Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 NOV. 27, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD for 382 yards and three scores. Stanford just doesn't have anybody that jumps off the page offensively this season. Its lead- ing receiver had 32 catches for 502 yards through Week 11. Only three other wide receivers had at least 200 yards through 10 games. Those low numbers had much to do with injuries taking hold of the wide re- ceiver room. Arguably Stanford's top re- ceiver, senior Michael Wilson made his season debut against Utah after suffering a preseason injury. Most of the Cardinal's other wideouts have been in and out of the lineup with injuries. Shaw gave good news on the McKee injury front during a Nov. 16 press con- ference. He said McKee should have been ready to go for that week's game against Cal. But Stanford is going to need a whole lot more than just the return of McKee to compete with Notre Dame. It's going to need the game of the year from a multitude of players. "We're in a quest for constant im- provement regardless of what time of the year we're in," Shaw said. "We made some improvement [against Oregon State] but obviously not enough im- provement to win the football game. Not even to have a chance. But there are some things we can take going [forward]." NOT CLOSE If you thought it couldn't get any worse for Stanford than its rushing of- fense, think again. The Cardinal's rush- ing defense has been even more of a di- saster. Only three FBS schools — Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas State — allowed more rushing yards per game through 2021 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 at Florida State W, 41-38 (OT) Sept. 11 Toledo W, 32-29 Sept. 18 Purdue W, 27-13 Sept. 25 vs. Wisconsin* W, 41-13 Oct. 2 Cincinnati L, 24-13 Oct. 9 at Virginia Tech W, 32-29 Oct. 23 USC W, 31-16 Oct. 30 North Carolina W, 44-34 Nov. 6 Navy W, 34-6 Nov. 13 at Virginia W, 28-3 Nov. 20 Georgia Tech W, 55-0 Nov. 27 at Stanford (FOX) 8 p.m. * at Soldier Field in Chicago 2021 STANFORD SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 4 vs. Kansas State* L, 24-7 Sept. 11 at USC W, 42-28 Sept. 18 at Vanderbilt W, 41-23 Sept. 25 UCLA L, 35-24 Oct. 2 Oregon W, 31-24 (OT) Oct. 8 at Arizona State L, 28-10 Oct. 16 at Washington State L, 34-31 Oct. 30 Washington L, 20-13 Nov. 5 Utah L, 52-7 Nov. 13 at Oregon State L, 35-14 Nov. 20 California L, 41-11 Nov. 27 Notre Dame (FOX) 8 p.m. * Allstate Kickoff Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas Fifth-year senior linebacker Gabe Reid posted a team-high 8.5 tackles for loss in Stanford's first 10 games this season, but the Cardinal was allowing an aver- age of 230.7 rushing yards per game. PHOTO BY BOB DREBIN/ISIPHOTOS.COM