Stanford and Notre Dame Next Week... Who You Got?

[Eddy Munny]

Lines aren't out yet but my guess is Stanford will be favored by 6.5-ish.

[fried cheese]

stanford favored at notre dame?

[Eddy Munny]

Alright, I was way off on the line. I'm seeing Stanford -1 right now. I guess I lean Cardinal but probably will take a look at the total. This game is gonna be low scoring.

[PickoMoff]

I'm taking the under on whatever the total will be!

[TiredPro]

Will be the toughest opponent ND has played yet. Stanford defense very good. Stanford coach Shaw not the greatest game manager.......eg) Mich St game last year, USC this year. Love Stanford program. Smart, athletic players, play great defense. Wouldn't be surprised if Stanford ends up in final four unless Shaw goes too conservative which is his tendency. Will be on Stanford.

[Killer_Demo]

I'm on Stanford this game

[Eddy Munny]

I think Stanford has the better team, and the fact that they aren't really laying any chalk makes them an enticing play. But as TiredPro stated, Shaw tends to crawl into a shell in these big games and let's the opponent hang around longer than they should. Brian Kelly, on the other hand, likes to play loose and deviate from tendencies when he feels like he needs an edge. Notre Dame has the home field and coaching advantage, but will it be enough? I say the line should be Stanford -3 maybe a tad more.

[SamDiamond]

Munny.. I am on the opposite side here.

I think ND wins this game. Why? This is not the same type of Stanford team... especially up front on offense. They are missing something....they didn't look all that good against Washington, they were really clumsy with the ball against USC.

ND at home... with the better QB. I like what ND's new DC VanGorder is doing... the conservative nature of Shaw, and ND's strength up front, adds up to ND winning.

[MoMoneyMoVaughn]

Any decent number of points and I would take ND.

Stanford has not looked great this year. ND has looked pretty good. Competition hasn't been on the same level tho...

I was disappointed Stangford was only able to put up 20 on washington which is a very mediocre team in my opinion.

[Eddy Munny]

I agree Stanford hasn't looked great this year, offensively. On defense, they look like the same ole dominant group. In both the USC loss and the Wash win, they left points on the field. Turnovers have stifled some Cardinal drives but I don't think they are inept on that side of the ball, just not spectacular. They out-yarded USC by 100+ yards and out-yarded the Huskies by nearly 200 yards. If they can play a clean game on offense, they'll be able to score enough to win.

On defense, I think Stanford can force Golson into some mistakes. He's a talented quarterback but he seems like the kind that gets flustered in the face of a REAL defense. Syracuse was able to rattle him a little bit and the Cardinal D is a major step up in caliber. I'm not sure which side I'll bet just yet, but as of now, I lean Stanford -1. I'll wait for the total on this game because that may be the best bet.

[kobstopa]

Cardinal is a road fav -2
will pound hard on ND ml at home like a cheap hooker

[SamDiamond]

I agree Stanford hasn't looked great this year, offensively. On defense, they look like the same ole dominant group. In both the USC loss and the Wash win, they left points on the field. Turnovers have stifled some Cardinal drives but I don't think they are inept on that side of the ball, just not spectacular. They out-yarded USC by 100+ yards and out-yarded the Huskies by nearly 200 yards. If they can play a clean game on offense, they'll be able to score enough to win.

On defense, I think Stanford can force Golson into some mistakes. He's a talented quarterback but he seems like the kind that gets flustered in the face of a REAL defense. Syracuse was able to rattle him a little bit and the Cardinal D is a major step up in caliber. I'm not sure which side I'll bet just yet, but as of now, I lean Stanford -1. I'll wait for the total on this game because that may be the best bet.

I agree with some of that, except the part I bolded in Red.

and, I am busting your chops here...

Golson was 32-39 for 362 yards, including completing 25 straight against Syracuse.

I don't think they rattled him all that much.

[Demonata]

I agree with some of that, except the part I bolded in Red.

and, I am busting your chops here...

Golson was 32-39 for 362 yards, including completing 25 straight against Syracuse.

I don't think they rattled him all that much.

I know I was like how did they rattle him. haha. HE even broke the notre dame record for most completions.

[Rookie-Capper]

Nd +1

[navyblue81]

My worry for Stanford is can they score enough points? Notre Dame's offense is a much better offense than what Stanford has seen before from them and they're going to put up 21-28 points. Golson is that good and will make it happen. The question is can Stanford put up that many on a Notre Dame defense that's pretty darn good? I like ND in this one. This is a better Notre Dame team than two years and not as good of a Stanford team from two years ago, and ND beat that Stanford team at home in OT.

[Eddy Munny]

I agree with some of that, except the part I bolded in Red.

and, I am busting your chops here...

Golson was 32-39 for 362 yards, including completing 25 straight against Syracuse.

I don't think they rattled him all that much.

Sure, but did you watch the game? Most of those completions were quick outs to the receivers, who then would just get chunks of yards after the catch. Syracuse couldn't stop it, so Kelly called it time and time again. Do you think that simpleton approach will work against a much more athletic, and fundamentally sound defense? Fat chance.

Golson had the long touchdown pass and then countless high percentage throws that would turn into quality gains. Don't get me wrong, he didn't play terrible by any means, but a few times he threw the intermediate ball into mixed coverage, he showed some penchant for getting careless, including two interceptions. He also lost a fumble on a sack (not really his fault but Stanford will bring some pressure too) and a botched spike late in the first half.

All I'm saying is that when Stanford takes away the easy stuff, Golson make be prone to a key mistake or two that could flip the game. He really hasn't faced a good defense since the NC game two years ago.

[navyblue81]

Sure, but did you watch the game? Most of those completions were quick outs to the receivers, who then would just get chunks of yards after the catch. Syracuse couldn't stop it, so Kelly called it time and time again. Do you think that simpleton approach will work against a much more athletic, and fundamentally sound defense? Fat chance.

Golson had the long touchdown pass and then countless high percentage throws that would turn into quality gains. Don't get me wrong, he didn't play terrible by any means, but a few times he threw the intermediate ball into mixed coverage, he showed some penchant for getting careless, including two interceptions. He also lost a fumble on a sack (not really his fault but Stanford will bring some pressure too) and a botched spike late in the first half.

All I'm saying is that when Stanford takes away the easy stuff, Golson make be prone to a key mistake or two that could flip the game. He really hasn't faced a good defense since the NC game two years ago.

I'd counter, though, that when Golson did throw deep, they were on the money. That bomb he threw for a td was a beautiful pass. I also think he found a diamond in that Robinson kid. That kid has loads of talent.

The key to this game will be Notre Dame's O-line vs. Stanford's D-line. The Irish O-line has struggled this year, but Kelly has been able to make adjustments around that. If they give Golson time, it allows Golson to throw more downfield which he is very good at. I don't think Stanford's going to score a lot of points against a pretty good ND defense. They struggled against a Washington defense last week that is a lot worse than the Notre Dame defense. The under in this game may be the way to go.

[SamDiamond]

ND should have won this game by 17.

They nearly doubled up Stanford in yardage, blew 2 FG's, turned the ball over inside their own 10, and threw an INT on Stanford's 2 yard line--- and still won.

[Eddy Munny]

We're all happy for you Sam. I had the Under 47. Never broke a sweat.