Brian Kelly Looking For Four Quarters Of Football Against Stanford

7:30 p.m., under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium, No. 8 Notre Dame will look to snap its three-game losing against a red-hot No. 7 Stanford team that is coming off an exciting overtime win against Oregon last Saturday.

Stanford’s 38-20 win over the Irish last year was sparked by a 21-point fourth quarter offensive barrage and 60 minutes of football will be needed in Saturday’s matchup.

“There were 12 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and we were leading last year,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly flashed back during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “We went into the second half with a 10-0 lead the year before, and as you know, in both instances, we turned the football over.

“This is much more about us taking care of the football and playing it for four quarters. We have a great deal of respect for Stanford and how they run their program, but we need to play for four quarters and play good football.”

Kelly is familiar with Stanford head coach David Shaw, having met every year since Shaw’s first season in 2011.

“I think he runs a great program,” Kelly praised his counterpart. “I think his teams are well-coached, organized. Their systems are consistent within their program; their systems in terms of how they recruit their systems of offense, defense and special teams are consistent.”

With a 2-5 record in head-to-head matchups, Notre Dame's ninth-year head coach seeks his third victory. He knows what the Cardinal will bring and what to expect in Saturday's matchup.

‘This is a different challenge than it was last week or the week before,” Kelly explained. “They've got good players. Their scheme is really solid.

“We know Stanford a little bit better than maybe we know other teams. So in one respect, Michigan was scarier because you didn't know what you were going to get. Ball State was like out of the blue, and we got something that we didn't expect at all.”

Stanford senior running back Bryce Love and junior quarterback KJ Costello will be familiar faces on Saturday night.

Love was a Heisman finalist who finished last year with 2,118 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns for the Cardinals, including 125 yards against Notre Dame.

Stopping his big-play ability will be crucial for this year’s Irish team. 

“He is going to get his yards,” Kelly explained. “He's just too good of a player. You're really focusing on making sure that you're not short at the point of attack. You can't put him in a situation where he can go the distance. I think each and every week you're strategically looking at minimizing his opportunities to turn easy offensive plays into touchdowns.

“So I think each and every week, defenses have been very careful in making sure that the box looks were such that he's not going to get easy looks.”

The junior handing the ball off to him is no slouch either.  

Costello tossed four touchdowns in last year’s matchup and has continuously shown progression since, so the Notre Dame defense will have to prepare for the talented duo.

“Poise in the pocket, delivering the ball in some really, really tight windows, accuracy you can see by his numbers the completion percentages are way up,” praised Kelly. “He threw some great balls on Saturday. Oregon had great coverage on a couple of third downs -- the one third-down conversion, which set up the late-game field goal was just a beautiful throw into tight coverage.”