Stanford · ACCStanford faces Notre Dame in test of Andrew Luck rebuild
The 2-3 Cardinal visit the 5-0 Irish on Oct. 10 after a 57-3 loss at Wake Forest.
OCT 6, 2026
A week after Stanford’s 57-3 loss at Wake Forest, the 2-3 Cardinal visit No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday, Oct. 10, trying to avoid a sixth consecutive losing season.
Stanford’s wins have come against Hawai’i and Georgia Tech, while its losses include a 45-6 defeat against Miami, a 35-7 loss at Duke and the Wake Forest blowout. Notre Dame enters at 5-0 after opening the season with wins over Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue and North Carolina.
The game tests whether Andrew Luck’s rebuilding effort is producing progress. On3 describes Luck as doing everything he can to turn Stanford around, but another loss would leave the Cardinal in serious danger of a sixth straight losing season after a 4-8 finish in 2025, including 3-5 in conference play. A Notre Dame win would keep the No. 3 Irish unbeaten and preserve the playoff path Josh Pate included them in during his preseason bracket.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. Stanford’s rebuild now faces the country’s No. 3 team before it has room for another setback.
01 · The Detail Beneath the HeadlineWhat Most People Are Missing
Stanford has already reached half of its 2025 win total, but the path to 2-3 is more lopsided than that comparison suggests. The Cardinal’s two victories produced a combined 17-point margin; its three defeats produced a combined 121-point deficit. Stanford scored 16 points across those losses and allowed 137, with the largest deficit coming Oct. 3 at Wake Forest.
That makes the sequence after Notre Dame as revealing as the trip itself. Stanford returns home to face Elon on Oct. 17 and NC State on Friday, Oct. 23, putting three games into a 14-day span beginning Oct. 10. The Cardinal’s two wins have come at home, while both road games ended in losses by 28 or more. The Notre Dame result will set the record Stanford carries into those two home dates.
02 · The Open QuestionsQuestions to Be Answered
Can Stanford force Notre Dame into a competitive fourth quarter?
Notre Dame has outscored its five opponents 206-59, and its 37-26 win at North Carolina was its only game decided by fewer than 17 points. Stanford’s road losses ended 35-7 and 57-3. The halftime score and margin entering the fourth quarter on Oct. 10 will show whether Stanford has interrupted that pattern before the Elon game on Oct. 17.