:: Notre Dame Football ::
Notre Dame heads west, takes on Stanford in Palo Alto
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, Nov. 26, 2009
Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Stanford Cardinal
Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California
~ Nov. 28, 2009,
5:00 PM PT, 8:00 PM ET -
(ABC)
A few interesting facts ... if Notre Dame beats Stanford, the two teams will have identical records. Regardless of the result, Jim Harbaugh has a losing record at Stanford overall. Meanwhile Charlie Weis is undefeated against the Cardinal. And if Weis wins, he will have a winning percentage almost identical to Joe Tiller's winning percentage at Purdue (one that resulted in Tiller being named Head Coach Emeritus and invited to address the Purdue crowd through the PA system during their close game with Notre Dame this year).
Amidst a controversial year-long media frenzy over the future of Notre Dame Football, tacitly encouraged by a first-time athletic director with little or no football background, the Fighting Irish (6-5) travel to the West Coast to take on a resurgent Stanford Cardinal (7-4) still third in the PAC-10.
Some keys will include Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, and the entire Irish passing game unloading on a middling Stanford defense ... a Notre Dame ground game running by committee with Robert Hughes, Theo Riddick, Jonas Gray, and hopefully Tate ... whether the Irish defense can revive its run-stopping abilities against Heisman contender Toby Gerhart and also thwart play-making semi-dual threat quarterback Andrew Luck ... Notre Dame getting more red zone touchdowns or relying on former interhall kicker David Ruffer or Nick Tausch adding placekicks to compensate ... Notre Dame's musical chairs at the punting position generating solid results whether it is Ben Turk or Eric Maust.
But the biggest key will be the test of character of a Notre Dame team good enough to win by unsure if it will even elect to go to a bowl game if it does, because of administrator-induced doubts over whether the program as it exists will be dismantled following the game, due to an arguably rash coaching coach.
Notre Dame and Stanford Recent Action
Both teams were considered candidates for BCS bowls until recently. If Notre Dame wins, the two teams will have identical records, but Stanford has been pushing to keep their coach for years while a Notre Dame administrator has encouraged anti-Weis media attacks for nearly a year.
A year ago, rather than simply stand by Weis and observe that the media had no basis to insult Notre Dame by suggesting their coach might be fired, Notre Dame Athletic Director John B. "Jack" Swarbrick raised the prospect that the coach might have been fired, but for Swarbrick making a decision to keep him. Then, incredibly, this season after the tight loss to a highly touted Navy team, the same Swarbrick indicated that Weis's job status would be determined after the regular season, raising the prospect that Weis might be fired, essentially providing a basis for an anti-Weis media circus that could demoralize teams and fans alike, undermine game preparations, and possibly contributed to team losses on the field.
In other words, instead of saying, "What are you talking about? Weis is our coach, we're behing him 1000%, we have a big game coming up and great opportunities to play for, we do the hiring and you have no story until we tell you there's a story," the adminsitrator opened wide the door to the insulting, demoralizing media frenzy, indicating that there would be a decision later about job status, based upon his evaluations, implying that the coach could be fired and thereby inviting speculation that he would.
It is not at all clear that the athletic director actually has the degree of authority he has indicated. But in any event, ironically by the main criteria that ESPN has cited the AD as providing, Weis would be staying. Among the criteria, that three specified were on-field performance, academics, and recruiting.
In academics, Notre Dame is #1, and in recruiting Notre Dame is part of a grouping that essentially is top-10. On the field, Notre Dame has been outstanding, with a winning record, bowl-eligible, with good wins and no bad losses, and aspects of their play that are among the best in the nation.
Strangely enough, it now appears, in an interview with a New York Times blog, that Swarbrick is openly addressing the idea of Swarbrick having been commuting to Notre Dame from Indianapolis, more then two hours away from campus, halfway from Notre Dame to Kentucky (in fact, Indianapolis is closer to Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, then it is to Notre Dame). It appears Swarbrick was not committed enough to the Notre Dame job to move his family to South Bend, and only time will tell whether he will leave for the opening at the NCAA. It would be like someone taking a job as General Manager of the Chicago Bears and then trying to commute from Toledo.
