Special Print Edition of the Observer for Friday, October 14, 2022 - Stanford Irish Insider

Keys to v ictory: notre dame vs. stanford

By MADELINE LADD Associate s ports e ditor

After a rewarding victory in vegas last weekend, the Irish will lace up to take on the s tanford c ardinal this weekend at home in prime time. As this is the first home game of the sea son, it should make for an exciting atmosphere the team can feed off of, much like Allegiant s tadium last weekend.

The Irish demonstrat ed an effective offense against b YU, orchestrat ed by junior quarterback d rew Pyne and junior tight end m ichael m ayer. h owever, after some sec ond-half struggles and poor red zone execution, there is still room for improvement.

o n the defensive side of things, the Irish lost some intensity in the sec ond half. h owever, they still showed their abil ity to make a stop when needed.  h eading into the weekend, the Irish have the potential to win big against the c ardinal. n evertheless, there are several keys to ensure this victory against s tanford at home.

Avoid a Vegas hang over against a beatable Stanford team

Though last week’s

victory was big for n otre d ame, the team is far from being able to rest. s tanford should be an easily beatable team for the Irish.

That being said, very recent history has shown this is not always how it plays out. To avoid any resemblance to the dev astating m arshall loss that took place earlier this season, the Irish will need to bring the inten sity on both sides of the ball.

The three-game win streak shows that they are more than capable of do ing so, but it is all about execution.

Shut down the Stanford pass game

The Irish defense fell flat for a bit during the second half of last week’s matchup against b YU. Though they were able to bring the intensity when it mattered most, the de fense still let up chunk plays to the c ougars that could have been easily avoided.

This cannot happen this week if the Irish want to secure a win against s tanford. c ardinal quar terback Tanner m cKee is an n FL draft pros pect for next year, so it is important that the Irish defense does not

underestimate him. The defense must come out the gate strong like they did last week. Additionally, they need to continue to hold their own as the clock dwindles down.

Feed Mayer, get the run game going m ichael m ayer helped run the offense last week, as he was respon sible for two of the three Irish touchdowns. d rew Pyne also proved he is fit for the role of Q b1 through his poise and decisive ness in the pocket. Pyne had some great looks to m ayer and some of the wideouts on the team such as sophomore Jayden Thomas.

If Pyne and m ayer can find the connection that they did last week end, coupled with oth er players stepping up, s tanford’s defense will not stand a chance.

s tanford has been un derperforming on their run game defense, and the Irish have racked up 521 rushing yards over their past two games.

If they unlock the ground game once more, this has the potential to be a high-scoring game for the Irish.

Contact Madeline Ladd at mladd2@nd.edu

he thought as he has become a dynamic force on the field for the Irish.

h owever, m orrison notes that it is not a one-man job on the field; no matter how much work he puts in, he cannot do it all himself. h e has several experienced de fenders who are his brothers-in-arms, and he said they have been helping him in his debut season.

“I feel like every sin gle star on the back seven has given me re ally good advice,” he said. “Their biggest thing

is ‘have confidence in yourself’ because, ulti mately, when you lose confidence in yourself, that’s when you can’t play this game of foot ball. s o you have [the] utmost confidence in your game.”

m orrison also men tioned that specifically graduate transfer safety b randon Joseph — another vital component of n otre d ame’s roster — has giv en him advice that he has carried with him.

“You gotta believe that you’re the best player no matter what,” m orrison said, quoting his team mate. “If something bad happens, something good happens, you’re the best player.”

In the end, it all comes back to work ethic in order to be this “best player.” For m orrison, preparing and completing the grunt work is instrumental in playing well on game day, and it is this commitment that will hopefully carry him through the rest of the season.

“You’ve really got to put [in] the time. It will show if you don’t,” he said. “I really gotta look into this in-depth and re alize what the other key players are doing with in the defense because that will ultimately help me, knowing where my help’s at.”

ZeLo revisits incorrect picks against notre dame, game picks

Tom Zwiller

In n otre d ame’s two most recent games against n orth c arolina and b YU, ZeL o had the Irish as an underdog. o bviously, ZeL o got those two games somewhat wrong, as the Irish won comfortably against both squads and are now on a three-game win streak.

s o, before I go to what is an exciting week of picks, I want to examine why ZeL o is 2-3 in picking n otre d ame games.

The two ZeL o wins came when n otre d ame played o hio s tate and c alifornia.

ZeL o ’s pick to win the c FP was o hio s tate, so n otre d ame losing was a foresee able outcome. c alifornia was seen as an easy win for the Irish, and luckily they proved ZeL o right.

