Oct 13 | Stanford

[Buster Bluth]

Yes.

 

[eNDzone]

Notre Dame football: Stanford tickets available - southbendtribune.com

Stanford tickets available at 2PM today.

 

[eNDzone]

Just bumping this back up top for anyone interested in tickets. They go on sale in 45 min.

 

[Arturoner]

looking forward for the good game...

 

[johnnykillz]

Lehgo Irish!

Can't wait to beat this ***

 

[rtrn2glory]

trying to get tickies to this one...might end up being another huge atmosphere in south bend

 

[GreatGolson]

sooo glad ive got tix for this game, hopefully both teams are
still unbeaten and its a top 10 matchup

 

[BurningRiver]

This is going to be a loonnnggg three weeks.

If we beat Stanford, giving us 3 wins against top 20 teams, we would make it into the BCS with 3 losses, God forbid we lose 3 games.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

This is going to be a loonnnggg three weeks.

If we beat Stanford, giving us 3 wins against top 20 teams, we would make it into the BCS with 3 losses, God forbid we lose 3 games.

One game at a time. Miami is in the headlights, look no further down the road.

 

[irishff1014]

One game at a time. Miami is in the headlights, look no further down the road.

Thats what i have been saying all year.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Yards per rush allowed by the Stanford defense:

San Jose State: 2.7 (27 rushes, 72 yards)
Duke: 1.2 (23 rushes, 27 yards)
Southern Cal: 0.9 (28 rushes, 26 yards)

Holy Mother of Mercy.

Compare it to Notre Dame:

Navy: 3.7 (40 rushes, 149 yards)
Purdue: 3.0 (30 rushes, 90 yards)
Michigan State: 2.0 (25 rushes, 50 yards)
Michigan: 3.9 (41 rushes, 161 yards)

This game may be 3-0.

 

[irishknight35]

Yards per rush allowed by the Stanford defense:

San Jose State: 2.7 (27 rushes, 72 yards)
Duke: 1.2 (23 rushes, 27 yards)
Southern Cal: 0.9 (28 rushes, 26 yards)

Holy Mother of Mercy.

Compare it to Notre Dame:

Navy: 3.7 (40 rushes, 149 yards)
Purdue: 3.0 (30 rushes, 90 yards)
Michigan State: 2.0 (25 rushes, 50 yards)
Michigan: 3.9 (41 rushes, 161 yards)

This game may be 3-0.

Interesting stats. What would be intriguing to me is if Stanford played the first four games that ND played and how those defensive stats would match up. Can't say that I have a lot of respect for Stanford's first two opponents, now the USC game...that was a dominating effort against a good team.

 

[West Coast Domer]

They have a very physical defensive front from what I have seen (just ask the SC offensive line) should be a big test for our offensive line.

 

[TheChosen1]

Anyone else hearing GameDay will be there? I know Oklahoma vs Texas is also that week. But hearing its a good possibilty. Depending...

 

[woolybug25]

This is silently becoming one of the best games of the season in college football.

If Stanford holds up for two weeks and we take care of business against the convicts, then this might be a top 5 matchup.

Remember all those folks that said that Stanford would take a step back without Gerhart.. uhm... I mean Luck... lol

 

[Whiskeyjack]

They have a very physical defensive front from what I have seen (just ask the SC offensive line) should be a big test for our offensive line.

Have you seen anything this season that makes you think our OL will pass this test?

 

[NDinL.A.]

Have you seen anything this season that makes you think our OL will pass this test?

NAVY!!!!!!

 

[ThePiombino]

NAVY!!!!!!

Italics assumed?

 

[Rack Em]

NAVY!!!!!!

You serious, Clark?

http://gifsoup.com/

 

[Buster Bluth]

I love how I was ridiculed for saying the Navy game was something we should take with a grain of salt...and now we have to italicize it. Oh God.

Notre Dame still matches up well with Stanford though, they rank near the bottom in passing offense (like 90th I think). Our front seven vs their front seven. I'll take our perimeter athletes over their for the difference maker.

 

[NDhoosier]

Yards per rush allowed by the Stanford defense:

San Jose State: 2.7 (27 rushes, 72 yards)
Duke: 1.2 (23 rushes, 27 yards)
Southern Cal: 0.9 (28 rushes, 26 yards)

Holy Mother of Mercy.

Compare it to Notre Dame:

Navy: 3.7 (40 rushes, 149 yards)
Purdue: 3.0 (30 rushes, 90 yards)
Michigan State: 2.0 (25 rushes, 50 yards)
Michigan: 3.9 (41 rushes, 161 yards)

This game may be 3-0.

