Series Recap: Notre Dame vs. Stanford

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, PEOPLE

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday yesterday. It might not have been great for how we got here, but I’m thankful for this team not repeating last year’s debacle of a season.

It is an odd year on the calendar, so that means the Notre Dame Fighting Irish help round out the Thanksgiving weekend by playing the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto, CA. This series with Stanford has been an interesting one to say the least. There didn’t seem to be too much animosity until the last decade or so. The annual game ends up making us just pissed off for how close the game is, a loss, and/or David Shaw’s seemingly unending complaining about the littlest things.

Historically there haven’t been too many games in this series, but we have played each other every year since 1997. Let’s take a look at this series.

ND vs. Stanford: The Series

The Irish and the Cardinal have played each other 31 times, and ND has a 19-12 series lead. The first game was the Rose Bowl in 1925, Notre Dame’s first ever bowl game. We did not play each other much until the 1980s, and from there it has been relatively back and forth. We did win 7 in a row in the 2000s, but since 2009 the game has been up for grabs.

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Lowlights

2009: First time we lost to them in 8 years. Toby Gerhart ran all over us. This game sent Charlie Weis on the way out of South Bend. 45-38 final.

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

2007: We won the game, but we have to show David Grimes’ catch (and yes, it was a catch). This is still just such a ridiculous call. Also, we see it on commercials for Xfinity and DirecTV, but it still was called back.

2016: Yes, it’s fresh in our memories, but blowing that lead was absolutely brutal, and it was so indicative of the season last year.

Highlights

1925: The Rose Bowl. Knute Rockne against Pop Warner. Very very cool.

2005: ‘Twas a good time, indeed. Samardzija’s little “come here” motion to the Stanford DB was great.

2012: Perfection and then the heavens opened up. The most fun I’ve ever had in the rain. You all know the story.

Go Irish. Beat Cardinal.