Notre Dame had been on track for a possible BCS bowl bid at 6-2 before losing a close one to a very good Navy team that itself will be going to a bowl and possibly finish with 10 or more wins. In a bizarre turn of events, the Notre Dame athletic director, on the job for less than two years with little or no football expertise, openly went along with an anti-Notre Dame media frenzy questioning whether the coach of the then-6-3 Irish would be fired.
This during preparations for the biggest game of the year, at top-10 Pitt, when a win over Pitt could actually have still put Notre Dame in position to reenter the rankings and still be a dark horse for a BCS bowl. Notre Dame overcome the AD-assisted malaise to score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and have the ball, within five points, with a few minutes to go. Big East booth officials gave the ball to Pitt on a would-be fumble that video replays, and the trajectory of the ball, showed indisputably to be an incomplete forward pass. The following week, Notre Dame would lose in double-overtime to a Connecticut team that had lost by two to a top-5 opponent the week before.
Meanwhile, Stanford hung 50-plus points on two national powerhouses, Oregon and Southern Cal, only to lose by six points to Cal in The Big Game and fall to third in the PAC-10, albeit with a win over conference-leader Oregon.
Notre Dame and Stanford play in prime-time on national television. If Notre Dame wins, both teams will be 7-5. When asked if he could get his team up again after the close losses, Weis observed three times that Stanford is a team that has never beaten Notre Dame during his tenure, that Notre Dame has come to play and play hard every other game this season, and there is no reason to believe that this week will be different.
Right now, Notre Dame is the best program to play for, for players wanting to prepare for the NFL. Overcoming adversity to play the game of their lives on Saturday will be additional great training for each player to show he is a big-time competitor ready for the big-time stage, be it in the NFL or in other endeavors.
Last chance to See NFL's best offense executed by college football's best passing unit?
Irish fans who had waited decades to see a potent NFL-style offense return to Notre Dame. If the worst fears of Notre Dame fans are played out, this week's game might be the last time in the foreseeable future they see the most elite offensive scheme from the NFL executed on the college level under Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis. Prior to taking on the biggest rebuilding job in Notre Dame history, Weis had won three Super Bowls in four years as the most senior offensive coach for a New England Patriots franchise led by a head coach with a largely defensive background.
This most elite of NFL offenses will be played out by college football's most elite passing unit, intact once again and the healthiest it has been since the opening game, with Jimmy Clausen, the most productive passer among upper-tier teams, throwing to Biletnikoff finalist Golden Tate, comparably-talented Michael Floyd, tight-end Kyle Rudolph, and NFL-caliber receivers Robby Parris and Duval Kamara.
Clausen is 266 of 395 (67.3%) on the year for 3,382 yards, with 23 touchdowns to 4 interceptions. He has an additional 3 touchdowns rushing for 26 total.
Among upper-tier teams (conferences with an automatic qualification for a BCS bowl plus Notre Dame), Clausen is the productive passer heading into this weekend the only top-5 passer from an upper-tier team.
Clausen, playing injured much of the year, has shown himself to be a tough, hard-nosed competitor, including leading Notre Dame in four late come-backs, a school record.
Meanwhile, Tate is one of three wide receivers still in consideration for the Biletnikoff Award, with 117 receiving yards per game, and 12 receiving touchdowns on the year. Also a dynamic flanker running back and Wildcat quarterback, and touchdown-scoring punt returner, including rushing and return yardage Tate is averaging 154 yards per game, 14 yards per touch, with 15 total touchdowns.
Tate has had eight 100-yard receiving games, apparently the only wide receiver in major college football to do that this season.
Tate has demonstrated incredible speed, fluidity, and close-quarters quickness and smooth moves, as well as incredibly strong, sure hands, and surprisingly strong, determined running vaguely reminiscent of Rocket Ismail but with more fluidity.
After missing five games with a broken collarbone, Floyd largely has been matching Tate in the games where Floyd has been available. In fact, Floyd has had five 100-yard rushing games, each full game he has played in. The only sub-100-yard game Floyd has had was the game in which he got injured.
Even factoring in the game where he got injured, Floyd has a higher per-game receiving average than Tate, 118 yards per game receiving. Tate also has averaged more than one receiving touchdown per game, 7 touchdowns in 6 games, scoring at a similar pace as a receiver as Tate.