The first loss came against m arshall (ZeL o had the Irish as a favor ite), which, to be fair, most people got wrong. I think most had it as an Irish win, but a narrow one. The loss was shocking.

The n orth c arolina loss is easy enough to explain away, given the context of the two team’s seasons. n orth c arolina was the home team and, at the time, had a great offense and was undefeated. n otre d ame had an offense that was struggling, and so ZeL o took U nc b YU was favored by ZeL o back when I first created the model over the summer. ZeL o has loved b YU because of its high r eturn+ r ecruit score, and

its performance this sea son was enough to keep them as a favorite over n otre d ame.

As ZeL o favors n otre d ame to beat s tanford, I hope ZeL o improves to 3-3, but for more on that, go check out the n otre d ame game pick below.

Now onto the picks!

Well, not just yet. I al most forgot about ZeL o ’s performance review. Last weekend ZeL o and FPI picked 57 games, agreeing on 51 and disagreeing on 6. ZeL o ended up going 3720, and FPI went 39-18, so both models had a lowerperforming weekend than usual.

And while ZeL o had its first loss to FPI in a few weekends, over the last three weeks, ZeL o is up two wins on FPI, so the model still has a good run.

Now, onto the picks. No. 10 Penn State @ No. 5 Michigan m ichigan’s season is a tale of two parts. The first part is that m ichigan played c olorado s tate, h awaii and Uc onn; m ichigan won on aver age by nearly 50 points. d uring this stretch of the season, the average ZeL o ranking of m ichigan’s op ponents was 124.

In the second part of the season, m ichigan en tered conference play, fac ing ( m aryland, Iowa and Indiana) and its average margin of victory dropped to just under 14 points. The average opponent for m ichigan during this time jumped to 70, with m aryland ranking 39th.

That might not sound alarming, that is still a two-touchdown advan tage, but that feels like a worrying trend to me. As the opponents have improved, m ichigan has looked less impressive. Furthermore, Penn s tate will be m ichigan’s best op ponent, ranking 14th.

Thanks to m ichigan’s impressive resume and home-field advantage, the Wolverines are slightly fa vored (66.6%) to beat the n ittany Lions.

No. 3 Alabama @ No. 6 Tennessee

s eldom do you see a top10 team who is at home a 7.5 underdog, but that is precisely what Tennessee is when they take on Alabama. I am skeptical of Alabama; Texas A& m had a chance to knock off the c rimson Tide on the road, and A& m is no where near the caliber of team that Tennessee is.

h owever, if there is any one who has earned the benefit of the doubt, it is indeed Alabama. ZeL o still has the Tide as its second-best team (behind o hio s tate) and the far and away favorite to win the sec West. Tennessee is certainly not a touch down underdog in the eyes of ZeL o. The volunteers rank seventh and have an outside chance to win the e ast.

This game should be good, with the volunteers covering the spread but the Tide winning (60.4%).

No. 8 Oklahoma State @ No. 13 TCU T c U continues to be one

of the surprises of the year, knocking off Kansas on the road in a closely con tested game. The h orned Frogs are just one of three teams in the b ig 12 who are undefeated in confer ence play, and this week end they have a chance to knock off one of the other undefeated teams.

The two teams are cur rently favored to make it to the b ig 12 confer ence championship game. b ut Kansas and Texas are close behind, so a win for either team would help get each some separation and eliminate a formidable rival.

c urrently, T c U is fa vored in a toss-up game, with the h orned Frogs having a 57.3% chance of beating the c owboys. The difference between the two squads is essentially T c U’s home-field advan tage. This should be a good one.

No. 15 NC State @ No. 18 Syracuse n orth c arolina s tate at s yracuse is a game we have all circled on our calendars since the sea son opener. b ut all jokes aside, this is a significant game for the Acc Atlantic. s yracuse and c lemson are the two remaining unbeaten teams in the Atlantic division and the conference.

With a win, s yracuse can keep pace with c lemson, whom they play next week. It feels crazy to say, but a win would give the o range a legitimate shot to win the division.

A loss would be disas trous for the Wolfpack.

s hould n orth c arolina s tate lose, they will have very little chance of win ning the Atlantic (though their chances are already low).

No. 7 USC @ No. 20 Utah

After Utah took a loss to Uc LA, this game did lose a bit of its luster, but this should still be a thrilling showdown.

Utah is all but elimi nated from the c FP; as a two-loss team with a low chance of winning their c onference, they have little to offer. The only thing they can really do is play spoiler to U sc ’s aspirations of remaining undefeated.

