Big Night in Palo Alto For Notre Dame
Notre Dame will head to California for a showdown with rival Stanford on Saturday night. The Irish haven’t won in Palo Alto since 2007, and Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly wants to get that monkey off his back this weekend, and it starts with preparing his team.
“It's exactly what we did at Miami that you can't do: Turn the football over,” stated Kelly. “We fed that atmosphere at Miami, turning the football over. You've got to take care of the football. You can't give anybody on the road that energy that gives them that extra momentum at home, similar to what we fed -- USC gives us a free possession on a punt, and it just gives you that energy. You can't turn the football over. You've got to play mistake-free and eliminate big plays. It's not really rocket science.
“You just have to play poised and disciplined on the road. If you do that, you've got a fair shot at winning those games. They'll be close and hard-fought, and last time we were there, we lost the game at the end, 38-36, whatever it was. We lost by a field goal.”
While the environment at Stanford will be the furthest thing from the atmosphere that greeted Notre Dame in Miami, the Irish know the Cardinal have several playmakers on both sides of the ball.
However, it all starts with All-American running back Bryce Love. The junior has rushed for 1,723 yards and 16 touchdowns on the year but is a little hobbled with an ankle injury.
“We're preparing for Love to play,” Kelly said. “His ability to break that first tackle and then ultimately he's got incredible speed. He’s not (Christian) McCaffrey in terms of catching the football, so he's a different back, but he's got elite speed, and he breaks tackles, and that is a lethal mix. You have to tackle this guy, and that's what makes him a special player.”
The Notre Dame staff should be familiar with Love’s backup, Cameron Scarlett, as he was recruited by the Irish coming out of high school. Scarlett is a bigger back, and Kelly knows he can take over a game.
“When Scarlett was in the game, they were very effective,” explained Kelly. “He's a big back. He's 220 pounds. He's physical. Very good back. He's got very good vision. We're very well aware of him in the recruiting process.”
Stanford has battled inconsistent quarterback play for most of the year, but the David Shaw seems to have settled on sophomore quarterback KJ Costello. The 6-foot-5, 217-pounder has thrown for 993 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions in eight games this year.
“He really now has kind of opened up the offense, in a sense, if you think of that in terms of Stanford,” Kelly stated. “Good, quick release, athletic, big, can move, and I love their receivers. Big kids that run really good routes. Irwin and Whiteside are rangy, athletic receivers that are match-up problems. So really an offense that will stress you in terms of running the football, and then obviously they get the ball in space with their receivers.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Stanford will always bring a physicality and the player to watch is safety Justin Reid, who was almost Irish.
“That 3-4 defense, they're rangy at the 4 technique,” Kelly said. “The nose, (Harrison) Phillips, is as good as there is in the country, and at the outside backer position, they've got great experience, veteran presence out there.
“The real strength of their defense is in the back end. Justin Reid is as good a safety as we'll see all year. David Shaw does a great job. Obviously, they're playing really well right now, so it will be a great challenge for us on the road.”
While Kelly isn’t overly worried about the travel, it’s still a West Coast game and the time difference makes for a tough adjustment in two days. The Irish will fly out on Thursday after a Thanksgiving dinner at the Morris Inn, but Kelly says they will take the proper steps to acclimate the players.
“You're going on the West Coast, so you've got to be careful with the clock,” said Kelly. “We're playing at 5:00 p.m., so that's not too bad. I just think you have to take the precautions. Our guys are going to get over there, and Friday morning they've got to put their phone on airplane mode because it's going to go off at, what, 5:00 a.m. because people will start texting around 8:00, 9:00 in the morning and they need to be sleeping. So just getting the right rest. You're still dealing with that three-hour change. That's probably the biggest adjustment.”
A win in Palo Alto would set Notre Dame up for a New Year’s Six game and possibly an outside shot at the playoffs.
“If you're in the top eight, you're strongly considered,” Kelly said. “We're just outside that right now, or are close to it, I don't know. We need another Top 20 win, Top 25 win, and I think we'll be strongly considered. The teams that are up there have all had one bad day, and we had one bad day, too.
“You have to see how the rest of it goes, but we've got to play well on Saturday. It's important to play well against a really good football team.”