Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 NOV. 27, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED He's a bit of a stereotypical Southern California quarterback in that way. "He just seems better able to make a play when things get a little bit messy. He seems to have a little bit more of an improvisation skill than Keller had. Keller would sometimes get into trouble with his pocket awareness. … K.J. seems to embody a bit of the gunslinger attitude." Similar to Notre Dame, Stanford and strong offensive line play are of- ten associated with one another. The Cardinal front five struggled through the first three games before stringing together four strong performances and then experiencing another rough patch. "Stanford won each of those four games against UCLA, Arizona State, Utah and Oregon, and they didn't give up a sack in any of those games," Rayburn stated. "Progress seemed pretty apparent, and then Oregon State gave them a much tougher bat- tle than anyone expected up front. Washington State really dominated. "… They really responded against Washington. … For the line to respond the way they did after two straight not great weeks was encouraging for Stanford and seemed to indicate they were going back to that level of play." Stanford's defense has been a salty and physical unit that dictates what offenses do in recent years, but that has not been the case in 2017. While the group allowed an av- erage of 21.4 points (No. 31 nation- ally) in the first 10 games, the yard- age numbers are up from previous seasons. Overall, Stanford permit- ted 393.1 yards per contest (No. 65) — 219.7 passing yards (No. 64) and 173.4 rushing yards (No. 75). However, against Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and Wash- ington, the Cardinal allowed merely 16.8 points and 332.0 total yards per game, showing the group may be coming together at the right time with the season nearing its end. "It's a tough group to figure out be- cause you look at the points given up, and it's a respectable number," Ray- burn said. "But most of the other stats you keep track of, it's not an elite unit by any of those measures. They're a much better second-half group … "This isn't one of those Stanford defenses where they impose their will on another offense and make that offense change to them. This is a Stanford defense that has to react. Over the past month, they've done a really good job." The front seven of the Cardinal de- fense is anchored by senior tackle Harrison Phillips, who led the team in stops (73) and sacks (5.0) after 10 contests. "He's a tireless worker," Rayburn said. "He has a great deal of skill, too. He's improved so much since he's been at Stanford. He was an All- American wrestler in high school, and I think that has consistently shown in how he's played in making plays on the first series, then the last series. "His ability to blow up the middle of the offensive line has gotten so much better. It's been critical to Stan- ford's success." Former Notre Dame recruit and Stanford junior safety Justin Reid holds down the back end of the unit, and had registered 69 tackles and a team-high five interceptions. But outside of Reid, the group has been inconsistent. "That inconsistency and missed opportunities have kind of been two major talking points with [defen- sive coordinator] Lance Anderson this season," Rayburn said. "[Safety] Frank Buncom really struggled early in the season, and Washington was his best performance of the season … "[Cornerback] Quenton Meeks has a bit of a good game, bad game where he can be victimized, but he can also make big plays. When it all comes together … it's an effective unit. But it's not the dominant unit that people thought it would be." Given the inconsistencies on de- fense and with the passing game, those are two areas that could go ei- ther way when the Cardinal line up against the Irish and impact the out- come of the potential top-25 matchup. "It's going to be interesting to see how Stanford's passing game con- tinues to evolve with K.J. Costello getting more comfortable and being able to involve more of the outside weapons, especially the tight ends," Rayburn stated. "I'd be kind of curi- ous how effective they are in terms of helping Bryce getting some opportu- nities against Notre Dame. "With Stanford's defense, what is encouraging is in the Washington game they were getting back to what Stanford fans call 'party in the back- field,' which is the defense making plays behind the line of scrimmage. If that trend continues in the right direction, I'd be curious to see how they fare against the very good Irish offensive line." ✦ GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD 2017 STANFORD SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 26 vs. Rice* W, 62-7 Sept. 9 at USC L, 42-24 Sept. 16 at San Diego State L, 20-17 Sept. 23 UCLA W, 58-34 Sept. 30 Arizona State W, 34-24 Oct. 7 at Utah W, 23-20 Oct. 14 Oregon W, 49-7 Oct. 26 at Oregon State W, 15-14 Nov. 4 at Washington State L, 24-21 Nov. 10 Washington W, 30-22 Nov. 18 California W, 17-14 Nov. 25 Notre Dame (ABC) 8 p.m. * at Sydney, Australia Junior safety Justin Reid, who compiled 69 tack- les and a team-high five interceptions during the Cardinal's 7-3 start, anchors the back end of the Stanford defense. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORDPHOTO.COM 2017 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Sept. 2 Temple W, 49-16 Sept. 9 Georgia L, 20-19 Sept. 16 at Boston College W, 49-20 Sept. 23 at Michigan State W, 38-18 Sept. 30 Miami (Ohio) W, 52-17 Oct. 7 North Carolina W, 33-10 Oct. 21 USC W, 49-14 Oct. 28 NC State W, 35-14 Nov. 4 Wake Forest W, 48-37 Nov. 11 at Miami (Fla.) L, 41-8 Nov. 18 Navy W, 24-17 Nov. 25 at Stanford (ABC) 8 p.m.