The No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1) will travel to take on the No. 13 Stanford Cardinal (9-2) this week in a promising matchup. The country’s second-leading rusher, Christian McCaffrey (1,546 yards, 7 TDs), will be featured in this game for Stanford. It will air Saturday, Nov 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
In last week’s matchup, Stanford defeated California 35-22. Christian McCaffrey had a huge game running the ball in the victory, rushing 29 times for 192 yards. Bryce Love put up 56 rushing yards and a TD on two carries. Notre Dame also won last week’s performance, slipping past Boston College 19-16. Chris Brown had a great game for the Fighting Irish, grabbing six receptions for 104 yards and one TD. Amir Carlisle also had a great game with 97 receiving yards and a TD on seven catches.
Notre Dame is a slender two-point favorite as they take on the Cardinal.
Sitting at 9-2 Straight Up (SU) and 8-3 Against The Spread (ATS), the Cardinal will look to improve heading into Week 13. In their five most recent matchups, the Cardinal went 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS. A focal point of Stanford’s offense is the running game, which ranks 15th in the country with 228.2 rushing yards per game. During their last five games, the Cardinal gave up 244.4 passing yards per game. Special teams is a weakness for Notre Dame that the Cardinal may use to their advantage. On average, the Fighting Irish have allowed 110.3 return yards per game.
Over on the other sideline, the Fighting Irish head into Week 13 with records of 7-4 ATS and 10-1 SU. Over their last five games, the Fighting Irish have a SU record of 5-0 and a 2-3 record ATS for those betting with them. Running the ball has resulted in very positive outcomes for the Fighting Irish, who average the ninth-best yards per carry in the nation with 5.5. Moving on to the Notre Dame defense, it has some favorable matchups that it may be able to take advantage of. The Cardinal are matching up with Notre Dame’s defense at an inopportune time. Over the last five games, Notre Dame’s opponents have only averaged 231.6 yards through the air. Teams need to stay focused in the first quarter against the fast-starting Fighting Irish, who average 10.6 points in the first 15 minutes.
Predictions: SU Winner – Stanford, ATS Winner – Stanford
Notes
Stanford is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Stanford’s last 5 games.
Stanford is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home.
Stanford is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing Notre Dame.
Stanford is 4-9 SU in its last 13 games when playing Notre Dame.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Stanford’s last 5 games when playing Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is 8-0 SU when leading at the half this season. Stanford is 8-1 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
Notre Dame is 3-1 SU this season in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet undefeated (4-0 SU) in games where it loses the turnover battle.
Notre Dame holds the upper hand in the passing game, according to overall FBS ratings. Its offensive passing game (ranked 37th in the nation) will face the 74th-ranked pass defense of Stanford, while its 29th-ranked pass defense will look to limit the 80th-ranked aerial attack of the Cardinal.
