Very interesting game will take place Saturday and Stanford Stadium. The Stanford Cardinal will be hosting the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The Irish beat Stanford last year when the game was played at South Bend. The Irish finished the season by playing for the BCS National Championship in Miami

against the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide rolled to a 42-14 victory over Notre Dane.

The Cardinal, on the other hans, won the Pac-12 Championship and won a trip to the Rose Bowl where the beat the University of Wisconsin.

Notre Dame and football go together like Ham and Eggs. The have had legendary coaches such as Knute Rockne, Elmer Layden, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian,Dan Devine and Lou Holtlz. Notre Dame has won many National Championships under the leadership of these men. Notre Dame used to have a

national following all over the country as the games were broadcast on radio. Since the advent of television and the ability to watch many,many more games in the past, the bloom has gone off the rose, so to speak. Also, Notre Dame has not won a National Championship since 1988.

The Irish, under Head Coach Brian Kelly, full expected to return to the BCS Championship game,

However, His star quarterback, Everett Golson, was expelled from school; for cheating. The Irish decided to use senior QB Tommy Rees. Rees started 11 of 12 games in the 2011 season.

Expectations have dropped but the Irish still have a record of 8-3 so far this season. The Irish feel that they still will go to a bowl but their defense has dropped off from last year and that has the coaches worried.The Irish rank 68^th nationally in rushing defense and rank 80^th in turnover margin. The Irish have 3 more giveaways than takeaways.

The Stanford Cardinal has a record of 9-2 and are coming off a big win over California in the Big Game last week. The Cardinal lost to an 8-3 team two weeks ago when they were upset by USC.

Stanford’s Ty Montgomery was spectacular last week against Cal and Tyler Gaffney has proved to a hard running tailback. If Stanford can get the running game going, Kevin Hogan should be able to

do well controlling the ball. The Stanford defense will be strong. Shayne Skov, Trent Murphy, Ed Reynolds and A.J.Tarley and company have performed well all season.

Hard to say who will will but Stanford probably will be the favorite but it’s college football and the Cardinal cannot afford to take Notre Dame lightly. Coach Shaw will have his troops ready.