The eighth-ranked Stanford Cardinal (9-2) host No. 25 Notre Dame (8-3) on Saturday in a game that will be live streaming online at 7:00 PM ET.
No matter what happens against the Fighting Irish, Stanford will face No. 13 Arizona State in the Pac-12 championship game for a spot in the "Granddaddy of Them All."
"I remind people that we don't go through all the ups and downs that maybe even the media and the fans go through because we keep our minds on our jobs," coach David Shaw said Tuesday. "If we win a big game, they don't cancel the next week. If we lose a game, they don't cancel the next week."
Stanford beat previously undefeated Oregon, lost a tight game at Southern California and routed rival California 63-13 last Saturday. And with Oregon's surprising loss at Arizona last weekend, the Cardinal are the Pac-12's North Division champions again, needing to regroup and refocus for the finishing stretch.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly expects the game to again come down to a matter of inches, even with his team being two-touchdown underdogs. Kelly said he believes the Irish have a chance if they have an effective running game, can eliminate big plays and hold the Cardinal to no more than 20 points.
Kelly believes the Irish showed a toughness in last week's 23-13 win over BYU that should help them this week.
"We need to continue to build on that and develop that, and that's the way we've got to play this game of football," Kelly said Tuesday.
Notre Dame's last win against a top-10 opponent came last year, 30-13 at No. 8 Oklahoma. Earlier last season the Irish won 20-3 at No. 10 Michigan State. Before that, they had lost nine straight to top-10 teams, including 28-14 to No. 4 Stanford in 2011.
Stanford has won three of the last four and Kelly described it as "a great rivalry."
"Both teams want to be the smartest, toughest football teams in the country. Stanford right now is ranked eighth in the country. We are ranked 25th," he said. "We get a chance to decide it on the football field and so last year we were able to get Stanford. Now we've got a chance to settle it again on Saturday."