It might be weird, but Utah is still favored to win this matchup. I think it is mainly because of ZeL o s pre-season projections, but we shall see.

Stanford @ Notre Dame

As I wrote at the top of the article, n otre d ame is heavily favored to beat s tanford (74.6%).

s tanford is a weak team, with their offense ranking 88th, their defense 118th, and their overall ranking is 115th.

For the 54th-ranked Irish, this should be an easy contest. After n otre d ame beat b YU and U nc in back-to-back weeks, ZeL o has had some of its faith restored in n otre d ame. n ot all, but some.

Contact Tom Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu.

The views in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

pounds — will be expect ed to step up and fill the gap left by Lacey. Lacey’s best game of the season had come recently against c al, where he racked up five tackles, including two sacks. The recent per formance made Lacey’s abrupt departure surpris ing to many.

“Anytime that happens, either departure or injury, you always feel badly for the young person that’s experiencing that,” de fensive coordinator Al Golden said after practice this week. “ b ut the other guys have an opportunity

to step up. c ertainly Gabe ( r ubio) and c hris did that, and there’ll be others here as the season moves on.” s mith was named to the 2021 First Team All-Ivy League team after post ing 40 tackles on the year for the c rimson. The Ivy League does not allow graduate students to play, and s mith had a year of eligibility left because the Ivies canceled all sports for the 2020-21 academic year.

h e sought a transfer and was initially planning to enroll at m innesota. b ut s mith flipped his com mitment to n otre d ame in April after a visit to s outh b end. It has turned out to be a wise decision for

both s mith and the Irish. Through five games for the Irish, s mith has sev en total tackles, includ ing three solo stops, but his role is expected to in crease in the absence of Lacy and with c ross con tinuing to battle an ankle injury. c ross is expected to play this weekend, but he may be in a limited role. s mith isn’t the only h arvard graduate trans fer to play an impor tant role for n otre d ame this year. h e is joined by punter Jon s ot, his team mate for three seasons in c ambridge. s ot has been a revelation for n otre d ame this year, averag ing nearly 43 net yards per punt.

Defensive line seeks con tinued improvement

As a unit, n otre d ame’s defensive line has played well this year. The Irish have been stout against the run–except for the loss against m arshall. They have held dual-threat quarterbacks c J stroud, d rake m aye and Jaren h all largely in check. At times, though, they have strug gled to get pressure late in games.

“I feel like we’ve been pretty successful so far,” s mith said. “o bviously we’ve still got a lot we can work on, still got a lot we can get better on. We’re not content with where we are.

We think we can definitely kick it up another gear.”

s mith said the execution of the defensive line has improved since the start of the year. “In the begin ning, you get a lot thrown at you, and then now, to wards… the middle of the season, getting more ad justed to the roles we’ve been playing.”

notre dame’s defensive line will be critical to the team’s performance in the second half of the season. smith will likely play a key part of the unit moving forward.

“You try to get better each day, I think is our goal,” smith said. “We’re still not done, and being our best product.”

Liam Coolican at

By AIDAN THOMAS, MANNION McGINLEY, NATE MOLLER, MADELINE LADD, EMILY DeFAZIO and LIAM COOLICAN

Aidan Thomas — Sports Editor

Three straight for the i rish, and now n otre d ame has a chance to turn this winning streak into a hurtling ball of momen tum with arguably their two easiest games of the season upcoming. b arring a shocker, n otre d ame should be 5-2 heading into a two-week stretch of s yracuse and c lemson, games that could push the i rish back towards the top 15, maybe even the top 10. The i rish are big favorites this weekend, and their offense is rolling, going up against a s tanford de fense that’s giving up 207 yards per game on the ground. They’ve also giv en up 40+ in three of four contests against Power-5 competition.

That should work well for the i rish to be able to do what they want offen sively. The s tanford of fense is respectable, but it’s not groundbreaking. n otre d ame’s defense has held opposing offenses to 21 points or less in each game besides U nc , so anticipate that trend to continue.

Notre Dame 38, Stanford 17 Mannion McGinley — Assistant Managing Editor

s ince the upset from 15-point underdog, m arshall, the i rish are un defeated. 3-2 and on the upswing, not a bad place to be. There can be no lull in the i rish play because this game is “easy.”

The s tanford game needs to be the state ment win it is predicted to be. There needs to be the same amount of feroc ity, the same intensity from every player and

every coach headed into this week. The only way the i rish will continue on their positive trajectory is if they can continue to win out on the season and do so convincingly. The c ardinal has only snagged one win this season, and a four-game los ing streak is not easy to build momentum from but it can’t fool the i rish.

