Notre Dame Routs Stanford 58-7 for Its 16th Straight Win: What It Means for the Irish
Notre Dame did not play a competitive football game on Saturday. The Irish beat Stanford 58-7 at a sold-out Notre Dame Stadium, moved to 6-0, and ran their winning streak to 16 games. The scoreboard was ugly by the second quarter and never got any prettier for the Cardinal.
The Irish entered Saturday ranked third and climbed to No. 2 when the new poll came out Sunday. They are exactly where they wanted to be in the middle of October. Six wins, zero losses, and a resume that has not been tested once.
A True Freshman Just Broke a Program Record
The headline from the game is Jonaz Walton. The true freshman ran for 181 yards on 13 carries, which is 13.9 yards a touch and a Notre Dame program record for a true freshman. He had a 97-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a 40-yard touchdown run after halftime.
That is not a stat line you get against a good defense, and Stanford is not a good defense. But 97-yard runs require a back who can finish, and Walton finished. Notre Dame now has a freshman running back it can hand the ball to in January.
CJ Carr threw two touchdown passes, a 70-yarder to Aneyas Williams and a 30-yarder to Elijah Burress for Burress’ first career touchdown catch. Carr also scored on a sneak. The Irish ran for more than 300 yards and had 320 total yards by halftime.
The Defense Set the Tone on the First Snap
Boubacar Traore strip-sacked Stanford’s quarterback on the opening play of the game, Jaiden Ausberry recovered, and the afternoon was effectively over. Traore added an interception later. Mark Zachary IV picked off Stanford’s final pass.
Stanford finished with 202 total yards and 58 rushing yards. The Cardinal fell to 2-4. There is no reading of this game that reflects well on them, and there is no reading of it that tells you much new about Notre Dame’s ceiling either.
What It Means for the Irish
Here is the part that matters. Notre Dame’s 16-game winning streak is real and the 6-0 record is real, but the schedule has not asked a hard question yet. The next one comes October 17 at BYU, which is ranked and unbeaten enough to make Provo a miserable place for a visiting team.
That game decides whether this version of Notre Dame is a playoff lock or a team that got fat on soft opponents. Beat BYU on the road and the Irish have a resume argument that holds up against anybody. Lose it and the 58-7 wins stop counting for much.
The encouraging sign is depth. Walton, Williams, Burress and Nolan James Jr., who ran 31 yards for a score, are all producing, and Carr did not have to do anything heroic to win by 51. Teams that can win big without their quarterback carrying the load tend to survive the games where he has a bad night.
Notre Dame has spent six weeks doing exactly what a No. 2 team should do. Next Saturday is when we find out if the ranking is earned.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
