Notre Dame at Stanford

And with both teams still in consideration tonight to earn a playoff place or a spot in one of the New Year’s Six bowl games this postseason, the latest matchup adds another chapter to what is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in college football between two of the most successful college coaches.

Notre Dame (10-1) and Stanford (9-2) each will be looking for the win in this one.

The first window of action on Black Friday changed that. The committee’s message is loud and clear Domer fans: the Irish will have to show them that they are a legitimate playoff team by beating ninth-ranked Stanford. “They’ve helped me grow so much and the coaching staff, they’ve helped me mature as a man. Notre Dame pretty much”.

Cal’s senior class will look to be the first to win their final game of the regular season since 2008.

With Clemson and Alabama relatively safe bets to make the College Football Playoff – though we’ve seen stranger upsets in past seasons – and the Big Ten likely sending either Iowa or Michigan State, there’s only one spot up for grabs between Notre Dame and Oklahoma, which travels to Stillwater to play No. 11 Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Notre Dame has been a very boom and bust team this season so even if Stanford can jump out to a big lead early in this game the Cardinal defense will have to keep the pressure on for a full 60 minutes.

While Shaw is not in campaign mode, Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly believes his team should be in the playoff with a season-ending win at Stanford. But Notre Dame keeps finding ways to replace key players and pull off wins to improve to 10-1, still ranking in the top 10 nationally in offensive yards per play.

As impressive as he’s been, Hogan has struggled to play well against Notre Dame.

Kelly said the Irish haven’t let the adversity bother them. In several of their games they’ve done well in containing most offenses but if an opposing offense can get the ball to a speedy playmaker in the second level it can be a huge gain. Okwara, who has a brother named Julian who has committed to the Irish for next season, said many people assume he is named for the tragic Shakespeare character. In addition to being a potent threat on the ground, he’s also been able to haul in a team-high 34 receptions for 416 yards and three more touchdowns. Remound Wright countered with an 11-yard touchdown run to lift Stanford ahead 14-10, however, with 3:01 remaining in regulation. He has amassed 25 scores for his career and tied the program mark for rushing touchdowns (four) against California past year. “So running the football is extremely important to what we do in the success that we’re going to have”.

“A lot of stuff honestly”, linebacker Jaylon Smith said.

By all obvious measures, Stanford and Notre Dame have absurdly similar records going into this game. The depleted Irish allowed Boston College, one of the nation’s worst offenses, to rush for 214 yards last week… He’s grabbed 26 passes for 379 yards and five touchdowns. He is the fourth Irish player with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and ranks second all-time with 28 TD catches. DeShone Kizer overcame his three interceptions by amassing 320 yards through the air and throwing a pair of touchdowns. He knows more is expected when the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish play No. 13 Stanford with a possible playoff berth at stake Saturday.

The families of many Stanford players arrived Thursday and shared Thanksgiving dinner with the team. Notre Dame may be independent, but only a insane man could claim that these Big 12 teams are better than them.