Keys to Victory For Notre Dame vs Stanford

Notre Dame (8-3) will look to end the 2023 season with a much-needed victory over rival Stanford (3-8). The Irish fell to Stanford a season ago and the offense was a driving force behind that loss. If Notre Dame is going to take back the Legend's Trophy - and retake momentum in the series - the offense will need to flourish.

Notre Dame has thrived offensively against teams like Stanford in past games, and they'll need another dominant performance in this game. Not just to win the game, which the Irish should be able to do, and handily, but to continue building momentum into bowl season.

Here are four keys to Notre Dame's offense dominating this matchup and building momentum to end the season.

1. Start Fast - This is always our first key, and it means something different each week. In this particular matchup it serves three purposes, the first of which is a fast start builds on last week's success. Notre Dame is still a young offense at the skill positions, and confidence can be fickle with a younger group. A fast start allows the younger offensive players to quickly get into rhythm and build on last week's production.

A fast start also lets Stanford know this game isn't going to be competitive. The longer Stanford stays in this game the more confident they will that another upset is possible. Notre Dame needs to eliminate that quickly.

A fast start also allows Notre Dame to also continue building momentum on offense. This side of the ball has been erratic this season, but ending the regular season with two back-to-back dominant performances would be an ideal way to finish.

2. Be Physical - Stanford isn't very good on defense, but they are a group that plays hard. That is something you have to respect about the Cardinal, and they gave the Notre Dame offensive line all it could handle last season in their upset win over the Irish. Notre Dame needs to come out and establish the line of scrimmage early and get the ground game going. That has been the most disappointing aspect of the offense this season, at least over the last month and a half.

Notre Dame should have some chances to hit big time throws in the play-action game, but that will be predicated on establishing the ground game early. If Notre Dame does that we'll see Audric Estime and the young backs put up big numbers, and it will also take a lot of pressure off the pass game.

3. Attack All Levels - Stanford has one of the worst pass defenses in college football, so on paper this should be a game where the Irish offense thrives. I want to see some specific things in this game, and it not just be a "we are better than them" type of game.

To begin, Notre Dame needs to continue being aggressive with its pass game and show a willingness to attack all levels of the defense. Notre Dame called some really good levels concepts last week against Wake Forest, and they resulted in a number of big plays. The Irish attacked with pure vertical routes (posts, corners) but also attacked down the field with overs and in breaking routes, which we needed to see more of and finally saw.

Notre Dame also needs to be willing to attack the perimeter with its quick game (RPOs) and intermediate routes. The middle of the field should also be an area where Notre Dame can find a lot of success if they call it right. This includes play-action, but also the deeper high-low concepts we saw last week.

Another aggressive and balanced pass attack will give the offense a strong finish to the regular season. It would also give Sam Hartman a chance to put up big numbers in his final regular season game.

4. Continue The Youth Movement - We saw the freshman and sophomore classes finally make a big impact against Wake Forest. The young wideouts and tight ends accounted for 22 catches, 301 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Ending the season with another dominant performance by young pass catchers like Tobias Merriweather, Jaden Greathouse, Rico Flores Jr., Jordan Faison, Eli Raridon, Holden Staes and Cooper Flanagan would generate some excitement about the offense heading into the offense.

It would also be nice to see sophomore running back Jadarian Price and freshman Jeremiyah Love get chances to rip up the Stanford defense.

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