It really wasn’t all that long ago when national writers and national talking heads talked about Notre Dame VS Stanford as being one of the most underrated rivalries in college football. In my position, I saw a vast majority of fans look at this game as anything but a rivalry game — almost like they were trying to hard to be high and mighty about it.
I get it. Notre Dame and Stanford exist on two different planes of existence most of the time, but the numbers say otherwise. The record of this series
shows it as volatile and way more even than people want to admit.
The game has been played just 38 times, but 34 of them have been since 1988. Since Notre Dame’s national title season in 1988, Notre Dame has only NOT played Stanford three times; during the schedules’s secret strangeness of 1995 and 1996, and during COVID in 2020.
It doesn’t take a data scientist to look at these numbers and NOT be at least a little torn about how good or not good that it is.
Certainly schedule frequency shouldn’t be the biggest factor when determininig a rivalry, but you can make a case that as far as the actual game is concerned (rankings and stakes) Notre Dame vs Stanford has been right on par with USC vs Notre Dame — maybe bigger.
So, when Marcus Freeman talks about this game, he gives it the proper respect it deserves.
“The message right now is the opportunity to play for the Legends Trophy. We got it. And we got to do everything in our power to try to keep this thing. It’s a rivalry game. That’s what’s most important.”
“We got to respect our opponent. We got to respect the history and tradition of this game. And as we probably get into Thanksgiving, I’m going to talk about, I’m sure, the gratitude I have to be a part of this program, to lead this program, to be a part of with this group of coaches and players and staff members, but also this university and what it stands for, the people it impacts.”
“I’m grateful for it. And because I’m grateful for it, it’s my job to do everything in my power to make sure I’m being the best in my position that I can be. To me, gratitude reminds you of value. The opportunity that you have. I’m sure at some point in some way on Thursday I’m going to bring that up when we talk. But right now, the focus is going to be on this great opportunity that we have vs. Stanford on Saturday.”
“I think about the last three times we played Stanford, and we’ve been tied or down in the first quarter, so at the end of the first quarter. So we know the challenge. This program has improved since I first got here in ’21. I think about ’21 game at Stanford to where there are now they’ve improved, and I’m betting they continue to improve. So we got to go to work, got to prepare for good offense, that’s balanced, tough downhill run team.”
And that’s the type of focus that Notre Dame needs to win on Saturday — which the same type of focus they’ve need to win these last 9 games in a row. It’s why Marcus Freeman is a head coach of a major college football program and not some fan trying to convince others that this game is small or “beneath” Notre Dame and the use of the “rivalry” word.
Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week HAS to mean something. In a week where Notre Dame HAS to win (and win big) Marcus Freeman is getting the team ready by being respectful to the rivalry. It works — so deal with it.
