Notre Dame vs. Stanford Point Spread – Free Pick ATS 11/27/21
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1 SU, 8-3 ATS) vs. Stanford Cardinal (3-8 SU, 3-8 ATS)
Date/Time: Saturday, November 27th, 8:00 PM
Where: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, CA
TV: FOX
Point Spread: ND -19 / STAN +19 (BetNow – The BEST sportsbook bonus from a legit book! They’ll match your deposit with a real cash bonus up to $1000! Bet your games for FREE all week!)
Over/Under Total: 52.5
For the 35th since 1925, the Stanford Cardinal and Notre Dame Fighting Irish will battle it out on the football field, with the eventual victor taking home the games’ major prize of the Legend’s Trophy. The Irish hold a 21-13 all-time advantage versus the Cardinal, and, depending on how the early Saturday games play out before, they could also be playing for a much more coveted reward, a spot in the BCS playoffs.
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
Notre Dame currently finds themselves ranked sixth in the BCS standings, with Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Michigan all ranked ahead of them. One of Ohio State and Michigan will be eliminated from contention after they play each other Saturday, but for the Irish to get into the playoff conversation, they would likely need Cincinnati (who they already lost to this season) to fall in the AAC Conference Championship game or have Alabama lose to either Auburn this weekend or Georgia bad enough in the SEC title game that it would allow ND to pass them in the standings.
CARDINAL CHOPPED
For Notre Dame to even find themselves in the playoff conversation at the end of the college football regular season, they will need to take care of business this week in California against a struggling but still well-coached Stanford team. The Cardinal were 3-2 after upsetting Oregon to start the month of October but have since seen their season drop off a cliff with a current streak of six straight losses by an average of over 20 points per game. Game planning around an offense ranking 121st in yards per game and a defense that’s 110th, there is only so much Stanford head coach David Shaw has to work within attempting to right the ship and end the Cardinal season on a high note.
DOWNTURN
For the Cardinal to have any sort of a chance at an upset, they will need better play from their quarterback Tanner McKee. Much like this team, McKee’s performance has plummeted since upsetting Oregon, having thrown eleven touchdowns and zero interceptions thru the first five games of the season and just three touchdowns compared to seven interceptions since. He will at least have things a little bit easier with Notre Dame star safety Kyle Hamilton expected to be out thanks to a knee injury, but Tanner and the team will absolutely need to find some offensive balance to pull off the upset.
RUNNING ON EMPTY
Unfortunately for the Stanford offense, their rushing attack has been stuck in neutral for most of the season, which is all the more evident considering they rank just near the basement bottom of the NCAA in rushing yards per game at 126th in the nation. Neither running back Nathaniel Peat or Austin Jones has rushed for over 80 yards in a game all season, and the current team leader in rushing touchdowns is their quarterback McKee, which sounds that much considering he averages just .5 yards per carry on the season. Austin Jones continues to lead the backfield in carries, despite having fewer touchdowns and a worse yards per carry than his counter mate Peat, but Jones remains the more consistent option through the air with 30 receptions on the season and should likely see more work if Notre Dame jumps out to a decent-sized lead early on.
TANNER’S TARGETS
The top options through the air for Stanford are tight end Benjamin Yurosek and wide receiver Elijah Higgins. Yurosek tops the Cardinal in receiving yards with 566 while Higgins leads in receptions with 42 and is second in touchdowns catches with four. Despite being out since October 2nd due to an injury, wide receiver Brycen Tremayne continues to lead the team in touchdown receptions with five, having scored in every game he played this season. Unfortunately for Tanner McKee and the rest of the Cardinal, Tremayne will continue to be unavailable in their season finale on Saturday.
COAN OF ACCURACY
Notre Dame’s offense has not run into the same issues as Stanford, thanks mainly to the leadership of quarterback Jack Coan. The senior signal-caller has thrown for 18 touchdowns compared to only five interceptions while completing 67% of his passes. He has been especially on point of late with just one int. over his last four games and putting up a completion percentage of at least 75% in each of his previous three games. The Irish have also used Tyler Buchner to offset Coan at times at the position. While Buchner needs more time to improve his accuracy, the fast freshman has proven effectiveness at making plays with his feet and provides an additional matchup factor for the Cardinal to deal with at the head of the Notre Dame offense.
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PROP IT UP
One of the biggest stars of the Irish offense and certainly the one to watch for on Saturday is running back Kyren Williams. The sophomore has scored at least one touchdown in nine of his last ten games and has been hitting the endzone at a more elevated pace of late, with eight scores in his past five contests. He hasn’t cleared the century mark in his last three games, but that is more due to the blowout nature of their wins. While none have been posted so far, I would definitely advise taking the over on whatever Kyren Williams prop bets end up being posted. The Cardinal rushing defense is beyond terrible (127th in the country) and has only gotten worse as the season comes to a close, having allowed 12 rushing touchdowns over their past three games. Williams should be in for a huge night on the stat sheet Saturday in Stanford.
AIR BUDS
The biggest threats through the air for the Irish are tight end Michael Mayer and wide receiver Kevin Austin. Both have at least 650 yards receiving and five touchdowns on the season thus far and are usually the first two read options for Coan on passing plays. Thankfully they are not alone, as senior speedster Avery Davis has come on more of late with a score in three of his last four games, and all three should see plenty of looks against a Stanford passing defense that ranks an impressive 31st in the country, but that’s mostly because their opponents have usually blown them out by the second half and spent the remainder of the game running all over them and out the clock.
THE FINAL DECISION
Notre Dame has now put up double-digit wins in five straight seasons and has been incredibly consistent in taking care of business when they were expected to win, having won 41 consecutive games against unranked opponents. They have also been able to find success when piling up points, currently riding an impressive 51 game winning streak when scoring over 20 points and certainly looking in an excellent position to continue that run against a Stanford defense that is ranked 97th in points allowed and have given up at least 20 points in every game they’ve played this season. The Cardinal have undoubtedly found great success of late against top tier competition at home, currently riding an impressive seven-game winning streak against top ten teams at Stanford Stadium, but with all Notre Dame has to play for and a game lined up to load up on Kyren Williams prop bets, I expect Irish to end their regular season with a resounding win and cover against Stanford on Saturday night.
Mike’s Pick to Cover the Point Spread: Notre Dame -19. Did you know… You can make the Fighting Irish a +1 underdog by inserting them into a massive 20 point college football teaser offered at Wagerweb Sportsbook?
