Notre Dame Football: 3 Biggest Storylines vs Stanford
Another Big Stage for Brian Kelly
As mentioned earlier, this is going to be the first matchup in Notre Dame Stadium between two top-8 ranked teams in over 20 years. That alone makes this a huge game, but when you take into account this is against. Stanford — a team that Kelly has struggled against at Notre Dame — and that this game has huge playoff implications, this weekend only becomes that much more important.
Talking about Brian Kelly and his struggles in primetime is beating a dead horse, but it is worth mentioning for this weekend. Kelly and the Irish passed their first test of the season when they defeated Michigan under the lights in week one — but that is all behind the Irish now. This is a new week and yet another opportunity for the Irish to win a big game and keep them in the College Football Playoff race moving forward.
On the bright side, Notre Dame has been fortunate enough to be in a few of these huge playoff-implication games over the last few years. Unfortunately, the Irish have fallen short in all of them. 2014 FSU, 2015 Clemson and Stanford, and most recently the collapse in Miami last season. All games where the Irish had a perfect opportunity in prime time to earn statement wins and keep their postseason chances alive and yet failed to deliver.
Next. Bold Predictions vs. Stanford. dark
Kelly has been criticized for not properly preparing his team for these exact type of games and in year nine, that just isn’t acceptable anymore. While he does deserve some credit for his win over Michigan and how well the Irish played against a tough opponent, he needs to do it again and prove that Notre Dame is a legitimate contender this year.