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Notre Dame vs. Stanford Game Day Primer

By Sonny Martinez

SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 01: Chris Finke #10 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates his first quarter touchdown against the Michigan Wolverines at Notre Dame Stadium on September 1, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 01: Chris Finke #10 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates his first quarter touchdown against the Michigan Wolverines at Notre Dame Stadium on September 1, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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EUGENE, OR – SEPTEMBER 22: Cornerback Alameen Murphy (4) of the Stanford Cardinal celebrates with teammates after intercepting a pass in the end zone during overtime of the game against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Eugene, Oregon. Stanford won the game 38-31. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /

When Stanford is on defense…

The Cardinal defense has taken a slight step back this season. They’re not performing at the elite level of defense that we’ve grown accustom to. This was to be expected after losing four defensive players to the NFL, including top defensive lineman Harrison Phillips.

But don’t let that 55th overall total defense fool you: there’s still plenty of talent on that unit.

Stanford is still great at getting to the quarterback. They’ve already accounted for 13 sacks, tied for 12th in the country. Linebacker Joey Alferi and defensive tackle Jovann Swann share the team lead with 2.5. In total, nine players have at least half a sack.

Sacking the quarterback isn’t the only thing Stanford is good at behind the line of scrimmage, as there’s also plenty of tackles for loss to go around. They have 25 tackles for loss as a team.

If this isn’t enough to scare you, they’re tied for 19th in the county in interceptions with five and tied for 18th in fumble recoveries with four.

The problem comes in the secondary. Although 19th in interceptions, they’re 90th in pass yards allowed on the season with 935, which is 84th in yards per game.

Stanford is 39th the country in rushing yards per game allowed with 123.0.

Redshirt junior Sean Barton leads the Cardinal in tackles with 29. He also has a sack and one fumble recovery. Redshirt senior Alameen Murphy leads with two interceptions.

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