Stanford will visit South Bend as a 2.5-point favorite this weekend. Both teams were seen as outside contenders for a playoff spot when the season began, but each team’s schedule may prove to be their biggest obstacle. Notre Dame is 4-0 but has its traditional slate of big games and a midseason trip to Florida State because of its dalliance with the ACC game. Stanford has the fourth-toughest schedule this season according to FEI, a drive-based efficiency measure from Brian Fremau, and has already had one unfortunate loss to USC.
Even with the loss, Stanford is still viewed as an elite team according to most statistical ratings. The following chart shows a histogram of each team’s S&P+ rank compared with the rest of the country. S&P+ is a rating tool developed by Bill Connelly and measures a team’s explosiveness and consistency on a per-play basis. The rating is also adjusted for opponent quality and, this early in the season, is weighted against the preseason predicted strength of each team. A higher rating is better and the colored rectangle represents which bin each team’s rating falls in.
When Stanford has the ball
The following chart is similar to the one before, except now the graph is broken down into each team’s offense and defense components.
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