By: Ben Leonard
Follow @ben___leonard
//

STANFORD, Calif. —

Win and you’re in — with some help.

The situation is the same for both the Stanford Cardinal (9-2) and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1), who will duke it out for a right to *maybe* make the second-ever College Football Playoff at Stanford Stadium at 4:30 PST on FOX.

With two losses, Stanford needs to win out to have a chance, with help from some chaos in the Big-12. Their job got a lot easier with TCU’s victory over Baylor on Friday, and an Oklahoma State victory over Oklahoma at 5:00 PST on ESPN would give their playoff hopes a huge boost.

If Notre Dame beats the Cardinal, they have a decent chance at sliding in the last playoff spot — but it’s not guaranteed.

2015 marks the fifth straight season both the Irish and the Cardinal have been ranked when they faced off, the second-best such streak in the nation. The home team has won six out of the last seven matchup in this emerging rivalry series, and Notre Dame hasn’t won at Stanford Stadium since 2007.

The Cardinal are lead by Heisman candidate Christian McCaffrey, who has set all kinds of records this season, including the all-time Stanford high-water mark for all-purpose yards in a game Saturday, with 389 in a win against Cal.  With three games left, he is just 443 yards short of breaking Barry Sanders’ once thought untouchable single season NCAA record of 3,250 all-purpose yards.

The Irish are lead by quarterback DeShone Kizer, who was the third-stringer back in January behind Everett Gholson and Malik Zaire. Gholson is now at Florida State, and Zaire is out for the season with a broken ankle. Kizer isn’t your average third-stringer — he’s thrown for 2,362 yards and 18 touchdowns, and posted a quarterback rating of 152.5 in ten games replacing the injured Zaire.

What gets lost in all of the playoff hype is that Saturday marks Senior Night on The Farm. It will be the final game for quarterback Kevin Hogan, whose 33 career wins are the best in the nation, linebackers Blake Martinez and Kevin Anderson, guard Joshua Garnett, wide receiver Devon Cajuste, and running back Remound Wright, among many others.

It will be an emotional night for many reasons in Palo Alto. Buckle up — it’s going to be a fun ride.