Oct 13 | Stanford

[Jason Pham]

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<br><strong>Stanford Cardinal at Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)
Saturday, October 13, 2012
3:30 PM ET

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[Rudy89]

No more Luck on their side, we owe them an *** kicking!

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

Let's set the universe right this year.

 

[texbender]

Irish have got to defend their House every home game. This is winnable.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

From ISD. Love trees, hate the Tree.

Stanford Preview

 

[ndyeater]

I hope we can win this game but not gonna lie im doubting it...Stanford still has plenty of talent

 

[Buster Bluth]

I think Stanford's strengths play into Notre Dame's favor. If you want to try and be big and tough and out-muscle Notre Dame....by all means attempt that.

 

[peoriairish]

I think Stanford's strengths play into Notre Dame's favor. If you want to try and be big and tough and out-muscle Notre Dame....by all means attempt that.

Yeah... by all means...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QDIQX6Uke_Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Buster Bluth]

Tyler Gaffney, who ran for seven touchdowns last season, is giving up his eligibility to pursue a professional baseball career.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Tyler Gaffney, who ran for seven touchdowns last season, is giving up his eligibility to pursue a professional baseball career.

Whoa, crazy! ND was in on him and he was close to being Irish but CW wanted him to play fullback and he always envisioned himself a tailback (which he proved at Stanford). While he's not their best back and they have some studs back there, still some decent news for us (for a change LOL).

 

[BGIF]

Unless Stepfan Taylor goes down early in the season I don't think Tyler Gaffney will be missed.

They ran mostly by committee last year and Stefan Taylor ran for 1330 yds. He's expected to be a bell cow in '12. They lost Stewart and now Gaffney but return Wilkerson who moved ahead of Gaffney, Seale, redshirt Remound Wright and a rookie named Barry Sanders.

Luck's scrambling will be missed but the FBs are a load and will get more work. Hewitt is 243 and Meinken 256.

Biggest impact might be the OLine. They lost DeCastro (1st Round) and Martin (2nd Round). They have talented backups but lack the career starts of last year's group. The OLine allowed 6 sacks last year (some credit to Luck also) while the Team rushed for 211 yds/game. In the last 3 years the OLINE had the 3 best school rushing season while only allowing 24 Total Sacks. The Sacks should go up but the new QB should get good blitz protection from an experience and beefy backfield.

2011 Rushers:
RB
Taylor 242 carries, 1330 yds, 5.5 ypc, 10 TD
Gaffney 74 carries, 449 yds, 6.1 ypc, 7 TD (GONE to MLB)
Wilkerson 56 carries, 282 yds, 5.0 ypc, 3 TD
Stewart 55 carries, 257 yds, 4.7 ypc, 9 TD (GONE)
Seale 6 carries, 23 yds, 3.8 ypc, 0 TD

FB
Meinken 12 carries, 90 yds, 7.5 ypc, 0 TD
Hewitt 10 carries, 35 yds, 3.5 ypc, 0 TD

QB
Luck 47 carries, 150 yds, 3.2 ypc, 2 TD (GONE)
Nottingham 1 carry, 10 yds, 10 ypc, 1 TD


WR
Owusu 2 carries, 78 yds, 39.0 ypc, 0 TD (GONE)
Montgomery 2 carries, 42 yds, 21.0 ypc, 1 TD
Terrell 1 carry, 4 yds, 4.0 ypc 0 TD
Gatewood 1 carry -2 yds, -2.0 ypc, 0 TD (GONE)

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Scipio Tex at SBNation's Barking Carnival predicts a significant step back for Stanford in 2012:

Stanford

The Cardinal were 11-2 last year (3-2 against the Top 25), and they'll take a substantial step back, despite preseason polls that have them as high as #12. Yes, Mark Schlabach is actually paid money to write his opinion on college football. Though Andrew Luck is gone, Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw knew how to recruit and develop players, and the Pac 12's talent level outside of Oregon and USC is fairly depleted right now. So Stanford isn't going back to its dark days. But some realities are inescapable: the Cardinal are replacing a once-in-a-lifetime college QB who constantly threw receivers open, shrugged off free blitzers in the pocket, and completed more than 70% of his throws. Real throws; the kind that 95% of college football teams can't execute.