Both Tate and Floyd have run strong routes and shown mid-air aerobatic balance and sure-handedness, including in double- or triple-coverage.
Rudolph, who was the only sophomore making a serious run at the Mackey Award, reportedly will be back against Stanford, as will be Kumara and Parris. As a result, with Riddick and others as available, the Notre Dame passing unit will be together one last time in the regular season. It is unclear whether Notre Dame will elect to go whatever bowl it is eligible for, so this might be the last hurrah for the best overall passing units in college football this year.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame's rushing offense, which was stepping up its production before falling off the past few games, will be missing halfback Armando Allen once again. Heavy-halfback Robert Hughes and Jonas Gray will be asked to step up against Stanford, as well as freshman Theo Riddick, who is a flashy speedster that also has proven to be a tough, hard runner like Tate, as both a halfback and receiver.
Can Stanford's defense slow Notre Dame down?
Stanford has a somewhat middling defense on the year but gave up nearly 500 yards to Cal.
Somewhat stronger against the run than the pass, Stanford is #81 nationally out of 120 teams, giving up nearly 400 yards per game, including almost 250 yards passing per game. While Stanford is top-30 in passing efficiency defense, the Cardinal gave up a whopping 477 yards to Cal, including 234 yards passing and 242 yards rushing.
As a result, Jim Harbaugh and his co-defensive coordinators, a long-time NFL veteran and the other a recent Fresno State graduate assistant, will have their work cut out for them, but undoubtedly be tempted to gamble to emphasize efforts to thwart the Notre Dame passing game and hope that the Irish will continue to have their running game be in low gear in the absence of Allen.
As pointed out by Weis, Notre Dame has not produced as many touchdowns in the red zone as it needs, although former interhall kicker David Ruffer has stepped up as a field goal kicker as Nick Tausch struggles with a nagging injury.
Not knowing what the future holds, look for Weis and his offense to crank out as perfect a game as possible, a crowning moment for a dynamic offense.
Stanford hard-nosed running game paced by Toby Gerhart
Stanford's third-year head coach, Jim Harbaugh, who has a losing record overall at Stanford but is guaranteed to finish above .500 this year, has been credited with developing the toughest offensive line play and running game in the PAC-10. A Notre Dame defense that had been becoming stout against the run until the past few games will be taking on the best running back in college football, Toby Gerhart. Gerhart is the #3 rusher in the FBS/Div. I-A, averaging 139 yards per game and a robust 5.4 yards per carry.
Stanford's offense is run by a quarterback big on making plays, freshman Andrew Luck. Luck is a solid passer and marginal dual-threat, 148 of 268 for 2,377 yards and 13 touchdowns to 4 interceptions. Luck also has 383 yards rushing on 58 carries, , with two rushing touchdowns.
On the year, Luck is 148 of 268 (55%) for 2,377 yards and 13 touchdowns to 4 interceptions. So he is a competent passer. But Luck has stepped up to make plays, and also is a solid runner, with 58 rushes for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns. His solid 5.5 yards per carry give him just enough of an added dimension that will force the defense to account for it.
Meanwhile, the Irish defense has been somewhat maligned of late, with its rushing defense questioned since giving up somewhat big yardage against Navy and Pitt, including giving up a series of big plays both through the air and on the ground.
The Irish will have their work cut out for them, but if they can revive the clutch play and ability to key on a big rusher like they did in the first half of the year, it should be a good for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame vs. Stanford resource links
:: Irish Travel To Stanford: Notre Dame takes on Stanford Saturday, November 28, at 5:00 p.m. PT., Notre Dame Football news release with resource links
:: Notre Dame vs. Stanford extended game notes (PDF)
:: Palo Alto weather
:: Notre Dame statistical summary, NCAA database
:: Notre Dame depth chart (PDF)
:: Notre Dame Football official site
:: Stanford statistical summary, NCAA database
:: Stanford Football official site
:: Stanford depth chart, Stanford vs. Notre Dame (PDF)
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Charlie Weis, Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, Kyle Rudolph, Toby Gerhart, Andrew Luck, Stanford Football
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