The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-2) will host the Stanford Cardinals (1-4) on Saturday, as Notre Dame seeks to continue their winning streak. Despite winning the last three games against Stanford, this is a rivalry game for both programs. Notre Dame won last year’s game 45-14, behind an impressive performance from Jack Coan and Kyren Williams. Those players are no longer with the program, so Notre Dame looks for Drew Pyne to lead this team to victory once more. Coach Freeman had this to say on Thursday…
“Drew has never lacked confidence. Now that you're adding the execution with it, that confidence can be infectious to the whole team. You know what, it's even more infectious when things go bad and things aren't going your way. The confident quarterback that everyone believes in is now the one saying everything is going to be OK. When you do have success, he's the one saying pile it on and this is the way we play. It's really good to see. You now have some of the execution and production to go along with the confidence Drew Pyne has always had. That's what you want out of your quarterback."
Series History
1925- Notre Dame 27-10
1942- Notre Dame 27-0
1963- Stanford 24-14
1964- Notre Dame 28-6
1988- Notre Dame 42-14
1989- Notre Dame 27-17
1990- Stanford 36-31
1991- Notre Dame 42-26
1992- Stanford 33-16
1993- Notre Dame 48-20
1994- Notre Dame 34-15
1997- Stanford 33-15
1998- Notre Dame 35-17
1999- Stanford 40-37
2000- Notre Dame 20-14
2001- Stanford 17-13
2002- Notre Dame 31-7
2003- Notre Dame 57-7
2004- Notre Dame 23-15
2005- Notre Dame 38-31
2006- Notre Dame 31-10
2007- Notre Dame 21-14
2008- Notre Dame 28-21
2009- Stanford 45-38
2010- Stanford 37-14
2011- Stanford 28-14
2012- Notre Dame 20-13
2013- Stanford 27-20
2014- Notre Dame 17-14
2015- Stanford 38-36
2016- Stanford 17-10
2017- Stanford 38-20
2018- Notre Dame 38-17
2019- Notre Dame 45-24
2021- Notre Dame 45-14
Notre Dame 22 ~ Stanford 13
Game Details
Date: Saturday, October 15
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Where to Watch: NBC/Peacock
Breaking Down Stanford
The Cardinals are led by head coach David Shaw, who owns a 94-49 overall record, and is 5-5 versus the Irish. After dominating his opponents the first couple of seasons of his tenure, David Shaw’s football program has struggled in recent seasons to maintain that level of success. Despite this recent down-turn in the program, Stanford has a history of producing NFL talent: Ed McCaffrey (Broncos), John Lynch (Buccaneers and Broncos), John Elway (Broncos), Andrew Luck (Colts), Richard Sherman (Seahawks), Christian McCaffrey (Panthers), and David DeCastro (Steelers). Needless to say, the Cardinals should not be overlooked going into this game on Saturday, but it is a game the Irish should win.
Stacking Up Notre Dame vs North Carolina
3 Offensive Players to Know
Tanner McKee— QB #18
2022 Stats: 1249 passing yards, 10 touchdowns; -56 rushing yards; 1 touchdown
Benjamin Yurosek — TE #84
2022 Stats: 134 receiving yards
Michael Wilson— WR #4
2022 Stats: 352 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns; 40 rushing yards
3 Defensive Players to Know
Levani Damuni— LB #3
2022 Stats: 34 tackles, 2 passes defended
Patrick Fields — S #24
2022 Stats: 27 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 passes defended
Kyu Blu Kelly — CB #17
2022 Stats: 12 tackles, 1 passes defended
📷 credit: @stanfordfball on Instagram
Final Take
If Notre Dame is going to beat Stanford this Saturday, they must score often, pressure the quarterback, and take away the 50-50 balls thrown to the Cardinal's tall receivers. This will be a difficult task, especially as the Irish lost Bo Bauer for the season during practice this week. Coach Freeman had this to say…
“Bo will be out for the year. Sustained a knee injury in practice on Tuesday, which is devastating just because he’s a captain and he provides so much more than just production. Just the energy, the ability to motivate our players, it’ll be a tremendous loss for us.”
Coach Freeman mentioned a few names that might fill the hole left by Bauer…
“I would think for sure you will see more Prince Kollie, who played really well last game. Junior, I think we'll see more of Junior too. I think we'll see him play in a couple of different packages and increase his role. As far as Jaylen, it's still to be determined. He's continued to get better. I don't see him being a part of the defensive package for this game, but he's going to have the opportunity as the year goes on to try to play some more.”
Irish fans wish Bo a speedy recovery and good luck as he now prepares for next year’s NFL draft. Despite this loss, it is time for new leaders to step up and provide the emotional fire that fans loved about Bo. If the Irish can overcome yet another lost captain on Saturday, they should be able to come out victoriously.
Go Irish!
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