Audric Estime capped his stellar collegiate career with a dominant performance as Notre Dame shook off its early miscues to crush Stanford by 56-23 on Saturday. Estime scored four touchdowns and ran for 238 of the 381 rushing yards the Irish hung on the physically overmatched Cardinal. Notre Dame actually trailed by 16-14 after 20 minutes of play due to three turnovers and inspired play by the hosts. Then the roof simply caved in on them.

Stanford took a quick 3-0 lead by taking the opening kickoff and reaching the red zone. Backup quarterback Justin Lamson broke through a scrum and ran for 49 yards to set up a Josh Karty field goal. The Irish attempted to respond but Sam Hartman was stripped of the ball at the end of a 25-yard run. Later, Notre Dame got the ball back and let Estime do what he does best. His 39-yard scoring run gave the visitors a 7-3 edge.

On the next series, Cardinal starter Ashton Daniels scrambled to his right before finding EJ Smith for a 53-yard gain. The Irish defense stiffened thanks to strong pass coverage by linebacker Jack Kiser, and Karty came on to make it 7-6.

Notre Dame continued its error-prone ways on the ensuing kickoff. Jadarian Price had a nice return going until he lost the ball at the Irish 30. Stanford needed only two plays to retake the lead as Tiger Bachmeier took a reverse toss and ran by a group of overpursuing Irish defenders for a 14-yard score.

Hartman seemed to settle down as the game moved into the second period. He hit Chris Tyree for a first down, watched as Estime ran downhill for large chunks of real estate, and then connected with Jaden Greathouse in the end zone for a 14-13 Irish advantage.

A sack of Daniels by JD Bertrand seemed to signal that Stanford’s fun was about to end. Hartman could not capitalize, though. Instead, he threw a poor pass off his back foot that was picked off by the Cardinal. Notre Dame’s defense found its footing and forced a fourth down, but Karty nailed a 56-yard field goal to give his team its last lead of the night.

The Irish redialed 1-800-Estime to restore order, and his 25-yard scoring run reclaimed the lead by 21-16. Stanford kept fighting, however, and two major penalties by the Irish defense on third down plays allowed the Cardinal to move into scoring territory. Notre Dame finally recorded a turnover of its own as Kiser ended the threat with an interception of Daniels.

As the final seconds of the half ticked down, the Irish rumbled into the red zone. Gi’Bran Payne finished the drive from three yards out with 19 seconds remaining to give Notre Dame a 28-16 cushion.

The visitors dominated the third quarter as Estime bulldozed the Cards for two more touchdowns and Hartman hit Jordan Faison with a 48-yard strike on play-action to blow the game open. Notre Dame led 49-16 as the game mercifully moved into the fourth quarter.

In the mean time, Stanford’s offense was reduced to desperate attempts to convert on fourth down. After failing to do so on consecutive possessions, the Cardinal elected to bring out Karty to attempt a field goal from 60 yards. Unsurprisingly, the Irish blocked the kick. Javontae Jean-Baptiste scooped up the ball near the sideline and managed to stay in bounds as he toe-danced 60 yards to his first career touchdown.

Coach Marcus Freeman cleared the bench with a 56-16 lead and nearly 13 minutes remaining. Stanford added a touchdown against the Irish reserves to account for the final margin of 56-23 but there were precious few Cardinal fans left to cheer.

Notre Dame finished the regular season at 9-3 and must now wait until after the conference championship games next weekend before the postseason bowl picture is clarified. Estime certainly has nothing left to prove and will likely elect to sit it out. We’ll watch him next fall on Sunday afternoons.

Let’s review the answers to our pregame questions:

• Can Stanford’s patchwork offensive line stand up to the Irish defensive front? The Polish Army performed better against Hitler’s Panzers in 1939.
• Will Notre Dame’s cornerbacks be able to handle Ayomanor and Bachmeier? Ayomanor had several short receptions but he could not find the end zone. Bachmeier didn’t catch a pass, but scored on a reverse when Ben Morrison ran right past him in pursuit of a well-executed fake. Smith was actually the most productive receiver for the Cards. He turned several catches in the flat into longer gains.
• Which team will score touchdowns inside the red zone? The Irish limited the early damage caused by turnovers when they were able to force several field goal attempts by Karty. Meanwhile, Notre Dame scored touchdowns in each of its four red zone appearances.
• Will Irish OL Craig and Schrauth continue to get the job done up front? Both played very well. Craig was hurt for a spell but returned to the game with no apparent ill-effects.
• Can Notre Dame rush for over 200 yards while holding the Cardinal under 100? It was 381-31, so I guess you can say they exceeded my expectations.
• Which young Irish reserves will make a case for playing time next season? The fourth quarter was hard to watch but linebackers Jaylen Sneed and Drayk Bowen looked good on defense. On offense, Craig, Schrauth and Faison stood out.
• Can Notre Dame’s special teams continue to have a positive impact? It didn’t look good when Price fumbled away a kickoff, but Jean-Baptiste lit up social media with his crowd-pleasing touchdown return.
• Will Ohio State put Michigan out of everyone’s misery? Oof. Georgia looks like our last hope. The Buckeye’s are the only common opponent of Notre Dame and the Wolverines this season. Michigan caught an interception on Ohio State’s final drive, while the Irish dropped one. That pretty much sums up the season, doesn’t it?

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