CFB Week 13: (19) Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Stanford Cardinal
Notre Dame is 8-3 ATS this season, while Stanford has dropped 3 of 5 ATS
Nine wins will never be acceptable in South Bend, but that’s what Notre Dame (8-3) will be shooting for when they head to Palo Alto, California to take on the Stanford Cardinal (3-8 / 5-6). In a game where watching the Stanford band might be as compelling as watching the Irish run up the score in front of a heavy pro-Notre Dame crowd.
We can add a wager to this to make our walk back the the wooded parking lot more tolerable or downright unbearable. Current College Football betting lines show the Irish as a 27-point favorite with a total of 51.5. We start our Notre Dame vs Stanford prediction preview with an in-depth look at the Irish.
Scene Of The Crime
The last time Notre Dame was in Stanford Stadium, then coach Brian Kelly, he had other plans other than going home with his team after the Irish handed the Cardinal a 45-24 loss. Kelly was on his way to LSU with as much as a text goodbye. No, we don’t count the 11th-hour meet and greet that Kelly planned that was attended by a handful of players.
Freeman will take an offense that is 10th in the country with 6.8 yards per play for a team that averages almost 21 second-half points this NCAAF season. Their special team has been just that all season, with the fifth most yards per kickoff return (26.2). Notre Dame clubbed Wake Forest last week, 45-7, as a 23.5-point favorite. QB Sam Hartman was 21/29, 277 yards, with four touchdowns and no picks.
Notre Dame has clinched a winning record for bettors this season and now has rotated years in the black over the last four seasons. In that span, the Irish are 26-18 ATS and 47-31 ATS since 2017 (+12.86 units). As a favorite, Notre Dame is on a 38-27-2 run and 14-8-1 ATS as a road favorite. Against Stanford, Notre Dame is 9-8 ATS since 2005, 6-3 ATS on the road. The Irish hope a convincing win would move them up in the college football rankings. We continue our Notre Dame vs Stanford prediction preview by putting the spotlight on Stanford.
Stanford Has Had Their Moments, Last Week Wasn’t One
The Cardinals can say they hung tough with Arizona and Washington, but while they’re boasting about that, it’s really a redirection from bad losses to Sacramento State as a 6.5-point favorite and last week against California as a dog 7-point dog.
They weren’t favored to win, but it was the manner in which they lost against a team they should have moved the ball against. Outscored 14-6 in the first half and 13-9 in the second, Stanford was down by six heading into the fourth, but it never felt like they would give us the cover.
They’ll be facing the nation’s third-ranked passing defense in Notre, but we do expect the Cardinal to be much better on offense than they were last week. With the college football schedule coming to a close, this is Stanford’s Super Bowl, and we’re going to bet accordingly.
Wait To Make Your Wager
The total sits at 52.5. We expect this number to come down more, so wait to get every half point you can. For a defense that gives us 456.3 yards per play, with over 312 of that coming in the air, Hartman will likely have the game of his life in his last collegiate start.
Ashton Daniels will be better than he was against Cal after completing just 51.4% for 188 yards. We think you’ll see the Irish do what they like on offense against the Cardinal, who will do just enough to push this game over the total. That does it for our Notre Dame vs Stanford prediction preview, all the best with your wagers this week.
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