Notre Dame Must Take Back Control Of The Stanford Rivalry
When it comes to rivalries, Notre Dame and Stanford don’t tend to populate many lists of the greats. Southern Cal will likely always be at the top of Notre Dame’s list of rivals. While the only years Notre Dame and Stanford haven’t met since 1988 1995, 1996 and the Covid affected 2020 season, the Irish-Cardinal rivalry just doesn’t have the same feel as ND-USC or Notre Dame vs Michigan.
But that’s not the feeling Irish head coach Marcus Freeman was putting out this week in the lead-up to Saturday’s game in Palo Alto.
"(I am) really motivated for the opportunity to play for the Legend’s Trophy,” Freeman began. "For many of the guys that were here last year (they) understand how disappointing that loss was to them and there won’t be a lack of motivation this week to go compete for that trophy and this great rivalry that dates back for many years. We understand how important that is to this university, but also to our football program.”
Last year’s 16-14 Stanford win over the Irish at Notre Dame Stadium left a bad taste in Irish mouths and snapped a three-game ND winning streak in the series. Notre Dame won 14 of the 19 meetings with Stanford between 1988 and 2008, but the Cardinal have turned the tide since with wins in eight of the last 13 matchups.
"I think it’s an unbelievable rivalry,” Freeman proclaimed. "As you look at both of our institutions, the values we have in terms of student athlete experience, the educational values that both universities provide. I think it’s a great rivalry that we’re going to try to continue to have as long as we can. And again, as you guys know, those decisions are made by people above me but I’m always a proponent of making sure we can keep this rivalry as long as we can.”
Stanford’s winning ways over the Irish began with back to back wins in 2009 and 2010 before current Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh left to coach the San Francisco 49ers. David Shaw led the Cardinal to wins in four of five meetings between the Irish and Cardinal from 2013-2017, then Brian Kelly’s Irish won three straight before the Irish fell to the Cardinal last year in Freeman’s rookie season.
Shaw became the winningest coach in Stanford history during his tenure with a 96-54 record but stepped down last year after consecutive 3-9 seasons. Troy Taylor is in his first season at the Stanford helm after leading Sacramento State to a 30-8 record in three seasons at the FCS school (Sacramento State did not field a team in his second season in 2020).
"It’s a different team,” Freeman said of Taylor’s Cardinal. "Unique offense. (They) do a lot of different things. The one thing I’ll say about Stanford is they play extremely hard on all three phases. But they play hard, and I’ve got a lot of respect for a coach that gets their team to play that hard.”
Stanford is 3-8 heading into this Saturday’s 37th all-time meeting between the two private schools. They beat Hawaii in their season opener before losing their next four games before a double overtime win over Colorado. They’ve lost their last two games to Oregon State and Cal after beating Washington State 10-7 on Nov. 4.
The Fighting Irish are looking for their third straight win over Stanford in Stanford Stadium, which would match the program’s best winning streak there.
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