Notre Dame Football: 4 reasons the Irish will beat Stanford in Week 5
By Dana Becker
3.Brian Kelly will pull a trick or two
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has been around the block a time or two. And you better believe that Kelly has spent countless hours after practices looking for any and all openings in this Stanford team.
The Cardinal showed plenty of flaws last week vs. Oregon, needing a late turnover and some magic to pull out the win. They also caught USC early in the season with a young quarterback at the helm.
Kelly, 56 years old, won at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Cincinnati before taking on his biggest task to date: Notre Dame. He is 52-33 technically with the school, but has more “unofficial” wins after victories in 2012 and 2013 were vacated. That 2012 season included a spot in the national title game.
But there have been plenty of tough moments for Irish fans with Kelly at the helm. Including the issues which led to wins being stripped, Notre Dame was just 4-8 in 2016 and had some late-season troubles last year that caused them to slip to 10-3.
Interestingly enough, Notre Dame has had more troubles at home this year as opposed to the road. The Irish topped Michigan in the opener by seven, bested Ball State by eight the following week and survived vs. Vanderbilt, 22-17. They blitzed Wake Forest, though, 56-27, showing plenty of important skills to being a College Football Playoff contender.