[ColoradoTree]

IMHO one of the big downsides of the ND game is that we now play USC in early Sept, this is the best game in the even year schedule and having it in Sept is not ideal, especially for the students

I know it's not popular, but I'd still rather play SJSU every year.

And now back to your regularly scheduled carping...

The glory of the Bill Walsh Legacy Game must be restored! 

/sarcasm

---

If you think we will ever be in the national playoff picture, you don't want the Notre Dame game. If you think it is unrealistic that Stanford will be competing with Alabama and Clemson, then it is a great traditional game to have on the schedule.

This is a hard truth, but a truth nonetheless. OutsiderFan's point about the competing forces of (1) going undefeated and (2) schedule strength relates to this, too. 

I tend to think it's highly unlikely that Stanford will make the playoff, let alone win it. I've made peace with that, and the joy this team gives me comes from beating traditional rivals like SC and Cal, and from beating "newer" rivals like Notre Dame. I'd be very sad to see that game fall by the wayside. 

That said, this doesn't have to be a choice between playing Notre Dame and having an easier schedule to pave the way to a playoff berth. This season, with Northwestern, UCF, and Notre Dame, is obviously absurd, but the balance next year is pretty good: one top-tier program, one good Group of 5 team, and one FCS team. (The old A-B-C approach to non-conference scheduling.) That schedule preserves the Notre Dame game while giving us a break. 2021 is an intriguing year with three P5 teams, but one that's likely to be bad, one that's likely to be tough but doable, and one that's likely to be very tough. 

You don't get credit for playing three tough OOC games if you take a loss in more than one of them. Playing (and beating) Notre Dame gives us all the positive OOC vibes we'd need, so having a second P5 team that's "good but not great" and then a near-guaranteed win for the third game strikes me as the ideal balance.

[ColoradoTree]

IMHO one of the big downsides of the ND game is that we now play USC in early Sept, this is the best game in the even year schedule and having it in Sept is not ideal, especially for the students

I know it's not popular, but I'd still rather play SJSU every year.

And now back to your regularly scheduled carping...

The glory of the Bill Walsh Legacy Game must be restored! 

/sarcasm

---

If you think we will ever be in the national playoff picture, you don't want the Notre Dame game. If you think it is unrealistic that Stanford will be competing with Alabama and Clemson, then it is a great traditional game to have on the schedule.

This is a hard truth, but a truth nonetheless. OutsiderFan's point about the competing forces of (1) going undefeated and (2) schedule strength relates to this, too. 

I tend to think it's highly unlikely that Stanford will make the playoff, let alone win it. I've made peace with that, and the joy this team gives me comes from beating traditional rivals like SC and Cal, and from beating "newer" rivals like Notre Dame. I'd be very sad to see that game fall by the wayside. 

That said, this doesn't have to be a choice between playing Notre Dame and having an easier schedule to pave the way to a playoff berth. This season, with Northwestern, UCF, and Notre Dame, is obviously absurd, but the balance next year is pretty good: one top-tier program, one good Group of 5 team, and one FCS team. (The old A-B-C approach to non-conference scheduling.) That schedule preserves the Notre Dame game while giving us a break. 2021 is an intriguing year with three P5 teams, but one that's likely to be bad, one that's likely to be tough but doable, and one that's likely to be very tough. 

You don't get credit for playing three tough OOC games if you take a loss in more than one of them. Playing (and beating) Notre Dame gives us all the positive OOC vibes we'd need, so having a second P5 team that's "good but not great" and then a near-guaranteed win for the third game strikes me as the ideal balance.