Since 1999 Notre Dame has closed every odd numbered regular season (aside from 2001 due to September 11 attacks) at Stanford. The Irish will do that again in a few weeks but it doesn’t appear the host Cardinal will be putting their finest team in recent memory on the field.
Stanford handed Oregon their only loss to date back in early October, but they’ve been awful since. On Friday night the Cardinal fell at home to Utah 52-7, a game they trailed 38-0 at halftime and were outgained 581-167 in.
Stanford was playing without quarterback Tanner McKee who was on crutches. His availability is unknown going forward as Stanford head coach David Shaw said next may be a bit early for his return, but didn’t rule out a return in 2021 overall.
Notre Dame travels to Stanford on Thanksgiving weekend again this year and leads the all-time series with Stanford 20-13 after winning the last two meetings in the rivalry. These Cardinal are a long way from the Stanford teams that won 7-of-9 games against Notre Dame from 2009-2017.
They did however somehow knock off Oregon this year.
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