Notre Dame has been a red hot team the last two months and the driving force has been the play of the Irish defense. The Notre Dame defense has held opponents to just 11.6 points per game, 280.5 yards per game and 4.2 yards per play in its last eight games. Over its last four games, which includes matchups against a pair of ranked teams, Notre Dame has given up just 10.5 points, 233.8 yards and 3.4 yards per play. Notre Dame will look to continue playing dominant football against a struggling Stanford offense.

Here are the five keys to victory for the Notre Dame defense in this matchup against Stanford.

1. Be Locked In - Success in this game is primarily about Notre Dame coming into this game locked in from both a coaching and playing standpoint. Notre Dame needs to be focused on playing to the standard of an elite defense and not focus on how bad the opponent is. If they play to their standard the defense should completely shut Stanford down. From a coaching standpoint, that means coming in and continuing to play to the strengths of the defense. That means turning the front loose, attacking Stanford, being aggressive with the coverages and never letting up for 60 minutes.

From a player standpoint that means being focused on doing their jobs at a high level and playing within the structure of the game plan. When talented defenses do that they will dominate, and that's exactly what we've seen from the defensive players over the last month. The game plans have been sound and aggressive, the players are playing within the structure of the defense and the result is shutting opponents down week after week. Trying to "make plays" outside of the structure of the defense can result in mistakes and giving the offense cheap yards. That's been an issue for the defense the last two seasons in this game, and they need to clean that up today.

If Notre Dame's players are locked in and Chris Ash calls an aggressive game I expect this defense to completely shut down the Stanford offense.

2. Dominate The Line of Scrimmage - A big key in shutting Stanford down is dominating in the trenches. The Cardinal struggle to run the football and rank just 133rd in the country in rushing yards (84.4 YPG) and 134th in yards per attempt (2.6 YPA). Stanford also ranks 132nd in the country in sacks allowed. Notre Dame's defense ranks 13th in rushing defense (100.5 YPG) and 9th in yards allowed per attempt (3.0). It also ranks 9th in the country in sacks per game (3.0 PG), and according to PFF the Irish already have 267 pressures on the season. Consider that in 16 games last season the Irish defense had just 272 pressures. The Irish front has been outstanding during the 9-game win streak and they need to continue that in this matchup.

Shutting down the run is key number one. Stanford isn't good at running the ball and the Irish need to make sure that continues in this matchup. If success in this game is on the shoulders of Elijah Brown and the pass game that plays into Notre Dame's hands. It allows the pass rush to pin its ears back and gives the talented secondary a chance to make a lot of plays. If Notre Dame dominates up front the Cardinal are going to struggle to get into the end zone, at all.

3. Contain Sam Roush - One concern I have is that Stanford is able to methodically move the ball and eat up a lot of clock. Not concerned from the standpoint of I think they matchup well in this area, just that if they can do that it can keep the game closer than it should be. Running the ball effectively is part of that, but tight end Sam Roush having a big game is part of that as well. When he's going well, Roush can be a really good chain mover, whether its catching the ball on third down or getting the offense into manageable third down situations with good first and second down gains. Shutting him down really helps the Irish defense keep Stanford in check.

4. Get The Ball - Stanford ranks 92nd in the country in turnovers and Notre Dame ranks 9th in turnovers gained. Stanford is 1-3 in its last four games. They did not turn the ball over once in the 31-10 win over California, but they turned it over six times in the three losses. Pressuring Elijah Brown will force him into some tough throws and Stanford has put the ball on the ground nine times this season. One way to dominate Stanford the way this team should is for the defense to get a lot of early stops, including some turnovers that give their own offense some short fields. Do that and this game gets out of hand fast.

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