[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories – Week 5 Recap & Week 6 Prep

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published May 29, 2024, in The Observer, a student run publication serving the University of Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College and Holy Cross College. Re-posted on delay as agreed to with co-editors J.J. Jameson, P. White, reporters V. Vale, L. Lane and photographer J. Olsen.  

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame,

 

Football Saturday in South Bend, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish welcome the Stanford Cardinal in an expected tight matchup between Heisman candidate Izaah Plawecki at QB for the Irish and hard running Vontae Knebel carrying the rock for Stanford this week. The Irish prevailed with strong second half play after Stanford roared back from an early deficit, to conquer the visiting Stanford Cardinal. We’ll provide a scoring drive recap, discussion with Coach LLB, check in on how the recruiting season is starting and preview next week’s matchup with Miami of Florida.

 

Week 5 – Game Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
STAN	14	424	252	172	2	0	0
ND	35	502	378	124	4	1	0

 

Notre Dame kicks off to open the game on a chilly Saturday evening in the face of a light, steady rain. On the first play from scrimmage, Stanford completes a 19 yard pass to their 41 yard line, but the receiver fumbles the ball and Notre Dame recovers! Starting with great field position, Zhaire Philon carries on an inside run for 9 yards. On second and short, Plawecki finds Kyle Edens on a quick pass to convert the first down. Third play for scrimmage sees a play action pass successfully delivered to Torry Barbato at the goal line for the first score of the game, Irish touchdown!

Notre Dame 7 – Stanford 0

 

Stanford hands the ball off to Knebel on first down, running inside left for 4 yards. With Notre Dame looking for more runs, the Cardinal executes four consecutive passes to move the ball to the Notre Dame 36 yard line. Knebel is stuffed on the line on an attempted draw, but busts it to the outside before being pushed out of bounds for no gain, setting up 3^rd and 6 to go. Stanford runs a screen to Knebel but Notre Dame holds him to a 5 yard gain, making it fourth and 1.  Stanford decides to punt and Notre Dame takes over on their 20. Notre Dame puts together a 13 yard drive, but stalls out and has to punt the ball back to Stanford with 3:39 left in the first quarter. Stanford takes over at their 20, but can only muster 12 yards before punting it away. Knebel busts out a 7 yard run before Stanford converts on a short pass. Surprisingly, Stanford attempts three passes, all of which are successfully defended by the Irish to force another punt. Plawecki connects with Josh Gaudin on a long pass over the middle for 43 yards, moving the ball to the Stanford 35. Notre Dame continues the drive and puts the ball into the endzone from the Stanford 9 on a play action pass to Torrey Barbato.

Notre Dame 14 – Stanford 0

 

Stanford continues with their passing attack, with four straight passes moving the ball to midfield. Knebel converts a first down on the next play, moving to the Irish 41. Two more Knebel runs net only 6 yards, setting up 3^rd and 4 at the 35. Stanford eyes the endzone with a long pass, but the ball sails out of reach, and Stanford punts the ball back to the Irish.  Notre Dame responds with a pass heavy attack of their own, moving the ball to the Stanford 24 yard line.  Stanford successfully defends an outside run attempt by Philon resulting in negative yardage and Notre Dame decides to punt. Stanford goes three-and-out followed by a four-and-out from Notre Dame putting the ball back in the Cardinal’s hands at their own 20. Knebel is stuffed for a one yard gain on first and Stanford goes back to the air. Five passing attempts later Standord is faced with a 4^th and 5 from their own 41 and is forced to punt again. Notre Dame gets one play in before halftime.

 

Stanford kicks off to start the second half. Notre Dame manages a single first down before having to punt the ball away. Following an incomplete pass and a meager 1 yard run from Knebel, Stanford converts a short pass for a 58 yard gain to the Notre Dame 21.  The next play puts Stanford on the board with a completed pass to the back corner of the endzone.

Notre Dame 14 – Stanford 7

 

The Irish start the next possession on their 25 and move the ball out to Stanford 41 before being forced to punt. Stanford mixes a couple of runs and passes to get their 35 yard line. On first and ten, Knebel takes the ball through the inside and shows his earlier season form on a 58 yard run, mauling a linebacker and safety before being pushed out of bounds on the Notre Dame 7. Three plays later Knebel crosses the goal line on a 1 yard screen pass to tie the game.

Notre Dame 14 – Stanford 14

 

With 3:24 left in the third quarter, Notre Dame takes over at their 34 yard line after a nifty return of the kickoff by Brandon Astudillo. Sprinkling in some runs and short passes, the Irish move the ball to the Stanford 5 looking to retake the lead. An illegal shift penalty on Barbato moves the ball back to the 10 but he gets that back on a quick pass to the right. With second and goal from the 5, Philon busts though the middle to put the Irish back on top!

