Although I think Stanford will win, and I think it will be close (1 td or less), I wouldn’t be surprised if it were one-sided, either.
If Stanford finally gets its running game going the way it is capable of doing, they will be highly efficient, they will wear down their opponents, they will keep ND’s offense of the field, and they will score a lot. And I could see a big win.
If, in his second start, Book has a very limited offense that Stanford is well-prepared for, and Stanford is able to exploit him due to his limited experience (SC’s Darnold, who eventually became amazing, lost his first game badly, against a good Utah defense), I could see a big win.
If Stanford is injured worse than I know, their offense could be a mess and they may not be able to stop ND’s offense, and I could see a lopsided loss.
If Stanford is emotionally depleted after Oregon and simply is unable to re-charge between consecutive road games, the second being across the country, I could see them getting in big trouble.
If Stanford comes out flat again and keeps making errors and drive-killing penalties and gets into a deep hole again, Notre Dame will be far less forgiving than Oregon and things could snowball.
So yeah, there are so many unknowns (injuries, inconsistent play, an almost-rookie qb who had an outstanding debut — but against a very bad defense, an elite running game that vanished despite almost everyone returning), almost nothing would surprise me.
If Stanford finally gets its running game going the way it is capable of doing, they will be highly efficient, they will wear down their opponents, they will keep ND’s offense of the field, and they will score a lot. And I could see a big win.
If, in his second start, Book has a very limited offense that Stanford is well-prepared for, and Stanford is able to exploit him due to his limited experience (SC’s Darnold, who eventually became amazing, lost his first game badly, against a good Utah defense), I could see a big win.
If Stanford is injured worse than I know, their offense could be a mess and they may not be able to stop ND’s offense, and I could see a lopsided loss.
If Stanford is emotionally depleted after Oregon and simply is unable to re-charge between consecutive road games, the second being across the country, I could see them getting in big trouble.
If Stanford comes out flat again and keeps making errors and drive-killing penalties and gets into a deep hole again, Notre Dame will be far less forgiving than Oregon and things could snowball.
So yeah, there are so many unknowns (injuries, inconsistent play, an almost-rookie qb who had an outstanding debut — but against a very bad defense, an elite running game that vanished despite almost everyone returning), almost nothing would surprise me.