Notre Dame vs Stanford: Stacking Up The Irish Offense vs The Cardinal Defense

Notre Dame (3-2) will look to keep its hot streak going when it hosts the Stanford Cardinal (1-4) on Saturday night. It's Notre Dame's first home game in almost a month, and it presents the Irish with an opportunity to take control of this rivalry. If Notre Dame is going to do that, and do what is needed to get the program rolling as a whole, the offense must build on its improving offense.

Playing against a struggling Stanford defense gives the Irish a chance to make that happen. Let's take a look at the matchup.

Notre Dame Rush Offense vs Stanford Pass Defense

Advantage: Notre Dame

Notre Dame's overall rushing statistics aren't overly impressive, but even with the entire season in view the Irish hold an advantage in this matchup. Stanford has struggled to stop the run all season, and has done so against teams that aren't strong rushing teams.

Stanford has only faced one offense that ranks in the Top 40 in rushing offense, and that opponent (Oregon) racked up 351 yards on the ground. Stanford has also allowed all but one of its opponents (USC) surpassed its season average in rushing yards against the Cardinal.

The low yards per carry average is a bit misleading and due in large part to the 9.5 yards per attempt that Oregon racked up. Washington (5.3 YPC) is the only other opponent to surpass 4.8 yards per carry against the Cardinal.

Notre Dame's numbers were dragged down by a poor start, with the Irish rushing for just 117 yards per game in the season's first three games. Over the last two games Notre Dame has gone for 260.5 yards per game and racked up 5.4 yards per carry.

The three-headed monster of Chris Tyree, Audric Estime and Logan Diggs should have a big day this weekend, assuming the Notre Dame offensive line continues its recent strong play.

Notre Dame Pass Offense vs Stanford Pass Defense

Advantage: Notre Dame

An argument could be made that this should be marked as even, but Notre Dame gets the advantage for a number of reasons. The primary one being that Notre Dame has the advantage in the stats that matter most, which include yards per attempt, pass efficiency and interceptions vs. interceptions gained.

Notre Dame's pass protection ranking is solid, but it has been much better in recent games. Stanford has been a bit better at getting after the quarterback than I thought it would this season, with the Cardinal racking up four sacks against USC and four sacks against Oregon State.

Stanford's best cornerback, Kyu Blu Kelly, missed last week's game and although he's expected back against Notre Dame he likely won't be 100% healthy. That hinders what has been an otherwise poor Stanford pass defense that has given up 266 yards per game and 10 touchdowns in four games against FBS opponents.

Notre Dame's pass game was abysmal the first three games of the season but has picked up in the last two games. Junior Drew Pyne averaged 275.5 yards per game, threw six touchdowns and completed 74.2% of his throws in wins over North Carolina and BYU.

If the Irish wide receivers can continue ascending this is a matchup that Notre Dame could dominate, which would be a great sign for the Irish as its moves deeper into the season.

Notre Dame Scoring Offense vs Stanford Scoring Defense

Advantage: Notre Dame

Notre Dame's scoring offense is still well below average, but like everything it has gotten better in recent games. The Irish are still missing too many opportunities, and that must get cleaned up. Notre Dame left at least 17 points on the board against North Carolina and missed out on at least 11 points against BYU.

If Notre Dame is going to dominate Stanford the way it should, and if the offense is going to get rolling in way that allows the Irish to run the table, it will have to get more effective at maximizing scoring opportunities.

Stanford has given up 38.5 points per game against its four FBS opponents. They are just not good on defense, and Notre Dame absolutely must take advantage. It holds the on paper advantage, clearly, but now it's about the Irish taking a step forward and finally dominating a defensive opponent for sixty minutes.

We also broke this game down on our video channel. You can find those break downs here.

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Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
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