Notre Dame Aims to Prove Lessons Learned Against Stanford

Irish looking for a fast start and big win as a massive home favorite against the Cardinal

Notre Dame celebrates winning a NCAA college football game 31-24 against 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 vs Stanford

The Irish plan for a fast start to the second half of the schedule

Notre Dame had a wonderfully successful off-week due to a slate full of carnage and chaos involving teams ranked ahead of the Irish. When the dust had settled, Notre Dame, without playing a game, landed squarely back in prime playoff position which has generated a renewed spark of excitement within the fanbase for the second half of the year.

Notre Dame has lofty goals for the second half of the year. The team, despite a multitude of injuries, has managed to go on a 3-game winning streak and has 7 winnable games in front of it in which the Irish will likely be favored in each and every one and expects to win each one as well.

Nov 25, 2023; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal quarterback Ashton Daniels (14) throws on the run while being pursued by Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker JD Bertrand (27) during the third quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Notre Dame has plenty to prove as Stanford visits South Bend

Notre Dame can look at the off-week as a clean slate runway leading to a 7 game season that will decide its CFP fate. Notre Dame enters this week's test against Stanford as a 23.5-point favorite at home. No doubt the Irish would like nothing more than to get off to a great start in this ballgame.

The Irish would like to remove all doubt that some tough lessons have been learned from their week 2 mishap this year and from the last time Stanford played at Notre Dame stadium as huge underdogs and left with a victory.

Perhaps this game is the turning point for a Notre Dame team that is more than capable of showing that it hasn't yet played its best football of the year and that anyone who wrote the Irish off in week 2 of the season made a huge mistake.

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