Stanford statistical leaders through 11 games

The Irish can’t lose to this team, right?

Stanford is trying to salvage something out of its season. Even its win over Coach Prime and Colorado has become lessened by the fact that Buffaloes turned out not to be much better than the Cardinal. A victory over Notre Dame would by far be the signature of their season. That won’t be easy though.

There are a few talented players on the Cardinal, but they only can do so much to make up for their shortcomings. For instance, the offense lives off the pass to the point where the quarterbacks actually are the top rushers. For our purposes though, we’re discounting them in that category for this listicle. That alone should speak volumes about the Cardinal.

It’s no surprise that a team with this many shortcomings has dragged the Irish to the dying Pac-12 Network for its final live football game. If it somehow pulls off the upset, here are the players most likely to factor in:

Tale of the Tape: Leading Rushers – Audric Estime vs. Casey Filkins

Pretty comparable, no?

We’ve all accepted that [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] is Notre Dame’s best running back this year, right? After all, when you’ve averaging almost a touchdown a game and have over 5 yards a carry, that’s about all you can ask of somebody at that position. The Irish haven’t asked anyone to be a world-class back this season, and Estime’s numbers are reflective of that. If he can at least maintain these for the rest of the season, the offense will be in good shape.

Stanford brings Casey Filkins as its combatant in this lineup. Filkins is pretty comparable to Estime except that he has a decent receiving game to go with his skill set. Of course, there’s no telling until game time whether the Irish’s defense will allow Filkins to get going with screen passes, option passes or whatever. Given the something of a roll that group has been on recently, we’re inclined to say no.

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