SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Let’s make one thing clear: At 1-4 and having lost 11 straight games against FBS opponents by an average of more than 18 points per defeat, this is not as bad as the Stanford Cardinal has been.
In 2003, Notre Dame beat Stanford 57-7. That came in Tyrone Willingham’s first visit to his former employer, not that Willingham had reason to run up the score.
The Irish were simply that much better than the Cardinal, relying on Julius Jones’ 218 yards on 23 rushes, a 9.5 yards per carry average.
Just shy of 20 years later, Stanford may have regressed back to those struggles, its weaknesses matching Notre Dame’s strengths, which are once again such a ground game.
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