09-23-2018, 02:40 PM
My guess was ND would be a 4 pt favorite.
Stanford will be the only team to have played three Top 25 opponents in 5 weeks this week, two on the road. Translation: Stanford is playing with house money here. Very few expect them to win, especially coming off an incredibly emotional win at Oregon. And even if Stanford loses, they are still 2-0 in the Pac-12 North, with a tie-breaker over Oregon.
Best of all, they play a pretty bad Utah team at home following ND, so if they do go down, they can get back on track with what should be a comfortable win. If they prevail in South Bend, they will likely be 6-0 before the Thursday night game at ASU.
If Stanford does beat Notre Dame, Stanford will be vaulted into the playoff discussion in a serious way, because the only team that Stanford wouldn't be favored to beat the rest of the way is at Washington. Given Notre Dame is Notre Dame, Stanford could *potentially* get in the playoff even with a loss in Seattle and not going to the Pac-12 CG. Washington's loss to Auburn really hurts them, and it seems possible they will lose another game. Nobody would expect any team to go undefeated. It just rarely happens. Losing at Seattle would be a good loss as long as Stanford was competitive.
IOW, beat Notre Dame and playoff possibilities exists. But lose and you've got the Pac-12 to play for, and still an outside shot at playoff if you runt run the table. Stanford really set up its season by finding a way to win in Eugene, and the Ducks playing so well minus two gaffes.
Stanford will be the only team to have played three Top 25 opponents in 5 weeks this week, two on the road. Translation: Stanford is playing with house money here. Very few expect them to win, especially coming off an incredibly emotional win at Oregon. And even if Stanford loses, they are still 2-0 in the Pac-12 North, with a tie-breaker over Oregon.
Best of all, they play a pretty bad Utah team at home following ND, so if they do go down, they can get back on track with what should be a comfortable win. If they prevail in South Bend, they will likely be 6-0 before the Thursday night game at ASU.
If Stanford does beat Notre Dame, Stanford will be vaulted into the playoff discussion in a serious way, because the only team that Stanford wouldn't be favored to beat the rest of the way is at Washington. Given Notre Dame is Notre Dame, Stanford could *potentially* get in the playoff even with a loss in Seattle and not going to the Pac-12 CG. Washington's loss to Auburn really hurts them, and it seems possible they will lose another game. Nobody would expect any team to go undefeated. It just rarely happens. Losing at Seattle would be a good loss as long as Stanford was competitive.
IOW, beat Notre Dame and playoff possibilities exists. But lose and you've got the Pac-12 to play for, and still an outside shot at playoff if you runt run the table. Stanford really set up its season by finding a way to win in Eugene, and the Ducks playing so well minus two gaffes.