Home -
NCAAF - Notre Dame gives Weis an going away present at Stanford
Notre Dame gives Weis an going away present at Stanford
Game Time: Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:00 AM ET
After being overpriced all season, the Fighting Irish are finally a great value on Saturday when they travel to Stanford to meet Jim Harbaugh's Cardinal team.
This is only the third time this season that Notre Dame is an underdog, and they are 2-0 ATS on the two occasions this season. The Irish are victims of high scrutiny almost every week because of the prestige of football they carry.
Yet this year, despite the fact that they are 6-5, they have done a pretty good job of dealing with a lot of that pressure. They’ve lost five games by a total of 21 points (4.2 PPG) and have been “in” every game that they have played.
This week, they face Stanford, a team that has struggled to deal with the target on their back and all of the expectations. The Cardinal may win, but there is now way they cover by 10 or more points against the Irish.
There is a lot of talk about Irish head coach Charlie Weis and if he’ll be back next year; but regardless, he’s always had his team playing hard and wanting to win. He may not have enough talent to win 10 games (due to a very difficult schedule) but he always has his team prepared and in a position to win in the fourth quarter. It helps his cause that he has one of the best quarterbacks in the nation leading his offense.
And on Saturday, Jimmy Clausen leads a dangerous passing attack against Stanford’s 98th ranked pass defense. Clausen is completing 67% of his passes for 307 yards per game with 23 touchdowns and just four picks. Receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd have combined for 121 receptions for 2005 yards and 19 touchdowns and they make Clausen’s job easy as a QB. Overall, the Irish have the nations sixth-best pass-offense and the 11th-best total offense.
Stanford defeated Oregon and USC in back-to-back weeks and it seemed as though everyone was jumping on the Cardinal bandwagon. They responded to all the attention by losing to California at home last week. They lost out on a share of the Pac-10 title and likely lost out on hopes of a January 1 bowl game.
Cal out-gained Stanford by 132 yards and had 15 more first downs. Cardinal freshmen QB Andrew Luck had one of the worst games of his young career. Luck completed 10 of 30 passes for 157 yards and had an interception. He repeatedly missed open targets and had it not been for a couple of big runs by Toby Gerhart, Stanford would’ve lost by a lot more.
Notre Dame defeated Stanford 28-21 last season. Clausen threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns and Notre Dame’s defense forced four turnovers. That pushed the Irish’ record to 6-2 ATS in their last eight meetings with the Cardinal and they are also 4-1 ATS against Stanford in the last five meetings visiting the Cardinal.
The Irish have been over-valued all season. Now, finally, they are getting undervalued as a huge underdog against an overrated Stanford squad. We expect the Irish to get the cover as the heavy underdogs on Saturday.
Free Pick: Notre Dame +10½ (-110)
For an opposing view, read Al McMordie's pick.