EDITORIAL BY GRAYDON FOX

Overview:

On Saturday, September 29^th, the (4-0) Stanford Cardinal will be on the road to take on the (4-0) Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Crowd:

The Crowd projects a final score of Notre Dame 33.6 – Stanford 26.7 with an over/under of 60.3.

Lou Holtz and Mark May:

Lou is predicting a final score of Notre Dame 31 – Stanford 17.

Mark is predicting a final score of Stanford 29 – Notre Dame 23.

2018-19 Statistics (130 total teams):

Passing offense: Notre Dame 231.8 YPG > Stanford 264.0 YPG

Rushing offense: Notre Dame 183.8 YPG > Stanford 104.3 YPG

Scoring offense: Notre Dame 31.5 PPG > Stanford 29.0 PPG

Scoring defense: Stanford 13.5 PPG > Notre Dame 19.3 PPG

Passing defense: Notre Dame 223.5 YPG > Stanford 233.8 YPG

Rushing defense: Stanford 123.0 YPG > Notre Dame 145.0 YPG

Turnover Margin Per Game: Stanford +1.3 > Notre Dame +0.8

Summary:

Stanford is (4-0) to start the season with wins over San Diego State, UC Davis, #17 ranked USC, and #20 ranked Oregon.  The overtime victory at Oregon last week was especially impressive as Stanford was outgained in yardage but won the turnover battle. The Cardinal rank 73^rd in points per game (29.0) and 10^th in scoring defense (13.5). PPG).  Star running back Bryce Love finally returned from injury against Oregon rushing for 89 yards and a touchdown.  Love has a modest 254 yards and 2 touchdowns this season after contending for the Heisman Trophy a year ago.  Quarterback K.J. Costello has completed 64% of his passes for 1,056 yards with 10 touchdowns to 2 interceptions.  JJ Arcega-Whiteside has accounted for nearly half of the team’s production at receiver totaling 408 yards and 7 touchdowns this season.  Stanford (+1.3) ranks 14^th out of 130 teams in turnover margin.

Notre Dame is (4-0) with victories over #14 Michigan, Ball State, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest.  The Fighting Irish rank 64^th in points per game (31.5) and 33^rd in scoring defense (19.3). PPG).  Head Coach Brian Kelly final made the decision to bench starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush in favor of Ian Book.  Wimbush’s inaccuracy and inopportune turnovers were crippling to Notre Dame’s offense.  Book looked excellent in the win over Wake Forest completing 25-34 passes for 325 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Notre Dame’s offensive line is slowly getting better after some early season struggles.  The backfield duo of Tony Jones Jr. and Jafar Armstrong are a potent one two punch.  The Fighting Irish secondary has been gashed more than a few times but that is largely due to a pass rush that has generated only 8 total sacks.

Bottom Line:

Stanford has a strong offensive line and Notre Dame hasn’t generated much of a pass rush this season.  Bryce Love has yet to deliver a big game this season so this could be his chance for a signature performance.  Stanford’s passing game with K.J. Costello at the helm is underrated and Notre Dame’s defense has been vulnerable in that regard.  Ian Book looked phenomenal for the Fighting Irish but I want to see him in a big game before he’s crowned the next great quarterback.  This will be close but I’ll take Stanford and the points.

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