Toby Gerhart is a big and physical runner who enters Saturday's game with 23 rushing touchdowns.

With a Rose Bowl berth potentially on the line, the Cardinal could not contain Cal running back Shane Vereen, who was starting in place of the injured Jahvid Best. Vereen finished with three touchdowns and 193 yards on 42 carries.

Stanford had come off of impressive back-to-back wins over a pair of Top 10 teams in Oregon and USC, each time putting up over 50 points.

ABC will have the broadcast with a reverse mirror on ESPN for select markets. The telecast is set to begin Saturday night at 8 p.m.

OFFENSE: All season long, the Irish have faced a number of potent running backs. However, the best may have been saved for last in Toby Gerhart. The senior is a big and physical runner and is currently ranked third in the country in rushing yards per game, averaging 139.18. Also, Gerhart is the nation’s second best individual scoring player, picking up 12.91 points per game on 23 rushing touchdowns.

As a result, Stanford has the country’s 13^th-ranked rushing offense, amassing 219.27 yards per contest. With Notre Dame’s wildly inconsistent rush defense, ranked 80^th and ceding 160.27 yards per game, Gerhart will a focal point for the Irish in practice all week long.

Much of the Stanford’s offensive success hinges on its sound play up front. The offensive line returns three starters in center Chase Beeler, left guard Andrew Phillips and right tackle Chris Marinelli.

The Cardinal line has created running lanes for Gerhart, but has also been able to pass protect, allowing the second-fewest sacks per game in the nation, yielding .55 per game.

Because of the line’s sound protection, redshirt freshman Andrew Luck, a quarterback that the Irish were interested as a high school recruit, has had a very productive season.

The Cardinal passing offense ranks 60^th in the nation, gaining 217.18 yards per game.

Luck has 2,377 yards and 13 touchdowns to go with four picks on the season. The redshirt freshman is also mobile, having picked up a pair of touchdowns and 319 yards on the year.

Luck’s preferred targets are Ryan Whalen, the team’s leading receiver with 786 yards and three touchdowns, and Chris Owusu, who has a team-high five touchdowns and is second best with 636 yards.

DEFENSE: The Cardinal defense is average, allowing 391.91 yards per game, ranking 81^st overall. The weakness comes in the passing defense, which is 97^th in the nation, ceding 244 passing yards per game.

With Notre Dame’s passing offense ranking sixth in the nation, racking up 322 passing yards per game, the Cardinal secondary will have to improve its coverage and try to contain Golden Tate and Michael Floyd.

However, despite Stanford’s shortcomings in its defensive backfield, its two safeties, Bo McNally and Delano Howell are the squad’s leading tacklers, each with 69 stops. The reason is because both are instrumental in stopping opposing rushing attacks, with Stanford allowing 147.91 rushing yards per game, good for 66^th nationally.

Howell is also tied for the team high in interceptions with two.

Richard Sherman also has a pair of picks and has 47 tackles, good for fifth-best on the team.

The second tier of the Cardinal defense is also productive as two of Stanford’s linebackers are the third and fourth leading tacklers on the squad.

However, the squad lost its most productive player two weeks ago when Clinton Snyder went down with a knee injury sidelining him for the rest of the year. Snyder had been leading the team in tackles with 61 and still ranks as the squad’s third-best player in the stat.

Will Powers has replaced Snyder in the lineup and has been efficient, ranking second on the defense in tackles for loss with seven and sacks with four. Powers also has 38 tackles on the season.

Chike Amajoyi is fourth on the squad with 52 stops from the Will spot.

Although Stanford is only 66^th in sacks, picking up 1.82 per game, the Cardinal have a gifted pass rusher in Thomas Keiser, who has eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss to go with his 38 tackles.

With Notre Dame’s offensive line continuing to allow opposing defensive lines to pressure Jimmy Clausen, Keiser could force Notre Dame to hurry some throws if he is allowed to penetrate the offensive front.

Still, with as prolific as the Irish offense is, Notre Dame could put up points with the right gameplan in place to attack the Cardinal defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Stanford’s kick return unit is one of the nation’s best with Owusu at the helm. The sophomore is fourth in the country in kick return yardage, picking up 32.5 yards per attempt. Owusu also has three returns for touchdowns on the season. The Irish have given up two kickoff returns for touchdowns on the season.

Sherman is 27^th in the nation in punt returns, gaining 10.21 yards per try and one touchdown return.

David Green handles punting and has performed well, averaging 41.3 yards per attempt.

Former Notre Dame walk-on Nate Whitaker transferred to Stanford two years ago and has taken over field goal duties in his first season after sitting out a year. Whitaker has converted all 46 extra point attempts and is 11-of-17 on field goal tries, with a long of 54 yards.

Whitaker also handles kickoffs and averages 66.2 yards per attempt and has 10 touchbacks.

MISCELLANEOUS: With Notre Dame’s most recent loss, Charlie Weis’ record dropped to 35-26, and is 13-10 on the road. However, Weis has never lost to Stanford in his time coaching at Notre Dame, going 4-0 against the Cardinal.

Jim Harbaugh is 16-19 on his career at Stanford and is 11-8 at home and 0-2 against the Irish.

In addition to Whitaker, Konrad Reuland also transferred from Notre Dame and is currently listed as third on the depth chart for tight ends.