Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from regular-season finale at Stanford

1. The Notre Dame defense held firm against Davis Mills and Stanford

Notre Dame’s defense punctuated its performance in the final minute, stripping Stanford quarterback Davis Mills in the endzone and recovering to score a late touchdown. It was a well-deserved exclamation point for a defense that came up strong throughout the game against the Cardinal to take down a rival on the road.

Mills had a strong start to the game throwing the ball, completing eight of his first 10 passes against the Irish. The Cardinal passer finished with 276 yards and two touchdowns on 28-of-46 passing, a solid performance in defeat but hardly enough to outperform Ian Book in the aerial battle in the end.

Stanford finished with 118 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground, led by Cameron Scarlett’s 43 yards and scoring run on a baker’s dozen of carries. Notre Dame forced two fumbles in the second half, preventing the Cardinal from seriously threatening to pull off the upset once the teams came back to the field after the halftime intermission.

All around, it was the type of performance that Notre Dame needed to get back to 10 wins for the third straight season. Now all that is left is to see whether the College Football Playoff selection committee sees fit to send Notre Dame to the Cotton Bowl in the at-large slot against a Group of Five opponent or leaves them to scramble for a different postseason destination.