Last Saturday’s 31-0 blowout loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl may have marked a revealing transition in Stanford’s season. While the defense showed dramatic improvement, the Cardinal’s offensive performance was decidedly dismal.

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Mae Ryan

Junior center Alex Fletcher picks up a block in front of quarterback Trent Edwards. The offensive line play has slumped since a decent start. The Cardinal enter tomorrow’s game at Notre Dame 115th of 119 Division I-A teams in sacks allowed per game.

Through the first three quarters of play, Stanford (0-5, 0-3 Pac-10) — entering the contest with the worst NCAA Division I-A run defense — allowed UCLA only seven offensive points. Perhaps more encouraging, however, was the sheer tenacity displayed by the Cardinal’s defensive unit, which found itself backed up in the red-zone on several early occasions and simply refused to break.

The Cardinal’s offensive performance, on the other hand, was truly disastrous. Stanford only managed to net 166 yards of total offense for an average of 2.8 yards per offensive play, solidifying the perception that the injury-riddled unit could have trouble scoring points for the rest of the season.

“It has been extremely frustrating — especially this year — because we have so many returning starters on offense,” said senior guard Josiah Vinson. “We have really high expectations of ourselves individually, and as an offense. If I had the answers, I guess I’d be the coach or something.”

And the Cardinal will need to find answers quickly if they hope to stand a chance against No. 12 Notre Dame (4-1) this Saturday in front of a national television audience. Based on last Saturday’s result the offense has the biggest strides to make. The key question may be whether senior quarterback Trend Edwards will be able to mesh with a young, injury-depleted wide receiver corps lacking senior standouts Evan Moore and Mark Bradford.

“It’s been a big adjustment period,” Vinson said. “We have guys that have been preparing to play — but everyone else didn’t expect them to play that much — and now they’re playing key roles. But we don’t make excuses for who we’ve lost, we just play with who we have.”

The task of finding go-to receivers against a nationally ranked opponent will be especially difficult given the way Notre Dame’s pass defense has performed so far this season. In five games this year, the Irish have allowed only one opponent’s top receiver to gain over 100 yards. Even more daunting, that receiver was Calvin Johnson of Georgia Tech, whom many experts consider the best receiver in the NCAA.

“On defense, I’m impressed with how well they run and the speed of their corners,” Stanford coach Walt Harris said. “It will be a big challenge for us, but we’re not really concerned about Notre Dame — that can’t be our focus. Our focus has to be on ourselves and doing the things that we do and are asked to do.”

One Cardinal receiver showing signs of developing into the kind of true deep-threat that the Cardinal so desperately need is freshman Richard Sherman, who has had two fairly successful outings this year, one against San Jose State (six catches for 71 yards and a touchdown) and the other against UCLA (four catches for 50 yards). Harris expressed optimism regarding Sherman’s future on the team.

“As [Sherman] continues to practice well, he will be rewarded with more playing time,” Harris said. “He did some nice things in the game [versus UCLA] and competed hard. He gave us a little extra and right now that is really important — it is what we need.”

Against the tough Irish pass defense, though, it will not only be young receivers that need to step up their game, but Edwards as well. The senior Cardinal signal-caller has had considerable difficulty in getting the ball to the unfamiliar faces filling in for Bradford and Moore.

“In many ways he is doing a great job,” Harris said. “You never see him complain about the cards he has been dealt and has to play with, and I admire him tremendously. He has made a lot of real good plays and has scrambled for some first downs that were great. He just has to take care of his game-he can’t let everybody else’s game affect how his game is.”

On Saturday, a national audience will see if the Cardinal quarterback can do just that. But perhaps more important, for both Stanford’s present and future, is the improvement his surrounding cast hopes to demonstrate against the No. 12 team in the country.