Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD catches almost everything thrown his way. He's fast, runs around a 4.4- or 4.5-second 40. He's quick, shifty and can accelerate quickly. He has all the attri- butes in a player you look for like him." One can't discuss the Stanford offense without mentioning the tight end posi- tion. Junior Austin Hooper has caught a team-high five touchdowns, in addi- tion to 26 receptions for 379 yards, and sophomore Dalton Schultz — a former Notre Dame recruiting target — is uti- lized regularly as an in-line blocker. "They haven't necessarily targeted the tight ends as much as they did a few years ago, when they didn't have receivers and they didn't have a player at running back like they do this year," Drukarev said. "But Hooper should be an early round NFL Draft pick, and he's one of their top targets. They use Schultz as both a blocker and receiver. Greg Taboada is third in the rotation. He'll get five or six plays a game." Defensively, the Cardinal lost nine starters from last year, including several players now plying their trade in the NFL. That's led to a bit of rebuilding for a unit that's been very strong in recent years. Stanford allowed 5.4 yards per play through the first 10 games (53rd nationally), but surrendered a stagger- ing 9.1 yards per play average in the loss to Oregon. Senior linebacker Blake Martinez, a preseason fourth-team All-America se- lection by Phil Steele, anchors the unit. The 6-2, 245-pounder recorded 100 tack- les in the first 10 games, including 4.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. That more than doubled the team's second- leading tackler, junior linebacker Peter Kalambayi (43). "Stanford has had a national cham- pionship-caliber defense recently here, but they just aren't as good as they have been," Drukarev said. "I think it's still a well-coached group, but there are a few more missed tackles than what we've seen recently. The pass rush isn't quite what it was. "Martinez has been good this year. 2015 STANFORD SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 at Northwestern L, 16‑6 Sept. 12 UCF W, 31‑7 Sept. 19 at USC W, 41‑31 Sept. 25 at Oregon State W, 42‑24 Oct. 3 Arizona W, 55‑17 Oct. 15 UCLA W, 56‑35 Oct. 24 Washington W, 31‑14 Oct. 31 at Washington State W, 30‑28 Nov. 7 at Colorado W, 42‑10 Nov. 14 Oregon L, 38‑36 Nov. 21 California W, 35‑22 Nov. 28 Notre Dame (FOX) 7:30 p.m. 2015 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 5 Texas W, 38‑3 Sept. 12 at Virginia W, 34‑27 Sept. 19 Georgia Tech W, 30‑22 Sept. 26 Massachusetts W, 62‑27 Oct. 3 at Clemson L, 24‑22 Oct. 10 Navy W, 41‑24 Oct. 17 USC W, 41‑31 Oct. 31 at Temple W, 24‑20 Nov. 7 at Pittsburgh W, 42‑30 Nov. 14 Wake Forest W, 28‑7 Nov. 21 vs. Boston College* W, 19‑16 Nov. 28 at Stanford (FOX) 7:30 p.m. * Shamrock Series at Fenway Park in Boston