Ill give them U$C (a passing first offense) but it's hard to brag about San Jose and Duke.

The ND defense has stopped a triple option offense, Le'Veon Bell (a heisman contending RB who has blown up every other defense he has faced) and Denard Robinson (a very special offensive player, especially on the ground).

 

[Riddickulous]

The score of this game will be somewhere around 3-2.

 

[Bluto]

I love how I was ridiculed for saying the Navy game was something we should take with a grain of salt...and now we have to italicize it. Oh God.

Notre Dame still matches up well with Stanford though, they rank near the bottom in passing offense (like 90th I think). Our front seven vs their front seven. I'll take our perimeter athletes over their for the difference maker.

Makes sense to me. I'm guessing last QB standing might be the difference. It'll be interesting to see them play this weekend.

 

[Downinthebend]

I was thinking 4 to 0.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Ill give them U$C (a passing first offense) but it's hard to brag about San Jose and Duke.

What are they supposed to do, hold them to zero years? Perhaps negative? We'd all be ecstatic if we held Duke to that sorta yardage.

I'm not suggesting they stopped the nation's better rushing attacks this season....but we aren't one of the nation's best rushing attacks. The Irish have been pretty mediocre (against very stout DLs and/or an NFL DC's blitz packages).

The ND defense has stopped a triple option offense, Le'Veon Bell (a heisman contending RB who has blown up every other defense he has faced) and Denard Robinson (a very special offensive player, especially on the ground).

That's great and all but Navy and Michigan experience won't help us here.

I consider Stanford to be of the same ilk as Michigan State, only with a quarterback who is lightyears more competent (but not necessarily "good," yet).

Having Spond in there instead of Fox will help a ton on the dump passes they will try, so Diaco has that going for him.

Also, having Cierre Wood back is huge. He wasn't full-steam against Michigan State or Michigan. A bye week and a nice outing against Miami should have him in 2010 form I would think. he hasn't looked bad at all, but Kelly will need an A+ day from him.

Simply put, this is Michigan State part duex. We need to see some offense against Miami or I won't feel confident at all.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Notre Dame still matches up well with Stanford though, they rank near the bottom in passing offense (like 90th I think).

You inspired me to see how we stack up against the Tree unit by unit. These rankings are generated by Bill Connelly's S&P model, which is 1/2 of Football Outsiders' F/+ model.

ND Offense:
Overall - 38th
Rushing - 42nd
Passing - 79th
Standard Downs - 47th
Passing Downs - 61st

Stanford Defense:
Overall - 8th
Rushing - 18th
Passing - 22nd
Standard Downs - 17th
Passing Downs - 31st

Stanford Offense:
Overall - 75th
Rushing - 60th
Passing - 72nd
Standard Downs - 86th
Passing Downs - 21st

Notre Dame Defense:
Overall - 12th
Rushing - 21st
Passing - 20th
Standard Downs - 19th
Passing Downs - 18th

Conclusion? Will very likely be a low-scoring defensive slug-fest. Winning the turn-over battle will be crucial.

Similar to Buster, I'll feel much better if our offense looks borderline competent against Miami (though they're pretty bad defensively, so who knows how meaningful that will be be.) Specifically, I want to see a capable rushing attack; I doubt that Golson's intangibles will allow him to win a game against a stout defense (such as Stanford) with only his arm.

Drop the 13-personnel entirely, and simplify Niklas' responsibilities when we're in 12. Spread the field more with Toma and Neal. Get back to the spread principles that Kelly knows best. I had hoped that Golson's mobility would provide a big boost to our rushing attack via the Option Read and Speed Option, but we haven't seen it yet.

 

[NDhoosier]

I agree that Stanford is going to be a tough challenge and like Whiskeyjack said, I would like to see the offense come out against Miami and prove us all wrong, but I think you are overestimating stats achieved against VERY WEAK opponents. Lets see how they do against Washington and Arizona... still not top quality opponents, but both of those teams are at least respectable, San Jose and Duke are not.

I will admit though, Stanford is better than I originally thought they would be.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I think you are overestimating stats achieved against VERY WEAK opponents.

I was on board with this until last weekend. Stanford managed to knock off the big bad Trojans, a team that many here continue to peg as our most challenging opponent. At the very least, they deserve some healthy respect heading into the game.

Washington is decidedly average this year, so I doubt we'll learn anything new this weekend, but Arizona might give them a scare.

 

[Downinthebend]

The Stanford- Washington game is

Punt Punt Punt Punt field goal Punt Punt Punt field goat Punt punt.

I'm liking our chances against them.

 

[irishff1014]

After watching Stanford's D-line i am worried for our O-line.