Stanford Football: 5 reasons the Cardinal will defeat Notre Dame

1. Stanford is more battle tested

Stanford enters Saturday after notching a come-from-behind victory on the road against Oregon –– the then-ranked No. 19 team –– to keep its undefeated hopes alive.

The Cardinal fell behind 24-7 at halftime before scoring 24 points in the second half to tie the game and force overtime.

Stanford then proceeded to secure the comeback win by miraculously scoring in overtime on a self-tipped catch. The Cardinal defense then prevented the Ducks from scoring by intercepting a deflected pass on a last-ditch fourth down play.

This was Stanford’s first true test of the season and while it may have come out flat, the Cardinal proved they could win not only a game down to the wire but also on the road.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, barely squeaked past inferior opponents such as Ball State and Vanderbilt –– which may have in fact prompted the quarterback change.

Even though the Irish are one game removed from torching Wake Forest, Notre Dame enters Saturday against Stanford as its first big test of the season. A loss would be detrimental to the Irish’s playoff hopes and may, in fact, dash the prospect of it.

Stanford will have the slight advantage in this category mainly because of last week’s performance against Oregon.