Notre Dame Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Stanford

Irish force 3 or more turnovers

If there has been one thing that has been surprisingly impressive out of Stanford this season, it’s been their ball security. They haven’t faltered too much this season had have been relatively consistent.

The Cardinal match Notre Dame with only 11 turnovers this season and hasn’t exceeded more than two turnovers in any game. But all that could change this Saturday.

For starters, Stanford hasn’t played a defense quite like that of Notre Dame’s. That’s more or less the standard in the Pac-12, a conference that loves their high offensive numbers.

The Irish defense has forced 24 turnovers this season with nine picked out of the air and 15 scooped up off the field. That’s double of what Sanford has been able to force this season.

Where things really start to favor the Irish is the most recent games for both teams. Notre Dame has forced ten turnovers in the last four games with at least two in each one. Most noteworthy was the four fumbles the Irish were able to come away with against Navy.

On the opposite side of the field this weekend, Stanford has been the most turnover-prone that they have been all season.

Again, it’s still been relatively impressive, but their consistency has started to falter just a bit. The Cardinal have had five turnovers in the last three games with back-to-back two turnover games. All five turnovers have been through the air as well.

Most of that could be factored into Davis Mills taking the reins from K.J. Costello, who has been out the last couple of games with a thumb injury.

Either way, neither QB has been that impressive when it comes to their TD to INT ratio.

This is a game that feels like the Irish will show out on both sides of the ball, knowing they have one last chance to impress the committee before bowl season and that will be seen on the turnover margin.