Congratulations to Bob Orndorff from Kennewick, Washington, the winner of last week’s Stanford Daily Football Predictions Challenge, presented by Chef Chu’s.
Stanford (3-2, 2-2 Pac-12) at Notre Dame (2-4)
Andrew Mather: Notre Dame 27, Stanford 17
Should Stanford beat Notre Dame? Yes. Will Stanford beat Notre Dame? I’m not so sure. The Fighting Irish haven’t shown much in the way of defense this year, but then again, Washington State hadn’t either until they played the Cardinal. There just isn’t much reason to suspect the Stanford offense has what it takes to win a big game right now, especially considering Christian McCaffrey will probably be contained to a limited role this weekend.
The bottom line is that Stanford hasn’t been able to find a win in South Bend since 2010, making it virtually the only persistent away game that the Cardinal haven’t shown they can dominate. While I don’t expect this to be some 20-year trend for Stanford, is it really going to be broken in the year in which the team was absolutely blown out in the two games before their trip? My heart says it could, but I really just can’t justify an optimistic pick given the team’s recent results. Stanford’s losing streak continues as Notre Dame rolls at home.
Sandip Srinivas: Stanford 21, Notre Dame 20
I never thought I’d be at a point where I’d have to choose between Stanford losing three straight games and Notre Dame starting the season 2-5, but here we are.
As far as Notre Dame goes, Stanford fans can’t look at the Irish’s performance last week at NC State and expect the same. Yes, Deshone Kizer went nine of 26 for 54 passing yards, but the playing conditions probably had something to do with that. This week, at home and against the Stanford secondary, I see Kizer having a game similar to the one he had last year when Notre Dame almost walked out of Stanford with a win.
But ultimately, I think Stanford’s offense will turn in a better performance against the Notre Dame defensive line than it has over the last two weeks. Yes, I said the same thing last week, but I think there’s a big difference between Stanford bouncing back from one loss and bouncing back from back-to-back losses. Ultimately, Stanford wins a close one with a late touchdown and a big defensive stop to end the game.
Have your own predictions? Submit them in this week’s Stanford Daily Football Predictions Challenge for a chance to win a $50 Chef Chu’s gift card and be featured in the next football predictions article:
[wufoo username=”stanforddailyads” formhash=”kwn48250k51dae” autoresize=”false” height=”675″ header=”hide” ssl=”true”]