Notre Dame has to come into its game against Stanford as a very confident team. Not only are the Irish on a three-game winning streak, but they hold some pretty significant advantages over the Cardinal. They are much better on defense overall, and the offense has the edge in third-down conversions, first downs and rushing. That’s even before talking about the Irish being one of the best in the country at time of possession.
The Cardinal are one of the absolute best at avoiding penalties, and they enter this game against the Irish with the superior offense. However, the defense leaves a lot to be desired. That combination of decent offense and horrid defense sounds an awful lot like North Carolina and BYU, against both of whom the Irish fared well. If that alone doesn’t give you confidence that the Irish will come away with their fourth straight win, we don’t think we can help you.
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