Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD last year netted 118 yards. The Irish linebacker corps, led by Manti Te'o, will be supremely tested because of the combination of stopping Taylor while also likely having a heavy re- sponsibility in cov- erage against Ertz, Toilolo and maybe even Hewitt (who c aught thr e e passes against Notre Dame last year) as a safety valve. Notre Dame will counter at tight end with Eifert, a 2011 first-team Walter Camp All- American who gr abbed four passes for 79 yards against the Car- dinal last season and finished with the most catches (63) and receiving yards (803) among al l t ight ends nationally in 2011. Sophomore Troy Niklas, a California native who was recruited by Stanford as a tight end, provides another option, as does class- mate Ben Koyack, in Notre Dame's multiple tight end looks. Eifert was held in check in victo- ries against Michigan State (20-3) and Michigan (13-6) before catching a cru- cial third-and-four pass from Tommy Redshirt junior cornerback Terrence Brown and the Cardinal defense permitted a potent USC offense to convert only 7.7 percent (1 of 13) of its third-down opportunities, and ranked fourth in that category nationally (24.52 percent) heading into October. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD Rees for 38 yards late in the Michigan game. "I don't think it's as much right now a product of Tyler not be- ing involved in the passing game, per se, as much as how efficiently we can throw the ball in certain situ- ations and make good decisions and make good reads and get the ball where it needs to get to," Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin said dur- ing the bye week. "…We're a better team if the ball gets in [No.] 80's direction more. It's certainly not by design that the ball's not going there." Through their of Notre Dame and Stanford was al- most identical: • Both had a 50-point game (the first four games, the scoring output Irish against Navy and the Cardinal versus Duke). • Both beat an in-state rival by a 20- 17 score (Purdue for Notre Dame and San Jose State for Stanford). • Both defeated a top-10 team in the third game (Stanford 21-14 over