Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 15, 2022 37 GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. STANFORD RUN DEFENSE The run-the-ball, stop-the-run preseason strat- egy from Irish head coach Marcus Freeman took a couple of games — and two losses — to finally get rooted. But improvement along the offensive line was what had moved Notre Dame from dismal to respectable prior to its matchup with BYU. Losses to Ohio State and Marshall to start the season dropped the Irish rushing offense to No. 110 nationally at only 103.0 yards per game. Those numbers showed slight improvement in the win over Cal with 147 yards on the ground, then jumped significantly after hanging 287 rushing yards on North Carolina. The production turnaround slotted Notre Dame 65th nationally in rushing at 160.0 yards per game, still not a notable number for a team wanting to approach 200 rushing yards a game but nonethe- less reflecting some solid gains. The Irish tailback tandem of junior Chris Tyree and sophomore Audric Estime combined for 113.3 yards a game with 5 rushing touchdowns through four contests. For Stanford, this category has been a disaster. The Cardinal ranked eighth-worst nationally in run stoppage at No. 124, allowing 210.8 rushing yards per game during its 1-3 start. Stanford had already allowed 843 rushing yards, 240 more than it had gained on the ground, and its opposing ball carriers were averaging a robust 5.9 yards per carry. Senior linebacker Levani Damuni, a preseason All- Pac-12 honorable mention selection, led the Cardi- nal with 26 tackles through four games, but still had yet to make a stop behind the line of scrimmage. Graduate student safety Kendall Williamson added 24 stops, but also had none for loss. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. STANFORD PASS DEFENSE Blame it on injury, inexperience, play calling, protection problems or all of the above, but Notre Dame didn't provide much to get excited about in this category during its 2-2 start. Yet, it's hard to argue that junior quarterback Drew Pyne is improving fast after being thrust into his first career start against Cal in Game 3 after sophomore starter Tyler Buchner was lost for the season with a shoulder injury. Still ranked only 96th in passing offense after four games with an uninspiring 209.2-yard average, Pyne played well in the second half against Cal and for the full game against North Carolina. Entering the BYU game, he had completed 44 of 63 passes for 459 yards with 6 touchdowns against just 1 interception. With a team-best 22 catches for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns heading into the BYU game, All- American tight end Michael Mayer was living up to his preseason hype. But while Mayer was doing his part, the Irish wide receivers were not. Remove sophomore wideout Lorenzo Styles — 16 receptions for 221 yards and 1 TD — from the equa- tion, and the rest of this underperforming position Staff Predictions Todd D. Burlage: Notre Dame 30, Stanford 10 After leading the Cardinal to eight straight bowl games, two Rose Bowl wins and three consecutive top-10 finishes in the final Associated Press poll from 2011-18, Stanford head coach David Shaw is only 12-22 over the last three-plus seasons. And after losing seven of nine games in this series from 2009-17, Notre Dame has won three straight over the Cardinal by an average of 24.3 points per. Expect similar results in this one. Steve Downey: Notre Dame 38, Stanford 16 Stanford has followed up last year's dismal 3-9 season by losing three of its first four games in 2022, thanks in large part to a defense that has surrendered at least 40 points in each of its three contests against Power Five opponents. The Cardinal rank just 124th nationally in rushing defense, with an average of 210.8 yards allowed per game. The Fighting Irish are well equipped to take full advantage of that en route to an easy victory. Patrick Engel: Notre Dame 34, Stanford 17 Stanford made no coaching changes after a 3-9 season last year. The result, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been more of the same: A losing record with continued issues along the offensive line and on defense. Stanford's run game has a little more life than in year's past with the installation of the slow mesh, but this sets up as a spot where Notre Dame's should control both lines of scrimmage. Tyler Horka: Notre Dame 41, Stanford 14 Stanford had a porous defense that Notre Dame exploded on for 45 points in Palo Alto last year. It hasn't gotten much better; USC, Washington and Oregon all hung 40-plus on Stanford in three consecu- tive games. The Fighting Irish should have their way against the Cardinal early. Stanford doesn't have enough offensive weapons to make things interesting at any point in the evening, either. The first game at Notre Dame Stadium in four weeks will be an easy rout for the home team. Mike Singer: Notre Dame 42, Stanford 21 Stanford has been giving up a lot of points this season. Notre Dame's rushing attack should be able to exploit a weak Cardinal rush defense. Fifth-year senior wide receiver Michael Wilson led the Cardinal with 15 receptions, 302 receiving yards and 4 touchdown grabs through four contests. PHOTO BY BOB DREBIN/STANFORDPHOTO.COM