Frankie V’s Prediction: Can Notre Dame End Their Losing Streak in Palo Alto?

Notre Dame closes out the 2019 regular-season on Saturday night with a trip to Palo Alto – a place they haven’t won in a decade.  The Irish take on a Stanford team whose season careened out of control and bottomed out with the Cardinal being eliminated from bowl eligibility last weekend.  Notre Dame looks to add to Stanford’s misery while hopefully getting a monkey off their backs and reaching ten wins for the third season in a row.  Will the Irish get it done?

What Worries Me This Week

The weather.  We all saw just how bad of a gameplan Brian Kelly and Chip Long put together in the rain in Ann Arbor last month.  It was dreadful.  That isn’t a new thing for Brian Kelly coached teams at Notre Dame, either.  Kelly has had more than his fair share of disappointments in bad weather games.  Some light rain is in the forecast for tomorrow, so obviously I’m worried about the weather this week.

Now, it is just light rain, so it shouldn’t be totally detrimental to the Notre Dame passing game.  In fact, sometimes, light rain can help the passing attack.  Until I see Notre Dame handle poor weather conditions, though, it is something that will worry me.

Notre Dame’s interior defensive line. The only reason this one is here is because of the injuries that Notre Dame has started to sustain.  Jayson Ademilola missed last week with an injury and then against Boston College, starter Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa left the game with an injury of his own.  Lord Myron is supposed to be fine for this week, but depth on the inside could be stretched again if he reaggravates his injury tomorrow.

When Tagovailoa-Amosa left the game last week, freshman Hunter Spears ended up seeing some time as did sophomore Jamion Franklin.  True freshman Jacob Lacey had perhaps the best game of his young career last week after seeing an uptick in playing time as well.  They have the bodies to fill out the depth chart, but they could be very light on experience if MTA can’t play the whole game.

Notre Dame’s rushing attack. Notre Dame has not had much success running the ball with its running backs since early October when USC visited Notre Dame Stadium.  They couldn’t do anything at all against Michigan, and since then, Ian Book has led Notre Dame in rushing each week.  While that’s not necessarily a terrible thing since many of those runs have been designed runs (vs. scrambles), it’s also not ideal.

In a game that will feature some rain, having a strong running game is essential.  Can Notre Dame get Tony Jones Jr, Jafar Armstrong, Jahmir Smith, or C’Bo Flemister going this week?  Maybe, but I’m not convinced they will.

What Doesn’t Worry Me This Week

Notre Dame’s losing streak.  A lot has been made of the fact that Notre Dame hasn’t won at Stanford since 2007 and that Brian Kelly has never won there.  The thing is, no Notre Dame player has actually played in more than one game at Stanford, so it’s not as though the players themselves have experienced a lot of losing here.  They are 0-1.  That’s not terrible.

At this point, the streak is more in the heads of Notre Dame fans than it is the players who will be tasked with ending the streak tomorrow.  I’m sure they’ve all heard about it over and over at this point, but it shouldn’t have an impact on the outcome tomorrow.

Stanford’s offense. Stanford will be without starting quarterback KJ Costello tomorrow, and even if they were to have them, this isn’t your older brother’s Stanford offense.  The Cardinal are no longer a plodding, ball-control offense.  They are throwing the ball more than they have in the past and are much more one-dimensional than we are used to seeing.  This plays right into the strength of the Notre Dame defense – a unit that has had a resurgence following the collapse in Ann Arbor.

It would not surprise me if Stanford came out and scored early, but I don’t expect them to be able to sustain drives or put up a whole lot of points on Clark Lea‘s unit.

Notre Dame’s passing attack. With Paulson Adebo out with an injury this weekend, Stanford doesn’t have anyone who can cover Chase Claypool, and they certainly don’t have anyone who can keep up with Braden Lenzy.  As long as there isn’t a downpour during the game, Notre Dame will have some very exploitable matchups in the passing game.

Ian Book had one of his better performances of 2018 at home against Stanford a year ago, and he should be able to continue his hot streak this weekend – again, assuming the weather conditions allow Notre Dame to throw the football.

