Notre Dame Must Create Its Own Juice Against Stanford

The Stanford game sits in between a sloppy performance against North Carolina and a massive battle with BYU. The Irish have plenty to prove as the downtrodden Cardinal head to South Bend

Oct 3, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Jordan Faison (6) celebrates with wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (1) after making a touchdown catch in the first quarter at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Notre Dame welcomes a 2-3 Stanford team to South Bend this Saturday that finds itself at the lower end of nearly every statistical ranking in the country.

This game carries no natural juice on its own merits; the Irish will have to motivate themselves to put together a clean and dominant performance against the Cardinal as a massive home favorite in this contest.

While this game excites nobody, it presents an excellent opportunity for Notre Dame to clean up some atypical inefficiencies that showed up in last week's game at North Carolina before heading to Provo to square off with BYU in the first game against a ranked team this season.

Let's look at some goals the Irish should have in mind entering this contest.

Notre Dame must get a large lead on Stanford early

Notre Dame is a five-touchdown favorite in this game for a reason. Stanford is not very good at football right now.

This season, Stanford is averaging just 17 points per game, ranking 131st in this category. The Cardinal are running the ball for just an average of 88 yards per game, ranking second to last in the country in this area. Their third-down and red zone success numbers also rank well into the hundreds.

Defensively, things aren't much better, as Stanford is allowing 38 points per game, good for a ranking of 133rd in the country, with red zone and third-down numbers that also rank well down into the hundreds. This is a bad Stanford team by nearly all statistical measures.

Notre Dame needs to establish control of this game in the first quarter, pile up points, and then rest most of its starters for the second half as Irish fans' minds begin to drift to Provo, Utah. This is the road map this week.

Game week

The Irish Wear Green game presented by @SoFi

🆚 Stanford
📍 South Bend, Indiana
📆 Saturday, Oct. 10
⏰ 3:30 PM ET
📺 NBC | Peacock#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/KdHZfd0QAN

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 5, 2026

Notre Dame has some specific areas to tidy up, and Stanford is the perfect opponent for that mission

Two of the things Notre Dame has been most known for in the Freeman era are lockdown defenses and great special teams numbers beyond the actual kicking portion of that equation. Both of these areas were not sharp last week.

Notre Dame gave up too much passing yardage in the middle of the field to North Carolina and allowed multiple touchdowns.

That is not what we've come to expect from the Irish passing defense. Regarding special teams, sure, rain was a part of the story that could explain more than one dropped hold, but there's never an excuse to allow a kickoff return touchdown coming out of halftime.

These are mistakes that will get Notre Dame beat next week in Provo, and I look for the Irish to clean these areas up against Stanford in a "get right" game before the huge ranked-on-ranked matchup that awaits the Irish next Saturday.