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What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 56-23 win against Stanford

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•11/26/23•

MikeTSinger

Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. (Matt Cashore, USA TODAY Sports)

Notre Dame finished the regular season with a 56-23 beatdown of Stanford, ending the year with a 9-3 record with a bowl game to come in a few weeks. Junior running back Audric Estime was the star of the contest, running for 238 yards and 4 touchdowns on 25 carries.

In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about Notre Dame’s triumph against the Cardinal, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player above.

Make sure to subscribe to the Blue & Gold YouTube channel here and tune in to The Mike Goolsby Show, which will be live on the page Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

And now for what they’re saying….

Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: Audric Estimé made sure you can bet on him with career day vs. Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. — Audric Estimé had more touchdowns against Stanford than letters in the word he posted on social media out just a few days before kickoff of Notre Dame’s 2023 regular season finale — and, potentially, his own finale in a Fighting Irish uniform.

“Bet,” Estimé posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Nov. 21. That’s three. He had three periods to go along with it, too, clearly foreshadowing his four scores against the Cardinal to go along with 25 carries and 238 rushing yards. All three of those figures were career highs for Estimé. You could bet on him all game long in Notre Dame’s 56-23 victory, which is exactly what he was out to prove after he was left off the semifinalist list for the Doak Walker Award.

Are there really 10 running backs in America better than Estimé, who has 1,341 rushing yards and a program-best 18 rushing touchdowns this season? Don’t bet on that. Bet on Estimé.

“I felt like I was kind of cut short,” Estimé said. “That ‘bet’ was like, all right, you guys don’t think I’m one of the 10 best in the country? I’m going to show you.”

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Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: Five thoughts—That Notre Dame performance does not beat good teams

Does it even need to be said?

Notre Dame turned the ball over three times in the first half Saturday evening against Stanford. The Irish gave up two plays of 49 yards or more. They committed 3 penalties for 40 yards in the second quarter alone. Everything Notre Dame could do to keep Stanford within striking distance and even give them the lead at multiple points, it did.

To its credit, Notre Dame got itself together and turned it around, scoring 42 unanswered points. The Irish left no doubt, if there was any to begin with, about who the better team in that game was. But would that performance have been good enough to beat any of the above-.500 teams on their schedule? Absolutely not. 

It certainly won’t be enough to beat whomever the Irish face in their bowl game in early December or late January.

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Paolo Uggetti, ESPN: 2023 College Football Power Rankings after Week 13

In Marcus Freeman’s second campaign as the Irish head coach, Notre Dame was able to do two things it couldn’t last season: win nine games in the regular season and beat Stanford. On Saturday, Freeman’s team didn’t just beat the Cardinal; the Irish dominated them 56-23. Running back Audric Estime, like he has done most of this season, had his way on the ground, tallying 238 rushing yards to go with a whopping four touchdowns. The Cardinal had no answer for Estime and Notre Dame’s offense as a whole, surrendering a total of 521 yards, while the Irish’s defense forced four turnovers.

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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman

Opening statement from postgame press conference:

“It was really amazing to be able to celebrate that victory with that group of guys. We put a huge emphasis on finding a way to get that Legends Trophy back. I don’t care if you were here last year or you weren’t; I wanted to remind this group how important this rivalry is to both institutions, to everybody that’s associated with Notre Dame and how much you want to make sure that Legends Trophy got returned to South Bend.

“Our guys went out and earned it. They earned it. As I told them, ‘I wasn’t upset about the effort that we played with to start the game. But we got to take care of the ball. We have to take care of the ball.’ They did a couple of things on offense that we have not seen. They made some big plays. But our guys were able to regroup — come out of the locker room with the intensity that we needed, and finish this game off the right way.

“So really proud of this group, special special group. And really proud of the way we finished off this regular season.”

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Stanford head coach Troy Taylor

General thoughts on the game:

“Knew we were coming and playing a great opponent. Very well coached. Talented. We hung with ’em for a little bit. Just didn’t make enough plays. That’s a credit to them. They created those things.

“Proud of how our guys fought. Not satisfied with the outcome, obviously. But just for this team in general since I’ve been here they’ve just continued to compete and give everything they’ve got. I’m proud of that. That’s something to build on. Can’t wait to get started tomorrow getting ready for next season.”

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