Players I’m Watching This Week

  • Isaiah Foskey – Brian Kelly hinted that he would either play a lot this weekend or in the bowl game since he can play in one more game and retain his redshirt.  If it’s this weekend, he could play a lot in the sub-packages.
  • Tony Jones Jr – He has not looked healthy since the USC game.  Will he look better tomorrow?  Hopefully because Notre Dame needs to find some sort of a running game.
  • Braden Lenzy – Notre Dame is finding creative ways to utilize his speed.  Stanford doesn’t have anyone who can keep up with him, so look for Notre Dame to try and get the ball in his hands in space again this week. Will Fuller had himself a day at Stanford in 2015, and Kevin Stepherson had some big plays in 2017.  Lenzy could be the next Notre Dame speedster to have a big day in Palo Alto.
  • Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa – Can he make it through the game coming off an injury?
  • Shaun Crawford – In what could be his last regular-season game, it would be nice to see Crawford get his hands on turnover to help end the streak.

Prediction Time

I would feel so much better about this game if it were sunny and 60 instead of rainy and 50 in Palo Alto tomorrow.  I’d go so far as to say I would predict a Notre Dame blowout if it were going to be sunny out.  Stanford is reeling, and even though they will play inspired football against Notre Dame because this IS their bowl game, they are injured and ripe for a blowout.  The rain clouds that, though, since we haven’t seen this team play particularly well in the rain in a while.

I still think Notre Dame wins this one, but won’t cover the 16+ point spread.  It will look like the Irish are on the verge of breaking the game open all game, but Stanford will just kind of hang around all game long.

Notre Dame 31, Stanford 17

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38 Comments

  1. We get another year of Ian Book next season…and that will be without Chase Claypool (even though he’s not elite per NDCRAZYMIKE). Who steps in as that guy we can just throw one up to and he will come down with it? I don’t see anyone on the roster now who is coming back. More of the same from Book next season. I’m not excited. Let’s hope he grad transfers!

    1. Did you see how many pass attempts he had that were deflected or knocked down at the line of scrimmage. Those will and do lead to turnovers. Got away with it yesterday. Its hard to argue with Books performance overall this year. The numbers are outstanding but I think this team would still be 10-2 with Wimbush at QB. Kelly has never been able to get a stud QB in his 10 years at the helm. Book will not get them over the top against elite teams and its not entirely his fault.

      1. Phil Jurkovec should be our starter Jeff. Half of those balls don’t get batted down with him being 6’5” Book got very lucky he didn’t get picked multiple times yesterday even on balls that weren’t tipped. Stanford DBs dropped several that hit them in their hands.

  2. I wonder after a fifth straight victory if Notre Dame will stay at that 15/16th spot that they have been at for six weeks now?

  3. War Eagle!
    Now it’s a tossup to see who’ll end up being in the #5 bubble spot….Utah or Oklahoma.

    God bless Big Boy college football…gobble gobble!

    1. But David remember Alabama’s schedule was trash. They don’t play anyone because the SEC sucks. LOL!

      Sorry not sure what idiot said that in those previous posts but wow, I really hope we don’t end up playing Bama or Auburn because we will get whooped

  4. ND D adjusts and shuts out Stanford for most of second half.

    The ND O is still hit or miss, largely due to Book’s erratic QB play from the pocket. He’s good on the run, though.

    STs huge today. Blocked punt sets up one-yard TD drive. Muffed punt recovery sets up short FG. Punt downed inside five sets up sack, strip, fumble, recovery for a TD by the D. That’s 17 points on less than forty yards of O!

    Is 10-2 good. I guess so if you’re OK with the Camping Bowl season after season. Excuse me if I’d like more for ND football!

    GO IRISH!

