Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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36 OCT. 15, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD BY TODD D. BURLAGE STANFORD RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE For several years under veteran head coach Da- vid Shaw, Stanford built a ground-and-pound, stop- us-if-you-can running game with a terrific tailback working behind a bruising offensive line. That profile has been lost in recent years, and a poor win-loss performance has followed. The Cardinal (1-3) entered its game against Oregon State Oct. 8 losers of three straight after winning its season opener against Colgate, an FCS oppo- nent. During its slide, Stanford dropped to No. 75 nationally in rushing offense with an average of only 150.8 yards per game. Junior tailback E.J. Smith was off to a great start for Stanford, averaging 103.0 rushing yards with 3 touchdowns through two games. But an unspeci- fied injury suffered against USC in Week 2 side- lined him for the remainder of this season. Junior tailback Casey Filkins has assumed the lead ball carrier role and led the team with 61 attempts and 277 yards, while scoring 2 touchdowns, through four games. Beyond Filkins, there is not much to report for the Cardinal in this category. At 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, Stanford junior quarterback Tanner McKee is a prototypical drop-back pocket passer with limited mobility, and no other Cardinal rusher has produced any numbers of note. The Cardinal returned two Pac-12 preseason honorable mention offensive linemen before multi-year starter Branson Bragg retired from foot- ball in September because of concussion concerns. The other preseason honoree, junior tackle Walter Rouse, is the anchor to a Stanford offensive line that has struggled so far this season. For Notre Dame, its run-stoppage unit showed signs of life in the consecutive wins over Cal and North Carolina after showing little during an 0-2 start to the season. Heading into the BYU game, Notre Dame had climbed from No. 95 in the coun- try to No. 68 in rushing defense, allowing 142.2 yards per game. Senior linebacker Jack Kiser led the Irish with 26 tackles through four games. Interestingly, senior defensive tackle Howard Cross III was second with 23 stops, impressive production for a player at a position not typically known for stuffing stat sheets. Advantage: Notre Dame STANFORD PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE McKee, a second-year starter and 2022 pre- season All-Pac-12 honorable mention, has so far been only a middle-of-the-pack performer in the league this season. Through four games, McKee averaged 245.0 passing yards with 8 touchdowns and 4 intercep- tions. Much of the blame for his struggles falls on a pass-protection unit that was giving up 4 sacks per game, the worst mark in the Pac-12 and the fourth-worst mark in the country through Week 5. Junior tight end Benjamin Yurosek, a second- team All-Pac-12 preseason honoree, was expected to lead the receiving unit in the same way junior tight end Michael Mayer leads Notre Dame's. But given the offensive deficiencies and a lack of per- formers around him, Yurosek had only 10 catches for 76 yards with no scores through four games. The bulk of the Stanford receiving work has come from graduate student Michael Wilson and senior Elijah Higgins. Both wideouts had 15 catches in the first four contests, with Wilson holding the statisti- cal edge with 302 yards, an average of 20.1 yards per catch (17th nationally) and 4 touchdowns. The Irish defense finally pulled the anvil off its back in Game 4 against North Carolina Sept. 24, by recording its first takeaway of the season on a fum- ble recovery by graduate student defensive end Justin Ademilola. But through its first four games, Notre Dame was still hunting its first interception of the season — after tallying 15 picks last season, 9 of which came through its first four games. That said, the quarterback pressure numbers for Notre Dame have been on a steady increase, and impressive. With 6 sacks and 5 quarterback hur- ries against Cal, followed by 3 sacks and 3 hurries against North Carolina, Notre Dame moved to No. 12 nationally with 3.25 sacks per game. Advantage: Notre Dame On PaPer Junior tight end Benjamin Yurosek was a second-team All-Pac-12 preseason selection, but he had only 10 catches for 76 yards with no scores through four games. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORDPHOTO.COM