The stanford offense has consistently put up 20 points against their opponents. The irish defense has to be just as productive this week, if not more so, as they were in vegas.

The defense needs even bigger stops late in the game, just to prove they can do it but also to keep the s tanford offense down. With 12 s tanford turn overs in their existing five games, the turnover count has to just keep ticking up. The i rish need to make it happen.

Notre Dame 35, Stanford 20

Nate Moller — Senior Sports Writer

i was as pessimistic as ever about d rew Pyne after his performance against m arshall and c al, but i am slowly warming up to him. i n s aturday’s season de fining win against b YU, d rew Pyne showed why he is Q b1.

a t times on s aturday, the play of d rew Pyne re minded me of former i rish quarterback i an b ook because of his accurate passing, ability to use his legs when needed and ability to generate offense when the play breaks down. i f Pyne can continue to rely on m ichael m ayer and the offensive line can con tinue to give Pyne time in the pocket, the i rish offense should roll against a s tanford team that has struggled defensively all year.

The running game has been much improved for

the i rish as well, which should be enough to give them a fairly comfortable win on s aturday night.

Notre Dame 41, Stanford 20

Madeline Ladd — Associate Sports Editor

With a three-game win streak and a big victory out in vegas, the i rish will be looking to continue the momentum this weekend.

The n otre d ame offense jived well against b YU, with Pyne coming into his own in the pocket and stars like m ichael m ayer racking up the points for the i rish.

o ther players stepped up last weekend as well, and if they do it again the

offense should be able to get in the same groove this weekend — espe cially against the strug gling s tanford defense. a s for i rish defense, they will need to continue to improve and limit de fense breakdowns against s tanford Q b and n FL draft prospect Tanner m cKee.

Notre Dame 42, Stanford 17

Emily DeFazio — Associate Sports Editor

With three wins under their belt and a fairly mild opponent in s tanford, i have high hopes for the i rish in their return to s outh b end this weekend.

n otre d ame in vegas is the

Paid a dverTisemenT

kind of play we need to see every game moving for ward. d rew Pyne is really settling into his role as Q b1, and i think this con fidence can only yield big things for the i rish in the coming weeks.

The offense is finally able to do some dynamic play calling, thanks in no small part to the o -line, and with strength on both facets of the offensive game play, i see players like m ichael m ayer and a udric e stime continuing their upward trajectories on s aturday.

The key in the next two games will be not resting on laurels and keeping the

they snagged their lowestscoring win of the series to tie the decade of match ups at 5, winning 17-13 in 2001.

2008: Irish don’t take trash talk lightly

While the s tanford ri valry may not be the most aggressive matchup the Irish have taken on, it has had its bitter moments. In 2008, s tanford tackle c hris m arinelli showed up to s outh b end swinging.

“The field sucks. The stadium sucks. I think the area sucks. We are going out there to mash them up and that’s all there is to it,” he said of n otre d ame and its stadium. h e con tinued to trash the Irish defense, its lack of sacks and, according to theno bserver sports editor d an murphy, just about “everything n otre d ame stands for short of Jesus c hrist h imself.”

n otre d ame players took that to heart. n o one com mented before the game but the Irish turned to the Pep r ally. Pat Kuntz ripped off a breakaway suit and promised to “rip somebody’s head off on s aturday.”

c ut to the game.

The n otre d ame defense spent most of the game dominant. They had been able to snag five sacks and Kyle m c c arthy led the team with 14 tackles on the night. Through three, the Irish led 28-7.

At the start of the fourth though, the Irish started to slip. s tanford staged two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter to come within one touchdown of the Irish, much like this past weekend in vegas.

The Irish defense, in the middle of a less-thanstellar year, pulled out a stop though. Pinned at their own three, s tanford completed a pass near the end of the fourth but Anthony Kimble fumbled and it was Kuntz who came up with it. With 0:07 left, the Irish stopped the come back to win the game by a touchdown.

“We’re not going to let anybody come into our house and talk like that to us,” Irish linebacker h arrison s mith said.

2012: Goal line stand to re main undefeated n o. 17 s tanford came into n otre d ame s tadium 4-1. s tanford, true to form, relied heavily on their of fense that season. e very game they won was won with more than 20 points except for their matchup with o regon that went to

overtime.

In the week six matchup, n otre d ame was undefeat ed and about to face the s tanford squad that, in the three previous matchups, had pushed them around. For the seniors, this was a team they hadn’t beaten.

d efensive end s tephon Tuitt dominated the s tanford backfield while m anti Te’o crushed s tanford ball carriers all day.

