Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 25, 2023 35 GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD Pac-12, and they don't have many run defenders who can stop a play in the backfield. A couple metrics show this: defensive stops and tackles for loss. The Cardinal has compiled 112 run stops this season, which Pro Football Focus defines as run plays that result in a failure for the offense. By comparison, Notre Dame has 189 in the same amount of games. Stanford is also tied with South Carolina at 115th in the nation with 46 tackles for loss. Six of those run stops, by the way, have come from senior safety Alaka'i Gilman. He is the younger brother of former Notre Dame safety and current Los Angeles Chargers starter Alohi Gilman. Missed tackles aren't too much of an issue for the Cardinal, as its defense only totaled 42 so far this season (Notre Dame has 58), which is good news against junior Irish running back Audric Es- timé. This could very well be Estimé's last game in a Notre Dame uniform, if he decides to declare for the NFL Draft and skip the team's bowl game. He has a 91.2 Pro Football Focus rushing grade and 45 forced missed tackles, which rank fifth and 22nd, respectively, out of all qualified running backs. Notre Dame's offensive line was named a semi- finalist for the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the best offensive unit in the country. Irish fans would say the front five have had an up-and-down season, and there is some truth to that. But Notre Dame might be motivated to send Estimé off with a bang, and it could be the last-ever game in blue and gold for its All-America junior offensive tackle Joe Alt, too. The Irish will run on the Cardinal. Advantage: Notre Dame Todd D. Burlage: Notre Dame 38, Stanford 10 A proud rivalry full of surprises, upsets and games that often held post- season implications resumes with Notre Dame as a prohibitive favorite. But point spreads mean little in this series. Just look to last season when the Cardinal came to Notre Dame Stadium as a 17-point underdog and went away with a 16-14 upset win, one of only three victories for Stanford in 2022. Under first-year head coach Troy Taylor, Stanford entered play last weekend only 3-7, with four of those losses coming by at least 35 points. With the Car- dinal in rebuilding mode, expect Notre Dame to dominate this one from start to finish and easily claim its third straight win at Stanford Stadium. Steve Downey: Notre Dame 41, Stanford 20 Stanford's struggles have continued under first-year head coach Troy Taylor, though that shouldn't be unexpected. The Cardinal ranked dead last among Power Five schools in On3's Transfer Portal Rankings, with 18 outgoing and only five incoming transfers. That resulted in them entering this season 129th out of 133 FBS schools — dead last among the Power Five — in returning production per ESPN. Even with victories at Colorado and at Washington State this fall, Stanford has still lost 21 of its last 25 contests against Power Five competition. The defense has been a disaster this season, allowing 42 or more points in six of their eight matchups against Power Five teams. The Cardinal ranked 129th in the FBS in third-down defense (51.6 percent), 128th in total defense (456.4 yards allowed per game) and 126th in scoring defense (36.9 points allowed per game) through Week 11. Notre Dame has failed to score more than two touchdowns in its last three road games, but that should change here and result in the Irish's fourth blowout win in their last five matchups with the Cardinal. Kyle Kelly: Notre Dame 31, Stanford 16 Although the Irish have been borderline abysmal on the road this season — losing two of their last three and nearly another at Duke — I like Notre Dame to redeem last season's Stanford loss with a victory in Palo Alto, Calif. Look for junior running back Audric Estimé to have a big game in what could be his final game in an Irish uniform. Tyler Horka: Notre Dame 42, Stanford 17 Let's focus less on Stanford staying close with Washington and more on a 46-point loss to USC, a 36-point loss to Oregon, a 35-point loss to UCLA and a 45-point loss to Oregon State. That's who this Stanford team really is. This is a rivalry game, and the Cardinal has nothing to lose. I get that. But Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman can't really afford to drop this game, so he won't. The better team will prevail in Palo Alto. Jack Soble: Notre Dame 34, Stanford 10 Notre Dame will take care of business against a Stanford team that doesn't have much left to play for. The Cardinal could theoretically be bowl eligible as a 5-7 team, but if they lost to California (they're 6.5-point underdogs as of this writing), even that won't be possible. Even if the Irish turn in another uninspiring road effort, it should be more than enough to beat Stanford. Staff Predictions Stanford senior safety Alaka'i Gilman is the younger brother of former Notre Dame safety and current Los Angeles Chargers starter Alohi Gilman. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD ATHLETICS