Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 22, 2025 41 OPPONENT ON DECK: STANFORD Date: Nov. 29, 2025 Site (Capacity): Stanford Stadium (50,424) Kickoff: TBA All-time series: Notre Dame leads 24-14 Last meeting: Notre Dame 49, Stanford 7 (Oct. 12, 2024, at South Bend) 2025 Record To Date: 3-7 (2-5 ACC) Stanford interim head coach: Frank Reich (3-7, 1st season) Season summary: Unsurprisingly, Frank Reich's season as Stanford's interim head coach hasn't been an overwhelming success, but a win over one of its two remaining rivals on the schedule — California and Notre Dame — would give the Cardinal more than three wins in a season for the first time since 2020. All three of Stanford's victo- ries this season have come at home, and the final two games will be played on "The Farm" as well. Stanford's roster deficiencies have been on dis- play all season long. The offense is one of the worst rushing teams in college football with an average of 76.9 yards per game. The defense is one of the worst at defending the pass, allowing an average of 284.5 yards per game. Redshirt senior quarterback Ben Gulbranson started the first nine games of the season, but Reich benched him for redshirt freshman Elijah Brown in Stanford's last game, at North Carolina. Brown completed passes at a higher rate (69.2 percent) in his starting debut than Gulbranson did in any of his starts this season. Though Brown lost a 20-15 game at North Carolina, perhaps he can give Stanford something to look forward to while sorting out the future of the program. Stanford doesn't have much of an identity right now. The Cardinal typically produced consistent offensive lines, but only Auburn (39) allowed more sacks than Stanford (38) through Week 11. Fixing the offensive line should become a priority for general manager Andrew Luck in the offseason. OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. QB 2 Elijah Brown 6-2 210 R-Fr. 15 Ben Gulbranson 6-3 215 R-Sr. RB 20 Micah Ford 6-0 220 So. 33 Cole Tabb 5-8 200 R-Fr. WR 3 CJ Williams 6-1 205 Sr. 4 Jordan Onovughe 6-2 210 R-So. WR 0 Caden High 5-10 165 Jr. 25 Marcus Brown 5-10 170 R-Fr. WR 11 Bryce Farrell 5-10 175 6th 18 Myles Libman 6-0 190 R-So. TE 86 Sam Roush 6-5 260 Sr. 88 Benji Blackburn 6-6 260 So. LT 66 Niki Prongos 6-7 315 R-Jr. 73 Charlie Symonds 6-8 310 R-So. LG 68 Zak Yamauchi 6-4 325 Fr. or 51 Ziron Brown 6-3 310 R-Fr. C 74 Fisher Anderson 6-7 315 R-Jr. 63 Carson Caplan 6-3 305 R-Fr. RG 71 Emeka Ugorji 6-5 300 Fr. 59 Charlie Hoitink 6-4 300 R-Fr. RT 58 Kahlil House 6-5 305 So. 62 Josh Williams 6-4 300 Fr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. EDGE 11 Tevarua Tafiti 6-2 240 R-Jr. 49 Gabe Kaminski 6-3 235 Fr. DT 91 Clay Patterson 6-3 280 Gr. 98 Zach Buckey 6-3 270 5th DT 97 Zach Rowell 6-3 285 R-Jr. or 75 Braden Marceau-Olayinka 6-3 300 R-So. DT 94 Anthony Franklin 6-3 285 5th 45 Omar Staples 6-3 270 R-So. EDGE 14 Wilfredo Aybar 6-2 270 5th or 44 Ernest Cooper 6-4 250 R-Jr. LB 35 Matt Rose 6-2 230 R-Jr. 51 Sam Mattingly 6-2 240 So. LB 0 Jahsiah Galvan 6-2 230 R-Jr. or 23 Hunter Barth 6-2 230 R-Sr. CB 31 Aaron Morris 5-11 195 Jr. or 22 Ché Ojarikre 6-2 205 R-So. S 5 Jay Green 6-3 215 R-Jr. or 21 Scotty Edwards 6-1 205 R-Jr. S 32 Mitch Leigber 6-1 200 5th 29 Darrius Davis 6-0 200 So. CB 6 Collin Wright 6-0 195 R-Jr. 9 Brandon Nicholson 6-0 190 So. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. K 13 Emmet Kenney 6-2 220 5th 19 London Bironas 5-10 205 Fr. P 37 Aidan Flintoft 6-2 210 Jr. 19 London Bironas 5-10 205 Fr. H 37 Aidan Flintoft 6-2 210 Jr. 18 Myles Libman 6-0 190 R-So. LS 93 Peyton Warford 6-3 225 R-Jr. 47 Alejandro Chavez 6-2 225 R-Jr. KR 0 Caden High 5-10 165 Jr. 26 Sedrick Irvin 5-10 205 Jr. PR 13 Liam Thorpe 6-0 195 Fr. 11 Bryce Farrell 5-10 175 6th STANFORD CARDINAL TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART On Deck Frank Reich, who is serving as Stanford's interim head coach this season, has guided the Cardinal to a 3-7 record so far in 2025. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD ATHLETICS 2025 STANFORD SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET)/Results Aug. 23 at Hawai'i L, 23-20 Sept. 6 at BYU L, 27-3 Sept. 13 Boston College W, 30-20 Sept. 20 at Virginia L, 48-20 Sept. 27 San Jose State W, 30-29 Oct. 11 at SMU L, 34-10 Oct. 18 Florida State W, 20-13 Oct. 25 at Miami L, 42-7 Nov. 1 Pittsburgh L, 35-20 Nov. 8 at North Carolina L, 20-15 Nov. 22 California (ACCN) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29 Notre Dame TBA