• Stanford will meet Notre Dame on Saturday at 1 p.m. in a battle for The Legends Trophy. The Legends Trophy is awarded to the winner. It is named in honor of the 1925 Rose Bowl meeting, which was said by sportswriters to contain more legends on one field than had ever played the game. The trophy was created by the Notre Dame Club of San Francisco Bay Area, appropriately from Northern California redwood with an Irish crystal bowl.
• Stanford will take the field for the final time this decade, a decade which saw them post 98 wins (to date), tied for the eighth-most in college football. The Cardinal’s 98 wins are tied for the most in the Pac-12 Conference this decade. After winning just 47 games and making two bowl appearances in the previous 10 years (2000-09), the Cardinal went to three Rose Bowls, an Orange Bowl and a Fiesta Bowl, in addition to the Sun Bowl (2), Foster Farms Bowl (1) and Alamo Bowl (1) this decade.
• Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw is in his ninth season as Stanford’s head coach. His 86 wins make him the winningest coach in program history. In the 15 seasons prior to Shaw taking over as head coach, Stanford won just 82 games.
• Stanford is 17-0 at home under David Shaw in nonconference games. The Cardinal has won its past 22 home nonconference games, with the last loss coming in 2007 against Notre Dame.
• A total of 20 true freshmen have made their first career appearances so far this season: Bradley Archer, Branson Bragg, Aeneas DiCosmo, Stephen Herron, Elijah Higgins, Jake Hornibrook, Austin Jones, Brock Jones, Spencer Jorgensen, Kyu Blu Kelly, Zahran Manley, Jonathan McGill, Barrett Miller, Drake Nugent, Joshua Pakola, Nathaniel Peat, Walter Rouse, Ryan Sanborn, Tristan Sinclair and Nicolas Toomer. While 20 total true freshmen have played in 132 combined games, a staggering 12 have played in more than four games.
• A total of 18 Cardinal have made their first career starts so far: Ryan Beecher (ILB), Branson Bragg (RT), Henry Hattis (RG), Stuart Head (SS), Houston Heimuli (FB), Elijah Higgins (WR), Jake Hornibrook (RG), Kyu Blu Kelly (CB), Jonathan McGill (NB), Barrett Miller (LG), Davis Mills (QB), J.J. Parson (NB), Andrew Pryts (ILB), Curtis Robinson (ILB), Walter Rouse (LT), Foster Sarell (RT), Osiris St. Brown (WR) and Jack West (QB). Thirty-eight different Cardinal have started at least one game for Stanford this season.
• Stanford ranks fourth nationally and first in the Pac-12 with four blocked kicks this season.