Leave No Doubt - Notre Dame vs. Stanford: IT Staff Predictions

Liam Gaudet
1 day ago
5 min read

Notre Dame's final regular-season game kicks off tonight at 10:30 PM EST at Stanford, and with chaos set to ensue around the Irish in the rankings, can they do their part to close out the season strong? Let's jump into our staff picks for this week!

Clayton Stohler - Podcaster: 52-10 Notre Dame

It's the end of the season. A usual bittersweet feeling, is it not? But this time, it's strictly sweet. Because ever since that dreaded loss against A&M, the fan base has echoed the locker room's sentiments for the remainder of the games the Irish have played.

It's never good enough. Things to work on. It's all love, but it's all been within the lense of winning a title. And now, the fans and the program are on the precipice of making the run they've so craved. But first? A late-night game at Palo Alto.

Jeremiyah Love cements his Heisman campaign and breaks the single-season rushing record for an Irish running back. Jerome Bettis, Vegas Ferguson, Reggie Brooks, Ricky Watters... all the names you can think of, Jeremiyah Love may stand above them all in the record books.

As much as this game is about Jeremiyah Love, it's about the work this team has put in to become the dominant force that it's becoming. It will be a culmination of Chris Ash and the defensive staff's efforts to show this is indeed a title-worthy unit.

Offensive line driven program? Let's see it in the red zone. Serious about winning a title? The Irish start by getting serious about beating the absolute breaks off of Stanford. And they will.

Marcus Freeman alluded to them "never having a lead versus Stanford after the first quarter" during his tenure. That changes on this night.

It will start fast, furious, and the Irish will have punched their ticket into the playoffs.

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Liam Farrell - Editor/Senior Sportswriter: 49-10 Notre Dame

The Irish will be in a tight game in their regular-season finale, for about a quarter. An early Stanford scoring drive raises the nerves a bit, but CJ Carr will thrash a rather poor Stanford passing defense.

Notre Dame will want to feed Jeremiyah Love the ball as much as possible for him to be cemented as the greatest Notre Dame single-season running back. Love will do just that by breaking the record and adding two touchdowns to his Heisman campaign.

The Notre Dame defense will stiffen out as the game rolls on and will shut out the Cardinal in the second half.

The Irish will not kick a field goal in this game, but rather hang seven touchdowns on Stanford to cap off the regular season with a bang.

Bruce Straughan - Recruiting Insider/Sports Writer: 42-7 Notre Dame

Notre Dame looks to run the table to end the regular season after going 0-2 to start the season. It appears after hearing the playoff committee chair Hunter Yurachek talk, a win against Stanford will place Notre Dame into the playoffs.

Even though Stanford isn't anywhere near the Stanford of old when Andrew Luck led the team to an impressive 31-7 record in three seasons, there still is no such thing as an easy win.

Especially after having to travel across the country and face a Stanford team with nothing to lose with a 7:30 pm kickoff, West Coast time. I think it hurts fans more than the players, as the players will be ready no matter what. The fans will be yawning their way through a very late night, especially on the East Coast.

With the travelling and late start, I could see the Irish starting slow, allowing Stanford an opportunity to score, but if that happens, I don't see it happening for very long, as Notre Dame has become a well-oiled machine. I see another blowout in Notre Dame's favor to end the season.

Notre Dame has one job, and that's to take care of business in a big way and leave no doubt for the playoff committee when they meet again to set the table for the path to a championship.

Brenden Duffy - Editor/Sports Writer: 42-7 Notre Dame

Notre Dame has one last impression to make on a CFP Committee that will be faced with some tough questions over the next two weeks. Chris Ash and his defense should be set up for another lights-out performance against a Stanford offense that has been underwhelming, to put it lightly. The Irish offense is probably going to try and force Jeremiyah Love down the Stanford’s throat with the RB being just 132 yards shy of breaking the Notre Dame single-season rushing record.

If they want, though, CJ Carr and the Irish could just air it out over a Stanford secondary allowing nearly 285 passing yards per game (the 2nd-most in the country). Fields, Faison, and Pauling should be able to find open space all night long.

Stanford’s run defense is probably their strongest phase, ranking top-25 among FBS teams in rush yards per game allowed. However, as we witnessed against Pitt, this does not matter. Love is going to get his 150 yards and probably find the end zone more than once in his final push for the Heisman.

Overall, Stanford’s offense has struggled but their passing game is a bit more productive than their rush. WR CJ Williams is a special talent, but there is not much help behind him. Notre Dame’s ball-hawking secondary will come away with at least two interceptions.

As hinted above, the Cardinal really have not run the ball effectively at all this season. With an average of just 2.56 yards per carry, this is a good spot for Freeman and Ash to see what the defense and linebacking core can look like with the unfortunate loss of KVA.

Max Uretsky - Recruiting Analyst/Sports Writer: 42-14 Notre Dame

The late kickoff time may lead to a slow start for the Irish, but the talent gap will be too big for Stanford to overcome. The playoff race is almost guaranteed to be chaos depending on some results from throughout the country, but for Notre Dame, it's all about finishing on a strong note and letting the cards fall where they may.

I'm sure Marcus Freeman and Mike Denbrock are aware of Jeremiyah Love's outside shot at a Heisman, and when you factor in the state of Stanford's defense, I expect Love to get fed the ball early and often. Another 200+ yard game isn't far-fetched for the future first-round draft pick.

Notre Dame suffered a big blow on the defensive side of the ball with linebacker KVA tearing his ACL in last week's game. Notre Dame still has talent at the second level, but this is a good spot to give some looks to multiple players and figure out the best rotation going forward for what is hopefully another extended playoff run.

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