The defensive work was there on the c ardinal side too, leaving Irish quarter back e verett Golson little to no space to operate. s tanford’s only touchdown on the day came from a Golson fumble, recovered in the end zone, a testa ment to the Irish defense.

The first half closed with the Irish behind a touch down, 10-3. The third quarter saw no scoring and this was n otre d ame’s only stretch so far that season they hadn’t been leading. o n the first play of the fourth quarter, Golson found tight end Tyler e ifert for a touchdown, bringing the score to 10-10.

The c ardinal answer was nothing short of ef fective. Taking 8:03 off the clock, they marched to the n otre d ame three for a field goal, 13-10 c ardinal.

With the ball back, the Irish needed a touchdown to win or a field goal to tie. Golson went down with concussion-like symp toms the second they got the ball back which left backup quarterback (now n otre d ame offensive co ordinator) Tommy r ees to win the Irish the game.

r ees brought the Irish into field goal range to tie the game up and then hit T.J Jones for a seven-yard touchdown catch in the first overtime possession. It all came down to the defense.

s tanford tailback s tefan Taylor reached the n otre d ame 4-yard line after a 13-yard rush. That wasn’t enough though. In the next four downs, he was denied all four times.

m anti Te’o and the Irish prevented a fourth and one breakthrough and the Irish remained undefeated for the season, defeating s tanford 20-13.

The win has since been vacated as the Irish were found guilty of allowing academically ineligible athletes to play but the de fensive stop the Irish made remains legend among n otre d ame fans.

Notre Dame fans travel well through the ages

While the series is split fairly evenly and coaches and players have come and gone, Irish fans, as always, have remained loyal followers of nd

football.

Thirty years ago, o bserver s ports e ditor Theresa Kelly traveled to the 1989 game in Palo Alto. There, she watched the Irish take down the c ardinal surrounded by cheering n otre d ame fans. c urrent s ports e ditor Aidan Thomas covered last year’s game in Palo Alto and in his o bserver on the Ground piece, he also noticed the presence n otre d ame had 2,000 miles from home, say ing “ s tanford was a n otre d ame home game but with warmer weather.” b oth saw the national brand really spread coast to coast and regardless of what year it is or how well the Irish are playing, there has always been an Irish fan base to watch the s tanford-n otre d ame ri valry put another faceoff in the books.

Contact Mannion McGinley at mmcginl3@nd.edu

The Observer Archives

Former Irish linebacker Manti Te’o takes down the ballcarrier in Notre Dame’s 20-13 win over Stanford on Oct. 13, 2012. Only the Stanford defense scored a touchdown, as the Irish had the offense locked up.

The Observer Archives

Former Irish linebacker Manti Te’o leads the Irish defense to maintain their undefeated season, stumping Stanford at the one in an overtime win 20-13 on Oct. 13, 2012. The Cardinal started the downs at the four.

The

Former Observer Sports Editor Theresa Kelly discussed the wellrepresented Notre Dame crowd in Palo Alto for the 1989 matchup.

COLuMN

momentum going ahead of major opponents down the line (I’m looking at you, c lemson); the team cannot afford a m arshall repeat. Give me a blowout in an electric night game setting and this weekend will hopefully rocket the Irish to success for the re mainder of the season.

Notre dame 42, Stanford 13

Liam Coolican — a ssociate Sports Editor

Two teams headed in op posite directions will meet in s outh b end s aturday night. n otre d ame has as much momentum as any team in college football right now. Their offense has come into its own and the defense has continued to stand out against qual ity opponents. s tanford,

meanwhile, is in the midst of a four game slide and has yet to defeat an F bs op ponent. The Irish crowd, after two rough home games to start the year, will be out in full force for a night game after two im pressive wins away from n otre d ame s tadium. The c ardinal will struggle to get anything going from the opening snap, and n otre d ame will get a statement, and lopsided, win.

Notre dame 45, Stanford 10.

Contact Aidan Thomas, Mannion McGinley, Nate Moller, Madeline Ladd, Liam Coolican and Emily DeFazio at athoma28@nd.edu, mmcginl3@nd.edu, nmoller@nd.edu, mladd2@nd.edu, lcoolica@nd.edu and edefazio@nd.edu.

Where Ben Morrison ranks among recent Irish recruiting steals

Aidan Thomas sports editor

Within just weeks, three-star cornerback re cruit b enjamin m orrison claimed a starting job within the vaunted n otre d ame defense. m orrison came to s outh b end as the second-highest cor nerback recruit in the class, with many figuring four-star Jaden m ickey to challenge for early play ing time. m ickey has played some very impor tant snaps for the Irish, but it is the previously lit tle-known m orrison that has carved out a regular role.

