College Football Playoff 2018: Irish force way into picture post-Week 5

Strong Win over Stanford

Notre Dame looked very strong in their win over No. 7 Stanford. The Irish beat the Cardinal, 38-17, which says more about Notre Dame than it did about Stanford. The week prior, Stanford won a close game against the Oregon Ducks, in Oregon. Yes, maybe the Cardinal were fatigued from back to back tough road games. But Notre Dame looked to have finally found their groove this week.

It finally seems like quarterback, Ian Book, has earned the confidence from the coaches, his teammates, and the fans. Book threw for over 300 yards in the past three games, and the Irish haven’t stopped winning.

This week against Stanford, he completed 72 percent of his passes and threw four touchdowns. Additionally, running back, Dexter Williams, exploded for 161 yards on 21 carries. That’s an average of just over 7.5 yard per carry. If the Irish can efficiently run the ball like that throughout the season, they will be tough to beat.

The Irish have another big test this coming week against No. 24 Virginia Tech.