Stanford Football: Jim Harbaugh Wants Cardinal To Win With Cruelty at Notre Dame

When hard-knocks Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh was recently interviewed by Sports Illustrated, he commented on changing his name to "Jim Harbauer," a pun referencing super-agent Jack Bauer from Fox's hit show 24.

"Harbauer" admires Jack Bauer for his relentlessness, a skill that Harbaugh exploits at the end of the fourth when his opponents are near dead and down by 30.

He's the kind of coach who will call a timeout at the end of the fourth, try to get an extra score, and then go for two.

Running up the score comes naturally to Harbauer, just as it once was the preferred method by Jimmy Johnson and "The U." Like Johnson of old, Harbauer gives no quarter and offers no apologies.

In modern times Bob Stoops used this as a tactic to get into big BCS games that otherwise his teams would have been left out of. 

However, Harbauer takes this philosophy to a whole new level, pursuing opponents until the closing seconds of the game like super agent Jack Bauer trying to stop a dirty bomb from going off in NYC.

This was clear to anyone watching Stanford-USC last year when Harbauer elected to go for two after being up by more than 30 points with time winding down in the fourth quarter. As Harbauer walked to midfield to shake Pete Carroll's hand, he could be heard on TV cameras making fun of the USC team members heading straight to the showers. "Look at 'em all running," he repeated over and over to his players with a grin.

When interviewed this week Harbauer stubbornly chose not reveal any information about the injury of star receiver Ryan Whalen, saying, "I'm not going to tell you anything. As soon as I tell you, you tell Notre Dame. There's no advantage to doing that."

Expect Harbauer to release the dogs on Notre Dame this weekend. This is the stage he's been waiting for. Notre Dame fans, prepare for a shellacking and another "look at 'em all running" moment.

Prediction: Stanford 35, Notre Dame 14