Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Stanford may be without its best receiver, Richard Sherman, for the rest of the year, but right tackle Chris Marinelli stole the headlines ahead of the Cardinal's visit to Notre Dame by vividly professing his hate for all things Fighting Irish.

Sherman, a junior, had knee surgery Thursday and will be out at least four to six weeks.

Marinelli will play and may want to watch his back. He talked trash about Notre Dame, forcing the school to issue a statement of apology:

"I would like to apologize to the University of Notre Dame and anybody else who I may have offended from the remarks I made in an interview earlier this week," the statement said. "I was caught up in the emotions of the game and should have been more thoughtful in my comments. The remarks were out of character for me and certainly aren't reflective of my teammates or anybody else affiliated with the Stanford program. I look forward to a competitive game on Saturday in one of the great environments in college football."

On the positive side, leading rusher Toby Gerhart has been cleared to play after missing much of the Washington game with a concussion.