Stanford’s Conrad Ukropina misses opening drive field goal off the top of upright (Video)

Stanford’s recent struggles have spilled over in their game against Notre Dame when Conrad Ukropina misses on their opening drive field goal.

Stanford started this season ranked No. 8 and a favorite to win the Pac-12. A 3-0 start and steady production from Christian McCaffrey only solidified that claim. But after a 44-6 loss to Washington, it’s all been downhill from there. They followed that up with an even more embarrassing performance at home to Washington State, and have seemingly lost the Pac-12.

You would think they’d be motivated to beat their hated rivals Notre Dame to get their season back on track. But when Christian McCaffrey was announced out, it looked like they were throwing the game. They didn’t do themselves any favors by setting up a field goal for Conrad Ukropina, only to see it bounce off the top of the goal post and wide:

"¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #NDonNBC https://t.co/qndRARzbP6— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) October 15, 2016"

Unfortunately for Notre Dame fans, that miss came a year too late. Their game with Stanford last season was an all-timer, which Stanford won courtesy of a 45-yard field goal courtesy of Ukropina. A year later, Ukropina misses from… 45 yards. You can’t make that up.

Notre Dame opened the scoring a few minutes later when DeShone Kizer punched it in from a short field. Considering that Brian Kelly is likely coaching for his job in this game, that score might open the floodgates. That, or Notre Dame will come up with yet another creative way to lose this game.

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Regardless, Stanford can’t afford to lose three straight games, especially to Notre Dame. After all the expectations that were placed on them, this would be their lowest point of the season, especially since there’s never been a better time to face the Irish. But at least if they lose, they can fall back on the fact that they didn’t have McCaffrey.