Last night, Notre Dame ended their regular season with a 49-20 win over Stanford in the battle for the Legends Trophy capping off a 10 game win streak. The offense came out of the gates hot and the talent gap between the Irish and the Cardinal were apparent from the jump, but when everything was said and done, there was a lot left to be desired from Mike Denbrock's unit in their final regular season outing. Still, they scored 35 offensive points and 440 yards of total offense not counting Luke Talich's special teams touchdown.
Quarterback CJ Carr finished the night completing 17 of his 27 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns. All three of Notre Dame's running backs, Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams found the end zone with Williams and Price crossing the goal line twice. There was a lot left to be desired from the passing game but receiver Jordan Faison found the end zone on a drive after making, arguably, the best catch of his career on the first drive of the third quarter.
Was it sloppy at times? Sure. But my biggest takeaway from this game is that this offense is one of the best in the country and when you look at their resume as a whole, it's extremely impressive. They averaged 42 points per game in the regular season which ranks 5th in the country, 7.3 yards per play which ranks 3rd in the country, Carr finished with a 168.1 passer rating which ranks 7th in the country and they finished with 38 team rushing touchdowns which ranks 2nd in the country.
This unit as a whole is littered with talent, and it's only going to get better when they reach the post season. Left guard and captain Billy Schrauth is expected to be back; Schrauth was playing his best football before his MCL injury against USC. Wide receiver Jaden Greathouse will also make his return to the field in the post season as well. Love and Price will both be healthy heading into the playoffs while Carr will have 12 games of experience under his belt including a night game against Miami on the road, home night games against Texas A&M and USC and a road matchup against Pitt.
They showed situational improvement last night going 11-18 on third down and five for six in the red zone; the first team offense went 4 for 4 in the red zone and 7 of 11 on third down in the first half. Carr wasn't sacked once and they put points on the board in every single quarter including a 21-point 2nd quarter. There's still improvements that have to be made, and they aren't a finished product by any means. But when you've still got work to do as a unit but are scoring 42 points per game and are extremely balanced, that's a good place to be if you're Denbrock and this Notre Dame offense.
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