SOUTH BEND — That was unfair.
In every quarter. In every aspect. Again.
That has been a common thought now halfway through the 2026 regular season for No. 3 Notre Dame football, which rolled to consecutive victory No. 16 dating to last season (all by double digits) with a 58-7 victory over Stanford.
This one was over before halftime, when it was 37-0.
Each of the three main Irish running backs scored in the first half in highlight fashion – a 31-yard run by Nolan James, a 70-yard catch and run down the sideline from Aneyas Williams and a 97-yard burst from Jonaz Walton, who was basically untouched. Nothing wrong with the run game or those guys this week.
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One play early in the second quarter underscored how silly this one was going to get if it wasn’t already there. A defensive call offered by coordinator Chris Ash required Boubacar Traore to drop into pass coverage from his defensive end spot.
Not five or 10 yards down the field, but more like 20. Traore intercepted Cardinal quarterback Davis Warren, then turned into running back Boubacar Traore. Can you imagine trying to tackle that guy? At 6-foot-5, 253 pounds? Yikes. Come on. Unfair.
The Cardinal finally did 18 yards after the pick, which set up a Spencer Portah field goal. Traore was everywhere early in this one.
He had plenty of company.
Earlier in the half, all alone out there split wide right, Notre Dame football receiver Jaden Greathouse raised his hand once, then twice, then waved it around for all to see.
He seemed to be saying to quarterback CJ Carr, snap the ball and snap it now with the nearest Stanford defender somewhere near Elkhart. Darrius Davis rushed over from his safety spot to cover Greathouse just before the snap, but it didn’t matter.
Carr hit Greathouse, who had himself a season in the first quarter (three catches on four targets, 30 yards receiving and a score), for a three-yard touchdown slant, the second of two for the Irish in a decisive – yes, decisive – first quarter.
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It was that kind of day for Greathouse. It was that kind of day for No. 3 Notre Dame in another beatdown of an overwhelmed opponent.
Remember when Stanford used to be good? When this series used to be good? Competitive? Now the Cardinal look like an overmatched junior varsity team. But, hey, at least they’re in the Atlantic Coast Conference. General manager Andrew Luck has another long flight back to the West Coast to wonder why.
The warm-up games of the first half are over. Finally. Now it gets real. Now it gets difficult. Not a moment too soon for a Notre Dame team that was nearly a 40-point favorite in what was once a competitive series.
Stanford wasn’t Syracuse-level sorry, but it was close.
How in control of this one was Carr? The quarterback let the play clock, and the first quarter, expire with the Irish offense backed to its 3. First play of the second quarter, after a change of ends and another round of seemingly endless commercials, Walton ran through a semitruck-sized hole on the right side and didn’t stop until he was in the end zone 97 yards later.
Just like they dialed it up.
This one was expected to go sideways almost from the start and it did. Like 12 seconds in when Traore (him again!) overwhelmed the Cardinal running back and whacked Warren. Ball on the ground. Ball recovered by Jaiden Ausberry at the Stanford 18.
James got the walk-in touchdown four plays later to make it 7-0 and the Irish were off and running in this one. Running away, that is. That’s the kind of day this was for the Irish. The kind of six games.
Let the real regular season start next week at night, against BYU and in the shadows of the Wasatch Mountains. Can’t wait.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: That was yet another silly Saturday for No. 3 Notre Dame football