Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD gained. In a strange twist of irony, Sanders' son, Barry Jr., is a senior backup to Mc- Caffrey who rushed for 309 yards, 6.6 yards per carry and four touchdowns through the first 10 games. Until the Jim Harbaugh era began in 2007, Stan- ford football's identity was one of finesse, spe- cifically with prolific quarterbacks and lethal passing attacks that often would result in shootouts. Under Harbaugh, who led the program to a 12-1 record in 2010 before tak- ing the head coaching po- sition with the San Francisco 49ers, more of a blue-collar mentality was cultivated, led by 2009 Heisman Tro- phy runner-up Toby Gerhart's school- record 1,871 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns, with 205 of those yards and three scores coming in the 45-38 victory versus Notre Dame. Succeeding Gerhart was three-time 1,000-yard rusher Stepfan Taylor, who ran for 1,530 yards as a senior in 2012. Then in a 27-20 victory versus Notre Dame in 2013, senior Kevin Gaffney carried 33 times for 189 yards and fin- ished the season with 1,709 yards on the ground with 21 touchdowns. Last year was an aberration for the Stanford ground attack, which was held to 158.8 yards per game. The leading rusher in the backfield by committee was Remound Wright with a relatively modest 601 yards. In the 17-14 loss at Notre Dame, the Cardinal managed a paltry 47 rushing yards and 1.7 yards per carry, with Wright's 29 yards pacing the attack. McCaffrey did not even log a carry, but did catch a pass for 18 yards. Notre Dame's veteran front seven on defense likely won't be able to duplicate the numbers it did against Stanford's rushing attack in 2015. Whether it can prevent the Cardinal rushing game from being as pow- erful as it was in the 2009, 2011 and 2013 losses at Stanford will be crucial in dictating whether contest will result in a victory or defeat. A 'SCORE' TO BETTER SETTLE In Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's five meetings against Stanford, his Fighting Irish have never been able to score more than 20 points — and in the 20-13 victory in 2012, seven of the points had to come in overtime. • The Irish lost 37-14 in 2010 while totaling only 44 rushing yards. • In 2011, Notre Dame fell 28-14 with Andrew Hendrix replacing in- jured Tommy Rees at quarterback and the Irish rushing for only 57 yards. • In the aforementioned 2012 con- test, the Irish did gain 150 yards on the ground, but Rees had to come in to help send the game into overtime before throwing the game-winning scoring pass to TJ Jones in the extra session. • While accumulating only 263 total Fifth-year head coach David Shaw has posted an impressive 50-14 record at Stanford. PHOTO BY STANFORDPHOTO.COM