The Notre Dame Fighting Irish seek to close out the 2021 regular season with their seventh straight win as they hit the road to face the struggling Stanford Cardinal. The Irish were able to improve their playoff consideration, thanks to blowout losses for Michigan State and Oregon. However, they still need other schools to lose in order to obtain one of the playoff berths.
In contrast to Notre Dame’s lofty aspirations, Stanford is simply looking to end their injury-plagued season. They enter with a 3-8 record and are coming off a 41-11 blowout loss to archrival California. Cardinal head coach David Shaw is in his 11th season at the school and is saddled with his second losing campaign over the past three seasons.