Notre Dame 21 – Stanford 14

 

Stanford moves the ball well, almost reaching midfield on their next position but is forced to punt after a false start and a pair of incomplete passes. Notre Dame starts their drive at their 23 with long pass to RB Philon for an immediate first down at their 44. A four yard run and an incomplete pass sets up 3^rd and a long 6 for the Irish. Plawecki executes a play action short pass to Gaudin on a slant netting 15 yards and a first down at the Stanford 37. A Philon 11 yard line captures Notre Dame another first down and another short run puts the ball at the Stanford 21.  Plawecki connects with a leaping Derrick Muno in the middle of the endzone on another play action pass. Irish touchdown!

Notre Dame 28 – Stanford 14

 

Stanford moves the ball out to their 33 on a 10 yard completion, and Knebel takes the rock on the first down for a 50 yard gain off a draw play. From the Notre Dame 17, Knebel is stuffed for a 2 yard loss on the next play and the Irish successfully defend 2 passing attempts bringing up 4^th and 12 from the Irish 19 yard line. Stanford attempts the 36 yard field goal, but its misses just to the right. On Second and 10, Plawecki hits RB Taylor Goodwin for a 31 yard gain to push the line of scrimmage to midfield. After a defensive pass interference call and a 32 yard run by Goodwin, the Irish are at the Stanford 1 yard line! As he has all season, Torrey Barbato frees himself just past the line of scrimmage to catch his third TD of the game!

Notre Dame 35 – Stanford 14

 

Knebel takes the kickoff deep in the endzone to try and make the magic happen, but is brought down at the Stanford 21.  Three straight Knebel runs later it’s 2^nd and 4 at the Stanford 37. Stanford converts on their 3^rd down play to continue the drive, but there is precious little time remaining. The Cardinal can only muster short gains and time expires as they cross midfield.

 

Notre Dame Top Performers Week 5

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	33 of 47 for 70.2% compl	378	4
RB – Zhaire Philon	11 rushes	57	1
RB – Zhaire Philon	5 catches on 10 targets	36	0
WR – Josh Gaudin	5 catches on 7 targets	78	0
TE – Torrey Barbato	6 catches on 9 targets	53	3

 

Notre Dame Season Leaders – 6 games

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	171 of 240 for 71.3% compl	2574	27
RB – Zhaire Philon	106 rushes	548	7
RB – Zhaire Philon	31 catches on 45 targets	326	5
WR – Josh Gaudin	45 catches on 56 targets	922	4
TE – Torrey Barbato	37 catches on 50 targets	798	14

 

The Observer caught up with Notre Dame head coach LordLittlebutt to talk about the game, what’s coming next week and any developments on the recruiting side.

 

TheO:    Coach – moved up to 6-0 on the season with a convincing win over Stanford.

 

LLB:        Convincing may be too strong of a word. We felt good going in at halftime, but we tried to hammer home the need to stay strong for four quarters, and boy that third quarter had me worried.

 

TheO:    And containing Knebel?

 

LLB:        We’ve spent more time discussing the offense, but we’re sure proud of the job the defense did on Saturday. Holding Knebel to his lowest output of the season is great. I know that was still 166 yards, on only 20 attempts, but 2 of those runs were for 50 and 58 yards. That means the other 18 runs netted only 58 yards. Look, he’s going to get his, but we did a terrific job of minimizing the damage he could have caused.

 

TheO:    Were you surprised to see only 20 Knebel runs in the game?
 

LLB:        Oh yeah. We had game planned for more, not sure why more didn’t develop from their side. But we’re not complaining.

 

TheO:    And our offense? What did you think?

 

LLB:        Fantastic. I don’t think it would be fair to expect more from this group. I think we did a good job with schemes and play calling and the team executed well. We’ve been looking to work in a few more players in spots, and Goodwin really has been producing the last couple of weeks. Edens and Muno have been super reliable for us as well, really providing some clutch plays and taking some pressure off of Gaudin and Barbato.

 

TheO:    In a couple days you head down to Miami with an ugly weather forecast, what does that do to your gameplan?

 

LLB:        Not as much as you might think.  We’ll take a look as the forecast firms up, but everyone is saying there will be a lot of rain and maybe some wind to deal with. Maybe shorter passes, a few more runs, but we’ll see at game time.

 

TheO:    Some more recruiting news to share?

 

LLB:        Definitely.  Two more recruits are on board.  Johnathan Jackson out of Florida, an exceptional athlete. Top 100 in the country we’re gonna look at him to lead the offense, we are very excited to have him on board.  Pablo Leon, another Florida recruit committed Irish as well. Again, super athletic defensive standout. We’ll take a look at him for either linebacker or safety and expect great things from him. As always, we’ll continue to pursue our targets and identify more grads to evaluate and spend some time recruiting.

 

TheO:    Thanks Coach!

 

LLB:        My pleasure Vicky. GO IRISH!