Stacking Up The Notre Dame Offense vs Stanford
Notre Dame (10-1) looks to not only get its seventh straight win of the season when it takes on Stanford (3-8), the Irish also get their last chance to impress the College Football Playoff committee. Notre Dame needs a convincing, dominant sixty minutes of football, especially on offense.
It's certainly an ideal matchup for the Notre Dame offense, which faces arguably the worst defense it will face all season. Let's take a look at how Notre Dame stacks up against the Cardinal defense.
Notre Dame Rush Offense vs Stanford Rush Defense
Advantage: Notre Dame
Notre Dame took full advantage of the schedule softening, which allow the Irish ground attack to get going. Notre Dame has rushed for 209.5 yards per game during its six-game win streak, including 230.5 in its last two games. Notre Dame has also averaged 6.3 yards per rush in the last four games, a stretch in which the Irish racked up all three of their 200+ yard rush games this season.
The combination of poor opposition, improved competency from the line and a brilliant group of running backs has fueled the rushing success for Notre Dame. Things are unlikely to slow down this weekend against a Stanford defense that is arguably the worst rush defense the Fighting Irish will face all season.
Stanford is giving up 241.7 rushing yards per game and 5.8 yards per carry, which ranks it among the 10 worst rush defenses in all of college football. The Cardinal have been consistently bad, giving up at least 200 rushing yards in nine of their 11 games this season, and at least 185 yards in all but one contest. Stanford is in the middle of a current four-game stretch in which it has given up between 218 and 441 yards in each game.
California racked up 352 yards and rushed for an unbelievable 10.4 yards per carry in the game, which the Bears won 41-11. This is the kind of game where Notre Dame pads its stats and finishes the season off with a huge game on the ground.
Notre Dame Pass Offense vs Stanford Pass Defense
Advantage: Notre Dame
Stanford's pass defense numbers are quite misleading. Part of the reason Stanford ranks 30th in yards allowed is due to how bad it has been stopping teams on the ground. When team have wanted to throw on Stanford they have, for the most part.
The Cardinal rank in the bottom half of the national rankings in yards allowed per attempt, yards allowed per completion (72nd) and opponent completion percentage. Stanford also ranks 115th nationally (out of 130 teams) in sacks allowed and are just inside the top half in pass efficiency defense.
That should bode well for a Notre Dame offense that struggled to protect the quarterback at times this season. Notre Dame ranks 106th in sacks allowed, but the line has been much better during the current win streak. Notre Dame quarterbacks were sacked 22 times in the season's first five games, but the line has given up just nine sacks in the nine games since its loss to Cincinnati.
Notre Dame's depth of weapons present Stanford with a tough matchup. Stanford will have a tough time matching up with star tight end Michael Mayer and running back Kyren Williams, but wide receiver Kevin Austin is playing his most consistent football and Braden Lenzy and Lorenzo Styles are coming into their own as well.
Notre Dame Scoring Offense vs Stanford Scoring Defense
Advantage: Notre Dame
We'll find out this weekend if Notre Dame's 55-point outburst against Georgia Tech was a one-off, a game where everything just came together, or if this is a sign of things to come. Stanford is bad on defense, and if Notre Dame comes out and is aggressive, executes and stays focused this game should not be close ... at all.
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