The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have won nine straight football games. There is one game in their way to a 10-win season and a sure College Football Playoff berth. Notre Dame will close its season at Stanford on Saturday, November 29, at 10:30 PM ET. The game will air on ESPN. The Cardinal have improved slightly from the 2024 season, where they went 3-9. This year, Stanford is 4-7 entering the final game of the season. Stanford’s wins came against Boston College, San Jose State, Florida State, and Cal. The Cardinal couldn’t get a win streak going all season, scattering their four wins across the season.
Notre Dame Looks Toward a 10-Win Season
It was a defensive showing against Syracuse last week. Notre Dame scored 70 points against Syracuse a week ago, and 35 of those came in the first quarter. When previewing this game, it was clear that the defense was going to have to set the tone early. The Irish did just that. Two of the first three touchdowns were scored off of interceptions by the Notre Dame defense. The third in that group? Scored off a punt return. The final two scores in the marathon scoring of the first quarter were runs of over 40 yards by Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Love tallied three scores on the day. The Irish will look for a similar performance out of their playmakers in the regular season finale on the West Coast.
Love Should Have Another Big Day Against Stanford
Last week against Syracuse, Love had eight carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns. Through 11 games, he has 20 total touchdowns from scrimmage. He has tallied 1,306 yards on the ground and averages just over seven yards per carry with 17 rushing touchdowns. Stanford has held its opponents under 100 yards rushing only five times this season. None of those teams have running backs to the caliber of Love or Price. Both will look to add to their season totals.
These two and standout quarterback CJ Carr will need to be ready for a Cardinal defense that had three takeaways against Cal a week ago. The ball carriers need to protect the football, as all three turnovers were forced fumbles and recoveries by the Cardinal. Carr and the offensive line will also need to be ready, as Stanford totaled five sacks and nine tackles for loss in this game as well. While Cal is not at a caliber that Notre Dame has been this season, it was still a confidence booster that Stanford needed entering this matchup.
The Notre Dame Defense Has Come Alive
The unit that struggled through the first few games of the season has really come into its own. There was talk that one of the top defenses in the country a season ago was not ready to play under new Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash. Ash and company have proven critics wrong. The unit as a whole has amassed 33 sacks, 67 tackles for loss, 20 interceptions, and seven forced fumbles.
This defense is averaging an allowance of 100.5 rushing yards per game to opposing offenses. In the first two games of the season, and the Irish’s only two losses, the defense permitted 134 rush yards to Miami and 128 yards to Texas A&M. Notre Dame allowed Navy to rush for 206 yards. However, Navy only had 22 passing yards in that contest. The defense has improved, only allowing over 100 yards rushing to opposing offenses twice in the last six games. One of those being the anomaly against Navy. Look for the Irish defense to have a big game to close out the regular season against Stanford.
Main Image: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images
