Notre Dame hosts rival Stanford this week, with the Irish fresh off a bye and Stanford limping into Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish sit at 4-1 and ranked #11 in the latest AP poll, with the Cardinal sporting a 2-3 record. Notre Dame will be looking to shake off their slow home starts as they enter the second half of the season with a playoff birth still very much in their sights. Will they finally beat up on a 20+ point underdog at home?
What worries me this week
Mike Denbrock trying too hard to force passing plays
In the loss to Northern Illinois, it felt like Notre Dame was treating the game like a glorified scrimmage from a playcalling perspective. They knew they needed to work on the passing game, but they ended up forcing the issue too much. This led to a day of dysfunctional offense from the Fighting Irish. Stanford’s pass defense isn’t good (more on this later) so that inclination could be there again this week.
Notre Dame still needs to improve its passing game, so offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has a balancing act to perform: getting the passing game going without forcing it. From what we’ve seen this year, this team should never be a pass-first offense, so they need to lean on the running game while also starting to push the ball downfield better.
Another slow home start
Notre Dame did a great job of rebounding from a disastrous start to the Louisville game, but it was still about as bad of a start as they could have imagined. That came after struggling early against Miami of Ohio. And that came after the disaster against NIU. For whatever reason, Marcus Freeman has struggled to have his team ready for games against teams they should crush at home. It’s one of the more bizarre coaching struggles I’ve seen in all the years running this site. He should have no problem having his team ready for this one, given what Stanford did to them two years ago, but until we see the Irish consistently pound teams it’s heavily favored over at home, it’ll be a worry for me.
What doesn’t worry me this week
Notre Dame’s passing game
While I am mildly concerned the gameplan could skew too much towards the pass like it did against NIU, this is one of the games left that Notre Dame should be able to pass the ball. Stanford is bad at defending the pass this year, so if the Irish can’t muster up some passing game, it will officially be time to wonder if they ever will this year.
Stanford scoring a lot of points
This one won’t be a worry again in the regular season other than maybe the USC game if the Trojans get things figured out by the end of the year. Stanford doesn’t have the kind of offense that can really stress the Irish defense. Their offensive line isn’t particularly good, and their passing game has been bad. Wide receiver Elic Ayomanor is one of the best receivers in the country, but if the Cardinal can’t provide pass protection or get him the ball, his threat is somewhat neutralized. Stanford will most likely empty their trick plays bag this weekend, so there is that to worry about, but overall, the Irish defense should shut down the Cardinal offense.
Players to Watch
- Jordan Faison—We got a small glimpse of his run-after-the-catch explosiveness against Louisville. He looked fully healthy and back to 100%. Hopefully, Notre Dame will get him more involved.
- Mitchell Evans – Evans has been quiet this year as he recovered from last year’s injury. Notre Dame needs to get him going for the Irish to reach their ceiling this season.
- Bryce Young – With Boubacar Traore out for the season, Young is going to play a lot. Having Josh Burnham back should alleviate some of the stress of too many snaps on him, but he will be playing a bit.
- Jayden Harrison – We’ve seen Mike Denbrock start to find ways to scheme some shot plays for Harrison. That could continue this week with a bye week to cook stuff up.
- Benjamin Morrison – He will likely get Elic Ayomanor duty most of the day.
- Rylie Mills / Howard Cross – They started to come on a bit against Louisville after a slow start. With Stanford’s weak OL, the interior duo should have big games.
Prediction Time
This is a game that Notre Dame should win easily. Stanford is still far from the team they were at the height of the David Shaw Era, even if Troy Taylor has them headed in the right direction. Anyone on the 2022 team should remember what can happen when overlooking this team so that should make for a relatively stress free afternoon (famous last words). I think we see the Irish passing game take a step forward with Riley Leonard finally having a 200+ yard passing game while tossing another 2 TDs.
Notre Dame 38, Stanford 10
