Notre Dame prepares for plucky Stanford offense in regular-season finale
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By pretty much every possible metric, Stanford’s offense is bush-league.
Most importantly, the Cardinal average 20.4 points per contest (113th of 133 FBS programs) and 5.04 yards per play (T-110th).
Only Navy and Wake Forest ranked worse of the Football Bowl Subdivision opponents Notre Dame has faced this season. The Irish gave up 10 combined points against them and won by at least 38 points.
That didn’t stop defensive coordinator Al Golden from quickly moving on from a 45-7 win over the Demon Deacons by re-creating Russell Crowe’s office in “A Beautiful Mind.”
“I walked into Coach Golden’s offense on Sunday,” coach Marcus Freeman said, “and it was like a mad scientist with stuff all over the board. I (hadn’t) even started looking at Stanford yet.”
As ISD’s Jamie Uyeyama wrote this week, Stanford lacks the elite talent of recent teams, but the offense is more fun and innovative than it's been in a decade.
Stanford constantly mixes its formations and personnel groups under new coach Troy Taylor, a former offensive coordinator. The Cardinal will even play quarterbacks Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson at the same time.
Such an atypical move creates challenges as both are excellent athletes and the team’s top two rushers. Lamson is more likely to run between the tackles, while Daniels represents an elusive runner in space.
“Some people might say they’re gimmicks,” Golden said. “I think it's clever.”
| Stanford QB Sack-Adjusted Rushing | ||||
| Quarterback | Carries | Yards | YPC | Touchdowns |
| Ashton Daniels | 76 | 434 | 5.7 | 3 |
| Justin Lamson | 85 | 320 | 3.8 | 4 |
Despite a few recent injuries, Daniels remains the starter and should get the vast majority of reps under center. He’s completing 58.7% of passes for 2,095 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven touchdowns.
Much of the receiving production comes from 6-2 sophomore Elic Ayomanor, who’s snagged 55 receptions for 955 yards (18th nationally) and six scores.
Overall, it’s more than the typical college defender can digest over the course of a week.
“They’re going to have a lot for you to prepare for, but at the same point, you still want your guys to have the ability to play fast,” Freeman said. “You never can prepare for everything. You have to have answers for everything, but you can’t over-prepare for them because now you’re going to paralyze your players and they can’t play fast.”
Of course, there’s a good chance an overmatched Stanford team will unload the kitchen sink and run brand new plays and formations on Saturday.
At least, that was Wake Forest’s game plan last weekend.
Notre Dame spent all week preparing for the Demon Deacon’s slow mesh offense but rarely saw it.
As a result, Wake Forest put together two strong first-half drives of 72 and 63 yards whilst averaging 8.6 yards per play.
The Fighting Irish adjusted and limited the Demon Deacons to 97 total yards and 2.5 yards per play on Wake Forest’s other eight offensive possessions.
Golden feels confident in his team’s ability to do the same this Saturday if necessary.
“Do we A) throw it out, or B) have to install something else on the sideline?” he said. “It's pretty simple in terms of that. If they do get a checkmate on you, have two choices: Don't call that or add something. And last Saturday, it was, ‘We need to install a bunch of things.’ And that's what we did.”
Notre Dame should also be able to afford one or two poor defensive series. Stanford may employ a second-rate offense, but its defense is horrendous. The Cardinal allow 456.3 yards per game (130th) and give up 36.0 points (129th).
Still, Stanford’s defense stunk last year, and the Irish only scored 14 points after getting shut out in the first half.
That led to the worst loss of the Marcus Freeman era at Notre Dame, losing a rivalry trophy that honors legendary coaches Knute Rockne and Pop Warner.
Freeman clearly hasn’t forgotten the bitter taste of Cardinal bark and entered the week galvanized to produce a dominant performance.
“(We’re) really motivated to play for the Legends Trophy,” Freeman said. “For many of the guys that were here last year, I understand how disappointing that loss was for them and there won’t be a lack of motivation this week to go compete for that trophy in this great rivalry that dates back many years. We understand how important that is to this university and our football program.”
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