Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1187512
34 NOV. 30, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Couple the injuries at quarterback with many more along the Stanford offensive line — the most notable being to All-America candidate Walker Little, a junior tackle — and it's no surprise this offense has struggled both rushing and passing. At one point during this season, nine Stanford offensive starters were listed as out. For Notre Dame, there's nothing like a game against Navy to help boost its pass defense sta- tistics, and this for an Irish unit that has probably been the best and most consistent on the team all season. Navy managed 79 passing yards on only four completions which, heading into the Boston Col- lege game, put Notre Dame at No. 5 in the country for fewest passing yards allowed per game (162.5) and No. 12 in passing efficiency defense (111.24 rating). Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. STANFORD RUN DEFENSE Similarly to Stanford's injury problems to its quarterbacks and passing game, Notre Dame has faced the same issues with its running game. The Fighting Irish have lost the right side of their offensive line with junior tackle Robert Hain- sey (fractured ankle) and senior guard Tommy Kraemer (knee) both going down, and injuries to nearly every running back on the team at some point this season have left this unit scrambling. The one bright spot for the Irish running game has been the recent work from senior quarterback Ian Book. During the four games leading up to Boston College, Book led the team with 233 rush- ing yards, which included a career-high 139 yards at Duke Nov. 9. The stable of Notre Dame running backs is sup- posed to be back to full strength and health, but it hasn't showed up yet on the field. Senior Tony Jones Jr. leads the way with 611 yards and five scores on the ground, but is still trying to recap- ture his early season form after suffering a rib injury at Michigan Oct. 26. Led by a crew of veteran linebackers, the Cardi- nal has allowed 148.0 rushing yards per contest to rank 56th in the country heading into the final two weekends of the regular season. Fifth-year senior Casey Toohill (53) and seniors Andrew Pryts (56) and Curtis Robinson (52) all have at least 50 tackles at linebacker this season. Advantage: Even NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. STANFORD PASS DEFENSE Book insists he never listens to the outside noise when it comes to the unsolicited critiques and complaints he has received all of this season. That's probably a good trait because since the overall team meltdown at Michigan (Oct. 26), Book immediately rebounded and played some of the best football of his career. In the next three games after the 45-14 loss to the Wolverines, Book threw for 11 touchdown passes, four at Duke and five against Navy, while displaying more willingness to go deep as well. Senior wide receiver Chase Claypool caught four of those scores against Navy and is emerging as one of the best receivers in college football. Injuries, again, have also depleted the Stanford secondary and dropped the Cardinal near the bot- tom of the NCAA rankings in both passing yards allowed and passing efficiency defense. With two games to go in the regular season, Stanford ranked 119th in passing defense (281.4 yards al- lowed per game) and 108 in passing efficiency defense (149.00 rating). Junior cornerback Paulson Adebo, however, was a bright spot before he got hurt at Colorado Nov. 9. He leads the team in passes broken up (10) and interceptions (four), while also registering 33 stops, but might not be available to play. The Cardinal have also struggled to generate a consistent pass rush, ranking just 88th in the nation with an average of 2.4 sacks per contest. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS Neither Stanford nor Notre Dame has surren- dered a special teams touchdown through 10 games, but the Irish have an edge with the cover- age units. The Irish ranked 24th nationally in both punt (4.33 yards per attempt) and kickoff return (18.22) defense midway through November, while the Cardinal came in at 64th (7.22) and 100th (22.56), respectively, in those two categories. That could be good news for the Irish, because senior return man Chris Finke has started break- ing out as a punt returner. He notched a 46-yard return at Duke Nov. 9, and then had a 62-yard punt return touchdown against Navy that was negated by penalty. Both teams feature solid punters and place kick- ers, but hadn't enjoyed any game-breaking plays from these specialty units heading into their games last weekend. Stanford has blocked three kicks this year, but also given up two blocked kicks. Advantage: Even COACHING The 2019 season hasn't been kind to the Stan- ford Cardinal. For a program that was once the model of consistent success in the Pac-12 through GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 83 Chase Claypool 6-4½ 229 Sr. 88 Javon McKinley 6-2 220 Sr. WR 10 Chris Finke 5-9½ 184 5th-Sr. 13 Lawrence Keys III 5-10½ 173 So. LT 74 Liam Eichenberg 6-6 305 Sr. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5 280 Fr. LG 69 Aaron Banks 6-6 325 Jr. 76 Dillan Gibbons 6-4 305 Jr. C 55 Jarrett Patterson 6-5 300 So. 61 Colin Grunhard 6-0½ 289 Jr. RG 57 Trevor Ruhland 6-3½ 292 5th-Sr. 56 John Dirksen 6-5½ 309 So. RT 75 Joshua Lugg 6-7 307 Jr. 60 Cole Mabry 6-5 286 So. TE 84 Cole Kmet 6-5½ 250 Jr. 89 Brock Wright 6-4½ 246 Jr. or 24 Tommy Tremble 6-3½ 235 So. WR 25 Braden Lenzy 5-11½ 180 So. 18 Joe Wilkins 6-1½ 194 So. QB 12 Ian Book 6-0 212 Sr. 15 Phil Jurkovec 6-4½ 227 So. RB 6 Tony Jones Jr. 5-11 224 Sr. or 8 Jafar Armstrong 6-0½ 220 Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 44 Jamir Jones 6-3 255 Sr. 29 Ovie Oghoufo 6-3 230 So. DT 95 M. Tagovailoa-Amosa 6-2½ 286 Jr. 57 Jayson Ademilola 6-3 279 So. NG 41 Kurt Hinish 6-2 295 Jr. 54 Jacob Lacey 6-2 293 Fr. DE 53 Khalid Kareem 6-4 265 Sr. 91 Ade Ogundeji 6-4½ 253 Sr. Buck 22 Asmar Bilal 6-2 225 5th-Sr. 2 J. Genmark Heath 6-1 228 Jr. Mike 40 Drew White 6-0 230 Jr. 52 Bo Bauer 6-3 230 So. Rover 6 J. Owusu-Koramoah 6-1½ 216 Jr. 13 Paul Moala 5-11½ 216 So. CB 5 Troy Pride Jr. 5-11½ 194 Sr. 20 Shaun Crawford 5-9 180 5th-Sr. S 11 Alohi Gilman 5-10½ 201 Sr. 14 Kyle Hamilton 6-4 210 Fr. S 21 Jalen Elliott 6-0½ 210 Sr. 3 Houston Griffith 6-0 198 So. CB 8 Donte Vaughn 6-3 212 Sr. or 28 TaRiq Bracy 5-10 170 So. NOTRE DAME DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. KO 39 Jonathan Doerer 6-3 203 Jr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. PK 39 Jonathan Doerer 6-3 203 Jr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. P 19 Jay Bramblett 6-1 188 Fr. 98 Harrison Leonard 5-10 203 Fr. LS 54 John Shannon 6-2 225 Sr. 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 224 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. H 19 Jay Bramblett 6-1 188 Fr. 17 Nolan Henry 6-0 193 5th-Sr. PR 10 Chris Finke 5-9½ 184 5th-Sr. 11 Alohi Gilman 5-10½ 201 Sr. KR 13 Lawrence Keys III 5-10½ 173 So. 18 Joe Wilkins 6-1½ 194 So. Special Teams