Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 OCT. 15, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD group through four games had combined for only 13 catches, 143 receiving yards and no touchdowns. An area of concern, Stanford ranks only 90th nationally and eighth in its conference in pass ef- ficiency defense. That's in no small part because it averages only 2 sacks a game and recorded only 2 interceptions heading into play last weekend. Star senior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly was ex- pected to lead this unit. But the first-team all- conference preseason pick has been limited to 12 tackles and 1 pass broken up and no interceptions. Advantage: Even SPECIAL TEAMS Through four games, Notre Dame still hadn't pro- vided much to get excited or concerned about in these units. It ranked 33rd in punt return defense, 39th in punt returns, 84th in kickoff returns and 45th in kickoff return defense. The highlight for Notre Dame for these units so far has been graduate student punter Jon Sot. He headed into the BYU game averaging 45.6 yards on 20 punts with 10 downed inside the 20-yard line, and with 6 boots of at least 50 yards. His solid work had Notre Dame ranked No. 8 nationally in net punting at 43.6 yards per kick. Like Notre Dame, Stanford doesn't provide much of note in these categories, other than ranking second in kickoff return defense. The Cardinal had not blocked a kick or had one blocked through during its 1-3 start, and it hadn't allowed or scored a touchdown on any return. Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING After leading the Cardinal to eight straight bowl games and three consecutive top-10 finishes in the final Associated Press poll from 2011-18, Shaw — who won at least eight games each of those years, with two Rose Bowl victories — has fallen on hard times since. During the last three-plus seasons, the 12th-year Stanford skipper is only 12-22. And with only one win in four games to start this season, the Cardinal appeared ready to run its bowl drought to four years. Stanford's three wins last season were its fewest since it won one game in 2006. And so far, this season doesn't look much better than last year's. The jury remains out on Freeman. The loss at home to Marshall Sept. 10 — which subsequently was beaten by Bowling Green and Troy — remains tough to dismiss for the first-year coach. But with changed messaging and improving offensive and defensive lines, Freeman seems to have stabilized his program. Advantage: Even INTANGIBLES This is not the Stanford program or the tough annual rivalry game between two "smart" schools that Irish fans grew accustomed to in this series. In fact — assuming Notre Dame is still unranked after BYU — this is only the second time since 2009 (the first since 2016) that neither of these two teams is ranked in this matchup. After losing seven of nine games in this series from 2009-17, Notre Dame rebounded and heads into this annual matchup as winners of three straight over the Cardinal by an average of 24.3 points per game. Stanford entered its matchup against Oregon State last weekend as losers in three straight games. The disciplined Cardinal ranks third nationally in fewest penalties per game (3.50), but it finds itself last in country in turnover margin at -2.50 after re- cording only 2 takeaways along with 11 giveaways during its first four outings. Notre Dame hasn't been much better. Through four games, the Irish scored 7 points off its 1 take- away. After four games last season, they had al- ready forced 11 turnovers and converted those takeaways into 52 points. Notre Dame returns home for the first time in al- most a month since beating Cal Sept. 17. The Irish are 13-4 all-time against Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium and have lost at home to the Cardinal only twice since 1992. Advantage: Notre Dame Senior linebacker Levani Damuni paced Stanford with 26 tackles through four games, but still had yet to make a stop behind the line of scrimmage. PHOTO BY BOB DREBIN/STANFORDPHOTO.COM