Notre Dame, a top 10 team right now is a joke in my opinion. This team has been all defense against terrible offensive opponents along with Everett Golson, but it's about to get real on Saturday. Notre Dame has the 98th ranked strength of schedule as they have played the worst of the Big Ten while Stanford has played a couple of tough opponents out of the Pac 12.
Notre Dame can't get a running game going especially in this game and Stanford's pass defense is ranked #1 with 3.7 yards/att allowed. Notre Dame continues to re-shuffle the offensive line and it's about to come back and bite them in this match up. This offense has played mediocre defenses with the exception of Michigan whose defense has played well ranking 10th in yards/play allowed. Notre Dame did win that game 31-0, but hidden in that game is the fact that Michigan held them to 280 yards, but turned the ball over 4 times. It's not in Stanford's nature to turn the ball over.
Stanford is just the more balanced offense although their running game is not as effective so far compared to previous years. Keith Hogan has just as good numbers as Golson. He also faces a ND squad whose defense has only 3 starters from the last year's meeting. This Irish defense has played well over their head and I think it's about to catch up when they face a QB that can actually beat them with his arm.
