Three Things Stanford Must Get Right Against No. 3 Notre Dame
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Stanford's 57-3 loss at Wake Forest wasn't just a bad week — it exposed exactly the kind of problems that get magnified even further against a top-five opponent. No. 3 Notre Dame enters Saturday with a defense that ranks sixth nationally in defensive EPA per play, according to PFF. Here's what Stanford has to get fixed first in order to remain even somewhat competitive.
Find answers on defense, especially up front. Wake Forest put up 519 total yards and converted 10 of 13 third downs against a Stanford defense playing without both starting linebackers, Matt Rose and Jahsiah Galvan. Quarterback Gio Lopez ran for 88 yards and three touchdowns, exploiting the gaps created by Stanford's depleted front seven.
Notre Dame's own run game presents a similar problem — Aneyas Williams has already piled up 266 yards and four touchdowns on 60 carries this season. Right behind him is Nolan James Jr. with 262 yards rushing on 55 carries, adding three touchdowns.
If Rose and Galvan are out yet again, Stanford's coaches need a plan for containing a dangerous ground attack with the same depleted group that got overrun last week.
Keeping Davis Warren upright behind a line that's running out of bodies will be another task for the Cardinal. Wake Forest recorded four sacks and nine tackles for loss against Stanford, with Warren taking three of those sacks.
The protection scheme and the execution of that scheme that got Warren through a 396-yard, three-touchdown performance against Georgia Tech need to show up again, because Stanford cannot afford another afternoon of constant pressure against a defense as talented as Notre Dame's.
Finally, Stanford needs to hold onto the football. Stanford still hasn't lost the turnover battle in any game this season, a streak that held up even through Warren's first interception of the year at Wake Forest.
That discipline has been one of the few constants for an offense that's otherwise been wildly inconsistent, from 482 total yards against Georgia Tech to just 197 against Wake Forest the past two weeks.
Against a Notre Dame defense built to create problems, protecting the ball isn't just a nice-to-have. It might be the only way Stanford keeps this game from getting out of hand early, the way the last one did.
None of these are new problems. They're the same issues that have shown up in different forms all season. The difference Saturday is that Notre Dame has the talent to punish every one of them at once.
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