The view from the stands showed a flat, unenthusiastic Irish for much of Saturday’s loss to woeful Stanford – slow to the ball on defense, uninspired on offense.
Notre Dame players were visibly fired up on the sidelines after taking the lead in the fourth quarter and after several fourth-quarter defensive stops. However, those sparks of energy were few and far between for a listless Irish team that lost to previously 1-4 Stanford.
This is how bad it was: Stanford had lost 11 straight games to FBS opponents. Their only win was against Patriot League Colgate. The Irish scored four more points than Colgate did against the Cardinal.