Where does m orrison rank amidst recent Irish recruiting steals? The Irish have molded several lower-rated recruits into dominant starters, but did any get off to as fast a start as the Phoenix, Arizona, native?

Where does Morrison fall m orrison came to n otre d ame ranked as the 311thbest recruit per 247 and the 35th-best corner back. h e received a .9000 grade on the dot from 247. m orrison wasn’t an early enrollee, so the headlines centered around m ickey and his brash confidence at the spring game. b ut after a strong camp and preseason, m orrison forced his way into the cornerback rota tion. h e played 29 snaps in

the opener at o hio s tate. h e usurped the start ing role a few short weeks after.

A three-star recruit that was seemingly a depth ad dition to a strong class, m orrison looks like one of the best recruiting steals for the Irish in recent memory.

To compare him to re cent and similar recruit ing steals, I looked at the litany of Irish three-star recruits that became bigtime contributors for the blue and gold. In order to create this list, a com bination of how quickly they became a starter and their overall impact on the team over their career was considered.

recent recruiting Steals

7. Logan diggs d iggs filled a big hole late in the 2021 recruiting cycle for n otre d ame. The Irish went hard after even tual c lemson commit Will s hipley, and they needed to pivot late.

They grabbed d iggs, ranked as the 504th-best player and 35th-best run ning back. While d iggs never was rb1 as a fresh man, d iggs appeared in eight games, filling some critical roles especially when eventual fifth-round draft pick Kyren Williams was drafted.

6. Jarrett Patterson

Patterson wasn’t ex actly a highly underrated

recruit, but he did enter n otre d ame ranked as the 25th-best offensive tackle in the country and the 369th-best player.

h owever, Patterson has established himself as a linchpin of the Irish offen sive line in recent years.

As a sophomore, he start ed all 13 games of the 2019 season at center.

h e’s moved around be tween tackle and center over his career, but outside of missing the end of the 2020 season due to injury, Patterson has been a fulltime starter since cracking the lineup.

5. Clarence Lewis

In a bit of irony, Lewis, who just largely lost his job to m orrison, comes in at n o. 5. Given recent events and Lewis’s struggles, it’s easy to forget he came in as a freshman and took over a starting role on a c ollege Football Playoff-bound team. Lewis played in nine games as a freshman, taking over as a starter in n ovember. h e entered as the 727th-ranked prospect and 58th-ranked corner back. h e stays lower on the list given he has since been surpassed on the depth chart.

4. Benjamin Morrison

For now, m orrison slots in at n o. 4. h e’s got a lot to prove, but after becom ing a starter by Week 3 of his true freshman year, and given the fact that he wasn’t an early enrollee,

his rapid ascent merits a rise up this list.

3. Kyren Williams

o ne of the best skill po sition players out of n otre d ame in the past few years, Kyren Williams didn’t come to s outh b end with otherworldly amounts of hype. h is .8918 recruit grade was modest, and he clocked it at n o. 367 on the 247 recruit rankings. e ven within the running backs, he was only ranked n o. 24 on the list.

o f course, Williams be came a starter as a sopho more and pushed the Irish to a playoff berth in 2020. h is 140-yard, three-touch down effort against n o. 1 c lemson, including a 65yard touchdown run on his first rush of the game, remains a legendary per formance. h e finished his career with back-to-back 1000-yard seasons before departing for the n FL.

2. Joe a lt

Alt was almost forced into a starting role with underperformance and injury issues along the Irish offensive line. b ut after entering at left tack le against c incinnati, Alt took over the starting job against v irginia Tech. h e stabilized n otre d ame’s most questionable posi tion and emerged as the clear starting left tackle for at least the next three years. Alt has almost seamlessly transitioned

into this season as a starter, performing as the Irish’s best offensive line man for most of the sea son. It’s easy to forget he entered with a .8862 pros pect grade, rated as the 408th-best recruit in the country.

1. Kurt Hinish Kurt h inish has been ex ceeding expectations long before he surprisingly made the h ouston Texans roster this past preseason. b efore that, h inish en tered as the 520th-ranked recruit and 43rd-ranked defensive tackle in the 2017 class. h e immediately became a contributor as a freshman, appearing in 12 games in his first year. h e had his coming out party in the U sc rivalry clash, totaling a then-careerhigh three tackles against the Trojans.

