Notre Dame Readies for College Football Playoff Push Against Familiar Foe

All of the Irish's goals are within reach as second half of season begins

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) throws a pass while being tackled during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Louisville at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame gets fresh start at home against Stanford

After a much-needed break after a chaotic first 5 games of the season for Notre Dame, the Irish are preparing to get back into action as familiar foe Stanford comes to town.

The Irish enter this contest as a 23.5 point favorite coming off an extra week's rest while the Cardinal look to recover from losses to Virginia Tech and Clemson by scores of 31-7 and 40-14.

On paper, the second portion of the season sets up well for Notre Dame as they will likely be favored in each of their remaining 7 contests. The Irish are also major beneficiaries of the carnage that took place across college football last week that slid Notre Dame firmly back into CFP position. Now all Notre Dame has to do is continue to win, which is easier said than done.

What to expect as the Irish take on Stanford

It feels like there has been a noticeable and justifiable resurgence of confidence and excitement from the Notre Dame fan base based upon Notre Dame's win streak since week 2 combined with the favorable results from last week's slate of games that has revitalized Irish playoff hopes. How can Notre Dame add to this vibe?

If Notre Dame can start the Stanford game with a ton of energy and solid play and jump ahead of the Cardinal early in South Bend, it'd be a terrific sign of things to come the rest of the season and the home crowd would certainly respond loudly to this kind of output.

Notre Dame has all of its' season's goals still within reach, it just needs to continue to play winning football one week at a time to make a CFP birth a reality. This all begins with a battle against Stanford on a perfect fall day in South Bend.

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