Notre Dame stands a good chance to continue their losing ways as they host the #16 Stanford Cardinals on Saturday at 3:35 PM Eastern. Sbg sportsbook opened with Stanford as a 4.5-point favorite and with an over/under of 59. The game can be seen on NBC.
Powerhouse Football
Stanford plays an appealing old school type of physical football in which they punish and abuse opponents and take no prisoners. The Cardinal has a record of 3-0 straight up and 2-1 against the spread and is coming off a 68-24 decimation of Wake Forest as 18-point home favorites as the game went over the total. Stanford has gone under the total in just 1 out of 3 games this season.
Stanford ranks 16th in the country for total offense and is 14th in the nation for rushing as head coach Jim Harbaugh has built a program that can consistently perform even with key graduation losses like last year’s Heisman Finalist running back Toby Gerhart.
Plenty of Weapons
Quarterback Andrew Luck has brought gamblers plenty of luck with a 64% completion rate and a 10/0 touchdown to interception ratio with a 9.6 yards per completion average. Luck is also 2nd on the team in rushing and is averaging 10.8 yards per carry. What scares opposing coaches is that Luck is a sophomore and they are no doubt hoping he goes to the NFL sooner rather than later. Running backs Stephan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney are both over 5 yards per carry and Doug Baldwin is averaging 19.4 yards per catch with 3 touchdowns.
Stanford is ranked a surprising 6th in the nation for defense to make for a complete team that can beat the college football lines in many ways.
More of the Same
After a promising win over Purdue on opening day Notre Dame has lost to Michigan and Michigan State. Last week they were embarrassed in overtime as State executed a fake field goal TD pass that was not covered. Dayne Crist has been great at quarterback and Notre Dame is ranked 8th in the nation for passing but the defense remains weak and is ranked 102nd.
Puppy Payouts
The dog has covered 4 out of the last 5 meetings in this series.