STANFORD FOOTBALL
SATURDAY’S GAME
Who: No. 17 Notre Dame (8-3) at Stanford (3-8)
When: 4 p.m.
Where: Stanford Stadium
TV/radio: Pac-12 Network/1050
Story line: Unless the Cardinal can upset the Irish, Stanford’s first season under Troy Taylor will end the way its last two seasons under David Shaw did: with a 3-9 record. Stanford also is 0-6 at home and is the lone FBS school without a home victory this season. “We’ve got to get better. There’s no question — and we will,” Taylor said. “But the culture part of that, the work ethic, what’s important to us, our guiding principles, all of those things I feel great about.”
WHEN NOTRE DAME HAS THE BALL
• Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman, a transfer from Wake Forest who played five seasons with the Demon Deacons, ranks fifth in FBS history in career passing yards with 15,516 (Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell is fourth with 15,793). Hartman ranks fourth in FBS history in career passing TDs with 132 (Harrell is third with 134). Taylor called Hartman “a very steady player, steady approach, steady personality — all those things you want in a quarterback.”
• Junior running back Audric Estimé averages 6 yards per carry and has rushed for 1,103 yards and 14 touchdowns. He’s three shy of the school record for rushing TDs in a season shared by Allen Pinkett (1984) and Vagas Ferguson (1979).
• Stanford linebacker Tristan Sinclair was ejected for targeting on a hit on Cal QB Fernando Mendoza in the third quarter of the Cardinal’s 27-15 Big Game loss last Saturday. That would have meant Sinclair also would have had to sit out the first half of the Notre Dame game, but the targeting call was reversed Monday, meaning Sinclair can play the full game against the Irish.
WHEN STANFORD HAS THE BALL
• The Cardinal’s top two rushers are quarterbacks Ashton Daniels (291 yards) and Justin Lamson (252). Injuries and ineffectiveness have stymied the Stanford ground game. “We’re struggling to run the ball, and when you struggle to run the ball, it makes everything challenging,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t make it impossible, but it makes it difficult.”
• What has not been difficult for Stanford this season has been kicking field goals. Senior Joshua Karty has connected on 20 of 23 FGAs; he went for 3-for-3 in the Big Game, with a 44-yarder, a 53-yarder and a 50-yarder. He hit on all 18 of his field-goal tries last season, including three (from 45, 43 and 43 yards) in the Cardinal’s 16-14 upset of the Irish in South Bend.
• Taylor said Notre Dame might have “the best defense we’ve played all year.” Heading into the weekend, the Irish ranked third in the nation in passing yards allowed per game (148.5), sixth in total yards allowed per game (276) and seventh in points allowed per game (16).