    1. Totally agree Rob. When I was growing up I’m 63 years old a 2 or 3 loss season was a major disappointment. Now many people are thrilled with it. When a reporter mentioned to Ryan Day about losing 1 game he was stunned the question was even asked.Even Urban Meyer said 10 wins not good enough if you want to be a champion. Notredame played 2 good teams and lost both games with one being a massive blowout when they had 2 weeks to prepare. Here is my take on things guys Brian Kelly is a good coach and if he was at Notredame 40 yea agor he could have won a national championship.I compare him to Dan Devine a good but not great coach. I think where Notredame is in Todays college football they need a great coach.I know its beyond a long shot that Urban Meyer would come to Notredame but what he would give you that Kelly doesn’t is a great game plan every game great game day coaching putting players in position to make plays etc.Also the Urban Meyer name would allow you to get 2 or 3 5 stars on both sides of the ball that Kelly can’t get. Let’s be honest Kelly can’t dip into the junior colleges like Auburn did and Get a Farley and Cam Newton they can’t go to the transfer pool and get a Joe Burrow Justin Fields Jalen Hurts.Also when a kid gets in trouble at Notredame he misses 4 games or the whole season.At these powerhouse schools he either doesn’t sit out any games at all or he misses a game or 2 against eastern Illinois or South Dakota state then is reinstated just in time to play Georgia or whoever is good.Im just stating facts. I Have friends and I know a lot of people will say Notredame will never win national championships again unless they lower their academic requirements. Who knows maybe they are right.

  5. As usual I had Irish pegged at10-2 before a ball was snapped. After Irish beat Okla. St. 11-2. Not to shabby to end this season.

    1. So Greg you must have known the Ian Book/Brian Kelly combination wouldn’t win the two biggest games on our schedule LOL! Well you called it! Well done

  6. Great decision to not throw to Claypool until under 2 minutes in first half!

    Make no mistake this game turned on a dime with that blocked punt. Had the Stanford QB gained a few more inches on third down this is a different game.

  7. A brilliant one-yard drive by the juggernaut ND O!

    The ND RBs and OL are the best in the FBS, no doubt about it!

    Claypool is unstoppable!

    The ND D can shut out anyone at any time!

    Can I get “likes” now, mouth breathers, by telling you fairy tales?!

  8. Book absolutely sucks! Cant believe we gotta endure another year with this misfit! Who the hell determinedhe was captain material? BK still not ready for primetime…guess he will give the oke we gotta coach better speech after this loss…

  9. Nothing so amazing as to let a 4-7 team look real great. A lot of time left but again, something that isn’t exactly new for a Kelly coached team

      1. Hey, anonymous keyboard coward, facts are facts, whether you like them or not, asswipe!

        Stanford is missing 27 players today and several are starters.

        “Dislike” that moron!

  10. BTW: Let’s continue to pump up the “likes” for those who predict ND will win every game 100-0 and pump up the “dislikes” for those who speak truth to idiocy.

    1. SFR, its NDCRAZYMIKE and his 15 devices in his home and probably the local public library that are hitting the likes and dislikes. I think the site should just allow the same IP to vote like or dislike multiple times just to save ol NDCM a few trips around the house and the block LOL!

      1. STILL CRYIN LITTLE CHRISSY, I DONT HAVE TO HIT THE DISLIKE BUTTON FOR YOU EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR A DOPE!! KEEP THE STUPID POSTS COMMIN CHRISSY!!

  11. This is a far from elite team, despite what the mouth breathers on here want to believe.

    ND may well win this game but is in a different zip code from the Bamas, OSUs, Clemsons of this world. Then again so is everyone else.

    There is just a vast chasm right now between the top 4-6 teams and the Notre Dames.

  12. meanwhile, over on CBS….exciting, entertaining football. For anyone thinking of abandoning this masochism thing….

  13. Not only will Notre Dame score 31 by half time they’ll win 52-10 without Paulson covering claypool even though it wouldn’t matter if he played , Standford defense isn’t good enough to hold Notre Dame under 40

    1. Yeah, let’s give this guy 100 “likes”.

      ND scores 31 by HT. Wrong!

      ND will win 52-10. Stanford already has 17. So wrong!

      Let’s hope ND does score 40. They’ll need it if the D plays like it did for most of the first half.

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