Brett Nottingham isn't there yet.

Like Penn St - and this is a recurring theme in my analysis - when teams lose substantial quality or numbers from the offensive line and defensive backfield, I'm leery. Stanford loses two elite OL in OT David Martin (2nd round NFL draft) and OG David Decastro (1st rounder, the best pure OL in college football last year). They also replace three of four starters in their secondary. And I'm always concerned about their ability to find speed and athletes there.

The schedule isn't kind and I like them to lose to USC, @ Washington, @ Notre Dame, and @ Oregon. Losses at Cal or UCLA aren't inconceivable either. Let's call it 8-5, post-bowl. Still heady stuff for Palo Alto, but let's tap the brakes on the Palo Alto Pacific Dynasty Talk.

 

[Buster Bluth]

I agree fully.

Plus, as I've said on this thread, their reliance on the run with their new QB will play right into Notre Dame's strengths.

 

[NDPhilly]

If we beat them we go 9-3.

 

[johnnykillz]

If we beat them we go 9-3.

We will beat them.

It's State and Meat Chicken I'm concerned about.

 

[mgriff]

It would be great if we could get back to beating Stanford. Should be a cracker.

 

[DSully1995]

We will beat them.

It's State and Meat Chicken I'm concerned about.

MSU losses its passing offense basically so im feeling good with our rush D against them

 

[johnnykillz]

MSU losses its passing offense basically so im feeling good with our rush D against them

That's a better chance of going 9-3 if we're both right!
Then there's the occasional fail to BC, Pitt, and Navy.

Damn.

9-3 or fail.

 

[NDPhilly]

I predicted we lose to MSU, Trees, OU, and USC. Seeing that season preview for Stanford made me rethink that.

 

[NDhoosier]

Like I said in another thread, you dont replace the #1 overall draft pick that easily. Luck made a lot of people look better than what they actually are... just like Peyton Manning. Stanford doesnt worry me at all this year, especially playing in South Bend.

 

[ACamp1900]

I am very curious to see how Stanford plays moving forward... my Notre Dame PTSD ridden fandom tends to expect they'll continue to be good and certainly continue to roll us... but in reality they may be one of the better stories cfb has seen in a while if they can go from where they were five years ago and stay consistently good post Luck all while keeping their standards and integrity in the classroom...

if nothing else they may very well prove you still can win big and do so the right way... if not they still proved that while the ND's and Stanford's might not be able to be year in, year out, top ten programs anymore, either could get the right guy(s) and ride that for a couple big years...

 

[Grahambo]

Josh Nunes has been named Stanford starting QB.

 

[tko]

Josh Nunes has been named Stanford starting QB.

He'll be looking to join a long list of QB's having career days against ND.

 

[fightingirish26]

Really thought Nottingham would win the job

 

[Black Irish]

It was all Luck that beat the Irish last season. It is no cakewake, but I don't see Stanford beating up on us this year. I'm just not sweating them like Ixam USC and OU?

 

[PANDFAN]

Andrus Peat looks to be starting on the offensive line for stanford--according to david shaw

 

[charlyp123]

Did anyone else see this regarding Stanford and their strength program. This technology is billed as being "better than steriods." ND should get Longo on this.

Stanford researchers' cooling glove 'better than steroids'

 

[Buster Bluth]

Did anyone else see this regarding Stanford and their strength program. This technology is billed as being "better than steriods." ND should get Longo on this.

Stanford researchers' cooling glove 'better than steroids'

 

[NDPhilly]

Certainly looked like they were using steroids against those Juggernaut San Jose St Spartans

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Is that gif because there is a thread for this already? lol