With Wk 12 of the NCAA Football 2015 Regular Season a thing of the past, we move on into Wk 12 with some real interesting games. One in particular is the Week 11 AP No. 5 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 10-1 playing at the Week 11 AP No. 15 Cardinals of Stanford 9-2 with the game being played the Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California with kick-off scheduled for 7:35 PM ET and seen on FOX TV.
As the 2015 College Football Regular season winds down it is time to try and determine a clearer picture of this season College Football Playoffs. This game will give us a better picture if Notre Dame beats Stanford as the Fighting Irish are a prime contender for a berth in the fourth playoff spot, and that would give them a shot at the National Title this season. Meanwhile a win by the Cardinals could bring about a cloudy picture of the CFP’s.
If you are one to Bet on College football at a sportsbook, and are a fan of the 10-1 Fighting Irish of Norte Dame, your team did not have an easy task, as they struggled somewhat to gain a 19-16 win over the Eagles of Boston College. The Eagles defense which entered this game with ranked 3rd in the nation for scoring defense allowing just 14 points each game this season gave Notre Dame all they could handle. In that game Notre Dame had 5 turnovers of which 3 were in the red zone, and their QB D. Kizer made 3 of the 5 with intercepted passes.
The Fighting Irish QB Kizer with the exception of the 3 interceptions he had a decent game as he completed 20 of his 38 pass attempts and had some 322 passing yards in the game. In this game with the Cardinals QB Kizer will need to avoid costly interceptions, as Stanford also has a very strong defense.
Offensively the running game for the Irish only managed 126 yards in the game with the Eagles top rated run defense, and to beat the Cardinals they will have to rebirth their rushing offense. Unfortunately for the offense their star RB C. Prosise who against the Eagles had 58 yards rushing on 8 carries, and now is questionable against Stanford as he had an ankle injury in the 2 quarter of that game.
Defensively the Irish must step up their play in order to stop the Cardinals top RB C. McCaffrey. Against the Eagles the Irish front 7 allowed the Eagles some 2015 rushing yards this past Saturday. Interesting that in the ultimate 5 games between the Irish and the Cardinals the total in those games has been under.
Fans of the 9-2 Cardinals of Stanford, your team won the challenge they face last Saturday evening as they beat their rival Golden Bears of California 35-22 and with that win the took the Pac-12 North Division and lock in a spot for the Championship game for the Pac-12 Title.
The Cardinals RB C. McCaffrey in that game continued his strong performance as he rushed on 29 carries some 192 yards, and set a school record with 9 consecutive 100 yard games this season. He set a 2nd record for the school for total rushing yard in a game, as he accumulated 390 all purpose yard against Cal.
In their conference they have nothing remaining to play for on Saturday, but they are not interested in losing the game with the Irish. Their RB McCaffrey can challenge the Irish defense, but their defense still remains problematic against Notre Dame. In that game Stanford’s best defense struggled at making picks and there are lowest in the conference with only 7 interceptions in 2015.
This game with the Irish will be a get ready game for the Pac-12 Title game, and against the Irish in the last 3 home games the Cardinals won all 3 dating back to 2009.
The prediction is that even with a lot pending on a win by the Irish, the Cardinals and their RB McCaffrey who will have an outstanding game against Notre Dame, allow the Cardinals to beat the Irish 35-28.