Ultimately, his colle giate career-high would amount to 10 in the 2022 matchup against navy. h inish played in 63 games over five years for the Irish, totaling 28 tackles and 2 sacks. The nose guard jumped from littleknown three-star recruit to starting lineup staple for half a decade, earn ing the n o. 1 spot on this list.

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu.

The views in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

history of the matchup through the eyes of The observer: notre dame vs. stanford

By MANNION McGINLEY Assistant managing editor

The n otre d ames tanford rivalry is a longstanding matchup, dating back to the close of Knute r ockne’s seventh sea son as head coach, the first n otre d ame national championship. s ince then, n otre d ame leads the se ries 21-13.

The teams have gone head to head every year since 1988, sans the 2020 c ovid-affected season, and The o bserver has been there to catch it all. b efore the Irish take the field against the c ardinal once again, these are the moments that have made the rivalry what it is today.

1925: The Rose Bowl

In the 1924 season, the Irish went 10-0 under r ockne in the regular sea son. They took that perfect record all the way to the r ose b owl on the backs of the “Four h orsemen.” This moniker followed the legendary backfield that included fullback e lmer Layden and half backs d on m iller and Jim c rowley, led by quarter back h arry s tuhldreher.

With the h orsemen, the Irish played in a modified single wing known as the n otre d ame b ox.

o nce they made it to the r ose b owl, the Irish found the c ardinal wait ing for them in Pasadena.

The c ardinal went 7-1-1 on the season, 3-0-1 in the Pacific c oast c onference, under head coach Pop Warner. They spent the season undefeated, and this was the second time s tanford made it to the postseason.

In front of 60,000 fans, on Jan. 1, 1925, The Irish won 27-10 over the c ardinal.

While there were no polls to determine a national champion at the time, this would go down as n otre d ame’s first national championship due to later analyses creating a con sensus around the team.

n otre d ame would take the field three more times

against s tanford in the next 60 years, losing only one of those matchups.

1988: The annual show downs begin

In 1988, the Irish were ranked n o. 5 heading into the matchup. The c ardinal came to s outh b end on o ct. 1 that season, which was n otre d ame’s fourth game of the year. The Irish started the season ranked n o. 13. After beating n o. 9 m ichigan, they jumped to n o. 8.

Two more wins over m ichigan s tate and Purdue brought them to n o. 5 before they would beat s tanford 42-14, win out on the season, rise to n o. 1 and then take the na tional championship. That year’s performance also included a 31-30 win over (then) n o. 1 m iami.

1989: The Legends Trophy is born

With the second an nual rivalry game came a new annual tradition. Whichever team won the matchup would take home the Legends Trophy. The trophy itself is “awarded by the n otre d ame c lub of the s an Francisco b ay Area” to the winner of the n otre d ame- s tanford con test each year. It combines Irish crystal in the cup and a c alifornia redwood base.

“It’s a beautiful trophy. They took good care of it last year, and we’ll take good care of it this year,” Lou h oltz said in 1991 after a 42-26 win over s tanford.

1990 upset starts an evensplit decade

In 1990, the Irish were primed to return to the national c hampionship. r anked n o. 1, just two years after their ’88 crown ing, they wanted another. That is until an unranked s tanford stepped into n otre d ame s tadium. The final score was 36-31 in fa vor of the c ardinal. h oltz said he “couldn’t recall ever being in a loss which was as difficult as the de feat at the hands of the

c ardinal” — at least not in n otre d ame s tadium.

The Irish hadn’t given up 36 points since they de feated U sc five years ear lier in h oltz’s first season. They hadn’t given up 36 points at home or in a loss since a 36-32 fall to s outh c arolina before h oltz even became head coach. s everal Irish fumbles be came c ardinal touch downs and the defense couldn’t keep up.

The 1990 loss turned the series into a yo-yo. In the 10 games until 2001, the Irish went 5-5 with the c ardinal. In 1992, the Irish fell to s tanford again, which became their only loss of the sea son. Again, s tanford broke into the 30s, winning 3316. A n o. 4 and n o. 8 Irish squad would win the ’93, ’94 matchups, respectively (48-20, 34-15). h owever, after a two-year hiatus, the Irish let s tanford break 30 points once more and snag another win in 1997. n otre d ame would flip the script in 1998 with an almost identically scored win, 35-17.

At the turn of the cen tury, the two teams each won a game in their tra ditional fashion. The ’99

s tanford team won be hind a strong offense that a mistake-filled Irish de fense couldn’t stop and the Irish offense could barely keep up with. The Irish defense allowed scoring passes of 62 and 38 yards to s tanford receiver Troy Walters. And s tanford’s Aaron Focht took an Irish fumble 37 yards to the house. d espite the sloppy play, n otre d ame tied the game at 37 with 1:32 re maining in regulation.

