Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1527190
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 12, 2024 41 GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD You've got to factor in the botched field goal attempt for the Irish against Miami (Ohio) as well. That's an inexcusable blunder. James Rendell's punting statistics were inexcusable until he aver- aged 47.3 yards per boot against the RedHawks, 4.5 yards better than he was in any of the Irish's first three games and more than 10 yards better than he was against NIU. Stanford was one of a dozen teams in the FBS through Week 4 without a kickoff return of at least 30 yards. Notre Dame has All-American Jayden Harrison, meanwhile, who seems ripe to break a long one at any point. That's the tiebreaker in this section. Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING The Stanford job seems like a dead end, espe- cially for a former FCS head coach who took over for David Shaw at the bitter end of that tenure. Troy Taylor went 3-9 in his first season as Stanford's head coach in 2023. That's the same exact record the Cardinal had in 2022. And 2021. That's just who Stanford is right now, and no FCS legend who went 9-4, 9-3 and 12-1 in three seasons at nearby Sacramento State is going to change that. Marcus Freeman, meanwhile, is trying to change Notre Dame's national fortunes. He's trying to make the Fighting Irish one of the true power- houses in college football, one that can actually win it all for the first time since 1988 and not just dream about it. It feels like that dream is still a figment of everyone's imagination, though, with Freeman having gone only 22-9 in two seasons and change in charge of the Irish. Still, Freeman has won some big games. He's beat up on bad teams despite losing to a few of them too. If you had to choose between Taylor and Freeman, you're picking the latter — defeats at the hands of the Cardinal in 2022 and Northern Illinois in 2024, etc., be darned. Advantage: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES Notre Dame is 3-0 coming out of bye weeks in the Marcus Freeman era with an average margin of victory of 32.3 points in wins over BYU (28-20, 2022), Pitt (58-7, 2023) and Wake Forest (45-7, 2023). Stanford actually went 3-2 on the road in Taylor's first season. Yes, all of the Cardinal's victories were away from home at Hawaii, Colorado and Washing- ton State. But in two ranked road games, Stanford lost 56-10 to Stanford and 62-17 to Oregon State. Stanford won its first road game of the year in 2024 at Syracuse, too, but this is Notre Dame, and this is Notre Dame with a week to think about things in the Freeman era. The Irish have the intangible edge. Advantage: Notre Dame Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 5 Beaux Collins 6-2 206 Gr. or 83 Jayden Thomas 6-2 218 Sr. WR 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 So. or 2 Jayden Harrison 5-10 198 Gr. LT 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-4 294 Fr. 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 325 Gr. LG 72 Sam Pendleton 6-4 310 So. 75 Sullivan Absher 6-7 321 So. C 78 Pat Coogan 6-5 310 Sr. 72 Sam Pendleton 6-4 310 So. RG 50 Rocco Spindler 6-5 325 Sr. 55 Chris Terek 6-5 330 So. RT 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 291 Jr. 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 323 Fr. TE 88 Mitchell Evans 6-5 260 Sr. 9 Eli Raridon 6-7 250 Jr. WR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 184 So. or 10 Kris Mitchell 6-0 186 Gr. or 11 KK Smith 6-0 178 So. QB 13 Riley Leonard 6-4 216 Sr. 18 Steve Angeli 6-2 208 Jr. RB 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 210 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10 206 Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. VYP 5 Boubacar Traore 6-4 243 So. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka 6-2 246 Jr. DT 99 Rylie Mills 6-5 295 Gr. 47 Jason Onye 6-5 291 Sr. NT 56 Howard Cross III 6-1 288 Gr. 41 Donovan Hinish 6-2 278 Jr. DE 9 RJ Oben 6-3 265 Gr. 40 Joshua Burnham 6-4 251 Jr. or 30 Bryce Young 6-7 238 Fr. WILL 24 Jack Kiser 6-2 231 Gr. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-2 216 So. or 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 240 Fr. MIKE 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 239 So. 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 240 Fr. ROV 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-1 224 Jr. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-2 216 So. CB 20 Benjamin Morrison 6-0 190 Jr. 15 Leonard Moore 6-2 191 Fr. SS 8 Adon Shuler 6-0 200 So. 28 Luke Talich 6-4 211 So. or 23 Kennedy Urlacher 5-11 196 Fr. FS 0 Xavier Watts 6-0 203 Gr. 2 Rod Heard II 5-11 195 Gr. CB 29 Christian Gray 6-0 189 So. 21 Karson Hobbs 6-1 192 Fr. NIC 1 Jordan Clark 5-10 182 Gr. 21 Karson Hobbs 6-1 192 Fr. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 98 Mitch Jeter 5-11 195 Gr. K 98 Mitch Jeter 5-11 195 Gr. P 16 James Rendell 6-6 224 Gr. 90 Eric Goins 6-2 209 Gr. LS 49 Andrew Kros 6-3 220 So. 39 Rino Monteforte 5-7 200 Jr. SS 39 Rino Monteforte 5-7 200 Jr. 49 Andrew Kros 6-3 220 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. H 26 Chris Salerno 5-11 208 Sr. 81 Jack Polian 6-0 183 Sr. PR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 184 So. 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 So. KR 2 Jayden Harrison 5-10 198 Gr. or 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 210 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10 206 Jr. Special Teams Senior safety Mitch Leigber had a 71-yard inter- ception return for a touchdown in Stanford's 26-24 win at Syracuse in its first ACC game. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD ATHLETICS