The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on the Stanford Cardinal in Stanford, California. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Notre Dame is favored by 32 points on the spread with a moneyline of -10000. Stanford, meanwhile, comes in as a +32 underdog and is +2500 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. The over/under sits at 49.5 total points.
Here’s my Notre Dame vs. Stanford prediction and college football picks for Saturday, November 29.
Notre Dame vs Stanford Prediction
- Notre Dame vs. Stanford Pick: Over 49.5
My Stanford vs. Notre Dame best bet is on both teams to go over the total. Find the best line available on our live NCAAF odds page.
Notre Dame vs Stanford Odds
| Notre Dame Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-32 -110 | 49.5 -110o / -110u | -10000 |
| Stanford Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+32 -110 | 49.5 -110o / -110u | +2500 |
- Notre Dame vs Stanford Spread: Notre Dame -32, Stanford +32
- Notre Dame vs Stanford Over/Under: 49.5 Points
- Notre Dame vs Stanford Moneyline: Notre Dame -10000, Stanford +2500
Notre Dame vs Stanford College Football Betting Preview
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Betting Preview: Dominating Despite Injuries
From the ashes of 0-2, Notre Dame has quickly ascended to one of the top teams in the country. Chris Ash's defense went from one of the most suspect units in the FBS to one of the most difficult to score on with the shift from Week 4 to Week 5.
Notre Dame isn't just beating its competition; it's taking no prisoners along the way.
Fire up the Heisman campaign for running back Jeremiyah Love, who saw the biggest adjustment to his Heisman odds after last week.
Love rushed for 173 yards and a trio of scores in a 70-7 boat-racing of Syracuse last week… on just eight carries.
Love leads FBS running backs with 7.1 yards per carry (min. 125 carries) and stands third with 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Love's success has almost completely overshadowed a strong campaign from true freshman quarterback CJ Carr.
If there's any weakness in the Fighting Irish, it's from a line that, yet again, has been wiped out by injury.
Billy Schrauth, the top offensive lineman, hasn't played since Week 8. Preseason starting left tackle Charles Jagusah has now missed two consecutive seasons to injury, and starting center Ashton Craig was lost for the year back in mid-October.
As a result, Notre Dame's line only generates 1.41 Line Yards per rush (14th-worst nationally), and 22.5% of ND's rush attempts go for two or fewer yards (also 14th-worst).
But this defense is packed with top-tier talent.
Cornerback Leonard Moore, linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and safety Adon Shuler are all among the nation's best at their respective positions, and they're all sophomores. Safety Tae Johnson and Boubacar Traore also return next year on this unit.
Heading into 2026, this could be the nation's most talented defense.
Despite giving up 98 points in its first three games, Notre Dame now ranks 12th nationally in Points Per Drive allowed. The Irish are top-five in yards per play margin (+2.3), available yards margin (+20.4%), EPA margin and net points per drive.
And yet, it sits on the fringe of the College Football Playoff field. More on that below.
Stanford Cardinal Betting Preview: [Editorial Language]
At 4-7, Stanford is essentially eliminated from bowl contention.
An improbable win in Week 14 as a near 30-point underdog and not enough teams making a bowl (there are currently 82 teams at 5-6 or better for 72 bowl spots) is what's needed for Stanford to perhaps sneak in with the best APR scores among those 5-7 teams.
It's a team in need of a permanent head coach, but it's clear there's some promise in the future. General manager Andrew Luck has brought some semblance of life to the program, but the fan support still isn't there.
All four Cardinal wins this season came in Palo Alto. Those wins include two outright upsets as multi-touchdown 'dogs against Florida State and Boston College.
They've also fared better in losses at home, with a 35-20 loss to Pitt being the lone blemish on that home resume.
Stanford has made the change from veteran quarterback Ben Gulbranson to redshirt freshman Elijah Brown. Brown has three touchdown passes in 2.5 games but hasn't been much of an upgrade from Gulbranson.
Receiver CJ Williams has been an unsung hero on this offense. He has 735 receiving yards and averages 2.0 yards per route run with six touchdowns.
But Williams isn't a one-man show, and there's almost nothing by way of explosive play potential through the air or on the ground.
The Stanford defense is what has kept most games competitive. In wins, Stanford held three of four opponents under 21 points and two of them under 14.
It's far from a good unit — Stanford sits 78th in Success Rate allowed and 73rd in Points Per Drive allowed — but outings where it held BYU to 27 and North Carolina to 20 give the stop unit some semblance of an identity.
The problem is, the Cardinal's defensive front isn't good enough. Defensive lineman Clay Patterson has five sacks (second-most in the ACC among defensive tackles), but Stanford's 2.02 Line Yards surrendered is inside the bottom 10 nationally.
At this point in the season, Stanford almost certainly has its sights set on 2026 and beyond. That includes finding a dedicated coach and further program investment.
Notre Dame vs Stanford Pick, Betting Analysis
Notre Dame's biggest advantage in the national college football landscape is also its biggest disadvantage.
Not playing in a conference affords Notre Dame the luxury of scheduling who it wants, though it often takes the more difficult route, having played Texas A&M, Ohio State and Wisconsin outside of ACC and rivalry play.
But it also means the Irish's CFP resume ends with Week 14. Inevitably, they will be ranked between 10-12 in the Week 13 CFP rankings and get bumped during conference championship weekend.
Being ranked ninth doesn't guarantee Notre Dame a playoff seat. So, in Week 14, the Irish need to score style points.
We saw that in an almost-unfathomable 70-7 destruction of Syracuse last week. For a measuring stick, No. 1 Ohio State beat FCS Grambling State by the same score back in September.
Two weeks earlier, Notre Dame blew out rival Navy, 49-10. Head coach Marcus Freeman understands the gravity of those games and doesn't take his foot off the gas.
Luckily for Freeman, he doesn't need to risk his best assets while keeping his foot on the throttle.
Jaradian Price gives the Irish a great No. 2 option behind the Heisman-contending Love. Price finished with 70 yards and a touchdown on just four carries in that Syracuse win. He has over 650 rushing yards and nine scores on the year.
Notre Dame is vastly superior to Stanford this weekend; a -32.5 spread makes that abundantly clear. Teams in the Eastern Time Zone haven't loved playing at 10:30 p.m. (7:30 PT), and laying 32.5 points on the road is just bad practice.
So, I'm accounting for two outcomes.
The first is a total Notre Dame beatdown where it covers most, if not all, the point total by itself. That's not an unreasonable assessment of this game.
The second is that Stanford sticks around and does so with some scoring plays. It's highly unlikely Stanford's defense holds Love, Price and the passing attack in check.
But Stanford's season may as well have ended last week.
A big rivalry win over Cal accomplished everything Frank Reich and the Cardinal could have at this juncture of the season. A win over Notre Dame would certainly draw eyes, but it's far from a checklist item for this season to be graded as a success or failure.
Notre Dame needs to make a statement to ensure its seat at the playoff table and to make a final push for Love's Heisman campaign. That means scoring often and covering most of the point total on its own.
Pick: Over 49.5
