Stanford Cardinal at Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame spent the offseason stewing over a playoff snub. Stanford spent it starting over from scratch. That gap is the whole story on Saturday, October 10.

Bush’s Picks

STANND

STANND

OverUnder

Best BetNotre Dame

Notre Dame returns a Heisman-caliber quarterback and a receiver room that got deeper this offseason, while Stanford is starting over with a first-year coach, a first-year GM, and a quarterback still working back from injury. This isn't a moneyline that should require much thought — the gap in continuity and talent is real, and Notre Dame's motivation after last year's CFP snub only widens it.

Stanford

• +Landed experienced Michigan transfer QB Davis Warren
• +New GM Andrew Luck, fresh coaching vision under Pritchard
• −Finished 4-8, 3-5 ACC a year ago
• −Only 6 portal additions, thin immediate depth
• −Warren still coming back from a knee injury

Notre Dame

• +CJ Carr returns with a 24-6 TD-INT season
• +Deep, retooled receiver room with two transfers added
• +10-2 finish, motivated after playoff snub
• −Lost both starting running backs, Love and Price
• −No proven veteran backup QB depth behind Carr

Notre Dame enters 2026 as one of the sport's most motivated teams. The Irish went 10-2, won their final 10 games in a row, and still got left out of the College Football Playoff in favor of Miami and Alabama — a snub so galling the program turned down a Pop-Tarts Bowl bid rather than play it out. CJ Carr is back at quarterback after throwing for 2,741 yards with a 24-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio as a first-year starter, and he's carrying real Heisman buzz into a season where Notre Dame is out to prove last year's rankings were right.

Stanford is nowhere close to that stage. The Cardinal finished 4-8 last fall, 3-5 in the ACC, and have since blown the whole operation up — new head coach Tavita Pritchard, and Andrew Luck installed as general manager to run the program's football operations. The quarterback answer is Michigan transfer Davis Warren, a five-year college veteran who started for the Wolverines in 2024, but he's working back from a knee injury as he tries to be Stanford's best passer since Tanner McKee.

Show fees

2:30 PM CT

Spread

ML

Total

STAN Stanford

ND Notre Dame

The two sides met last November in Palo Alto and it wasn't close — Notre Dame closed its regular season by running Stanford off the field. That result was the exclamation point on a lost year for the Cardinal and part of the case for everything they've since torn down and rebuilt.

Stanford Cardinal

Oct 2?@ Wake Forest—

Sep 26?vs Georgia Tech—

Sep 19?@ Duke—

Sep 4?vs Miami—

Aug 29?vs Hawai'i—

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Oct 2?@ North Carolina—

Sep 25?@ Purdue—

Sep 19?vs Michigan State—

Sep 12?vs Rice—

Sep 6?vs Wisconsin—

Notre Dame's issue isn't talent, it's replacing production. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, the backfield duo that carried the offense and helped Love reach the Heisman ceremony, are both gone. The receiver room, though, is loaded — Jordan Faison, Jaden Greathouse and a pair of Ohio State transfers give Carr more options than he had a year ago, which matters plenty against a Stanford defense still installing a new scheme under a first-year staff.

Stanford Cardinal

(0)

Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

(0)

Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report

Stanford brought in just six portal additions this offseason, a thin number for a Power Four program leaning on that group to stabilize things immediately. It's the kind of build that pays off over years, not necessarily in Week 6 against a team playing with a chip on its shoulder. Notre Dame doesn't need to be perfect here — it needs to look like the team that got snubbed.