Despite failing to score more than one touchdown until the fourth quarter, one of the Pac-10's more physical teams ground down college football's biggest brand name on a gray Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, leading many college football pundits to ask two questions: 1) Was this one of the least impressive blowouts ever registered by a visitor in South Bend? 2) If Stanford's offense can play well for a change, how good can this team be?

Those questions are interesting to contemplate. It was hard to know whether to be disappointed or admiring in response to this 23-point trouncing, a legitimately decisive win by a program that, a few years ago, sat at the bottom of the Pac-10 alongside Washington State. Has Stanford arrived, or did this easy victory over the Fighting Irish merely prolong uncertainties that still linger over the Cardinal?

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Consider this: Stanford had to settle for four straight field goals before finally denting the end zone a second time on Saturday. It took the Cardinal more than 50 minutes to make a return trip to paydirt despite the fact that coach Jim Harbaugh's defense had been dismissing Notre Dame's offense from the field with regularity. Stanford possessed the ball for roughly 36.5 minutes in this game, 13 more than Coach Brian Kelly's Irish held the pigskin. Yet, most of the game - certainly the middle two quarters - proved to be a study in red-zone ineptitude for the Bay Area dwellers. Promising drives marked by balance and no-frills power abruptly bogged down whenever the goal line neared. Notre Dame - spearheaded by linebacker Manti Te'o's remarkable 21 tackles - regularly found a way to stiffen when backed up near its own goal posts, but one also has to say that Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck - who didn't do himself many favors in his pursuit of the Heisman Trophy - tightened up when the field shrank. Luck threw two interceptions on the day, taking a lot of the shine off a 238-yard display. Moreover, he lofted another pass into the end zone that should have been intercepted by a Notre Dame cornerback. However, the pass was dropped, and Stanford was able to kick a field goal on the next play. Luck should have three interceptions next to his name in the box score, and Stanford didn't even crack the 20-point mark until 7:58 remained in the fourth quarter. Against a quality opponent, such developments would have mattered.

Not against Notre Dame. In the first year of the Kelly era, the fact of the matter is that the Irish just aren't very good. Dayne Crist has struggled under center throughout 2010, and on Saturday, he was flailing for much of his time on the field. Crist barely completed more than 50 percent of his 44 passes, eating up a lot of yards but failing to make significant plays. Stanford kept the Irish under wraps and limited Notre Dame to 44 rushing yards plus a mediocre 4-of-13 on third downs. The Irish could never get going on a day when past Notre Dame offenses would have made the Cardinal pay for all its red-zone transgressions.

The more one thinks about this game, the more one realizes how hard it is to frame in a neat and tidy way. We do know that Notre Dame is impotent, but we don't know if this game signals bigger and better things for Stanford as the college football season continues.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer