What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame vs. Stanford

“Stanford continues to be just good enough to lose tastefully.

It’ll hang around and score enough here and there to make the Irish keep fighting, but it won’t be able to come through in the second half after the run defense starts to struggle.

The Notre Dame win over BYU was the real corner-turner. Hanging on against Cal and beating North Carolina was nice, but BYU is a strong team that couldn’t handle what the Irish were able to do offensively as the game went on.

Stanford won’t be able to, either.”

“Irish have won three straight meetings by an average of 24 points.”

“This is a classic game for fans across the country. The Cardinal and Fighting Irish have seen better days, but it’s something nice to have as background noise. Stanford looks like the Mega Drop at a county fair, starting the season with a blowout win but quickly dropping to ground level with four straight losses.

Notre Dame hasn’t been impressive either, but it’s on the other side of that scenario. The Irish started 0-2, but they’ve picked up momentum with wins against Cal, North Carolina and BYU. First-year head coach Marcus Freeman and Co. have shown no signs of giving up, and it won’t start in Week 7.

There aren’t many players to highlight except Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer and a pretty good quarterback in Stanford’s Tanner McKee. McKee has been streaky, but he needs to show those bursts of talent in South Bend so the Cardinal don’t rack up another loss. Home-field advantage will be the biggest asset in this game since each team is still finding its identity.”

“A surprising yet intriguing note: Up until (Casey) Filkins’ touchdown run on the Cardinal’s opening possession against Oregon State, Stanford had not led at any point against an FBS opponent in nearly a year, with their last such lead coming on Oct. 30, 2021, against Washington. The Cardinal led that game 3-0 after the first quarter but ultimately lost 20-13, which pretty much sums up the story for David Shaw’s team the last few seasons. Even though neither defense has created many turnovers that aspect could play a key role in this game. But there’s no question which team has more momentum right now, especially since Stanford has lost 11 in a row to FBS teams. Included in that stretch is last season’s 45-14 beatdown courtesy of Notre Dame. It may not be the same margin this time, but there’s no reason to expect a different result, especially not with the Fighting Irish’s offense rounding into form.”