A roughing-the-pass er penalty on the Irish though, set up s tanford

kicker m ike b iselli’s gamewinning 22-yard field goal as time expired. The loss had mirrored a particu larly frustrating season for the Irish. After the game, Irish head coach b ob d avie told the o bserver “I don’t ever want to be 5-7 again.”

To start the new mil lennium, the Irish were back to themselves, win ning a low-scoring defen sive matchup, 20-14. The aughts shone a s tanford flash in the pan though as

Observer Archives

The 1988 Observer sports staff wrote about Notre Dame and Stanford’s first match up in the 1925 Rose Bowl where Notre Dame was crowned the National Champion behind the Four Horsemen on Jan. 1.

1989 Stanford quarterback Brian Johnson prepares to throw

ball in an Observer photo from before the

matchup.

Commitment, work ethic bring freshman cornerback Benjamin Morrison to prominence

By EMILY DeFAZIO Associate Sports Editor

Freshman cornerback

Benjamin Morrison has already begun to make a name for himself in the Notre Dame football pro gram. The newcomer has played in all five games this season, boasting sev en tackles to his name al ready, and has secured a spot at the top of the Irish depth chart.

Morrison joins the ranks of senior Cam Hart and graduate student TaRiq Bracy in the position group. While he was not present for spring ball, he was an immediate stand out during fall camp. This came from both his natu ral affinity for the game, as well as his commitment to learning and improving.

“Ben Morrison is a guy that understands college football, the technical side of it,” head coach Marcus Freeman said. “He’s blessed with God-given

ability, but mentally he understands what it takes to have success at this level.”

For Morrison, a large part of understanding the game comes with slow ing it down. The fastpaced nature of college football is something the cornerback had to get used to upon getting to campus, and he said that the key to being success ful in that kind of an envi ronment is putting in the work.

A lot of this work for Morrison translates into the film room, which he frequents often. Watching the film, he said, is how a player can develop into a playmaker on the field.

“It really is mental. You hear about these freak athletes but you don’t hear how much time they put in to study for the game,” Morrison said.

“The reason why they’re able to make those plays is because how much they

study… you gotta be in the film room to make plays.”

Work undoubtedly oc curs on the field as well, both in practice and in a game setting. Morrison mentioned knowing when to look back has been a key factor in his game, and this helps him to see the bigger picture in front of him.

“Being able to see not just what you’re looking at but ultimately what’s go ing on around you… that’s when the game kind of slows down,” he said.

For a freshman, Morrison has gained a lot of experience in Irish uniform. He said that be cause he is young, he has a lot of room to improve, but that he is excited for that process. He said the moment where things start to click will reaffirm that he is doing some thing right; this moment may come sooner than

Harvard transfer Chris Smith prepares for bigger role

By LIAM COOLICAN Associate Sports Editor

A year ago, Notre Dame’s defensive line was one of the deepest units on the team. But after star defen sive linemen Kurt Hinish and Myron TagovailoaAmosa graduated and junior Aidan Keanaaina suffered an ACL injury in the spring, it became clear the Irish needed reinforcements.

When Notre Dame brought in Chris Smith, a graduate transfer from Harvard, he wasn’t expect ed to compete for a start ing job. That was before Jacob Lacey unexpected ly announced he would be entering the transfer portal.

Now, Smith must step up and take on a bigger role than he may have been expecting.

“The guys here have been great in helping me

adjust,” Smith said after practice on Tuesday. “It’s felt like family since I’ve gotten here.”

Against BYU last week, with senior Howard Cross III also absent due to a high ankle sprain, Smith saw a season-high 28 snaps. That was the second most among Irish defen sive linemen, according to Blue and Gold Illustrated.

Smith also saw 28 snaps in the season opener against Ohio State but his usage rate declined signif icantly since then.

“I know every guy wants to play every single snap, but that obviously can’t happen, so just doing what we can,” Smith said.

Smith steps up in larger role

Alongside sophomore Gabriel Rubio, Smith — who is listed at 6’1 and 310

VIGILANTE

Irish cornerback Benjamin Morrison celebrates a kick that graduate transfer Blake Grupe made during Notre Dame’s 28-20 win over BYU.

CHRIS SMITH

Irish graduate transfer Chris Smith and the rest of the defensive line tries to block a BYU field goal attempt on Saturday. The 28-20 win over the Cougars moved the Irish to 11-0 in the Shamrock Series.