Rockne's Roundtable

After reading what the staff put up as their predictions for tonight's final score I was intrigued to see that they were all close with only JSapp predicting an Irish victory. I started thinking if Notre Dame was to lose say by 3 to #4/#5/#6 Safety School would I be pleased with the outcome because they kept it close against a top 10 team? I started thinking about this to myself and thought that no I would not be happy at all. The fact remains that even if the Irish keep it close, a loss will be a loss at this point. Everyone argues that Stanford is playing for more because they can still go to a BCS game, while they Irish probably won't get a sniff at one. But I feel the Irish has just as much to play for if not more. Stanford has established that they are a dominant team in College Football, but Notre Dame needs to beat them to prove that they can play with the upper level teams. After watching Michigan beat OSU today and seeing Michigan State finish their season to play for the Big 10 Championship, next years schedule is looking more and more difficult especially with Miami in Chicago, Oklahoma in Norman, and USC in the House of Pain. Notre Dame needs this win more than Stanford and if they can't go out and pick up the W today then next year is going to be a very painful year to watch and will have the same feel as the previous 3 coaches. I believe that Brian Kelly is the coach but this victory would be a program changer considering that the outcome could have a very positive effect on recruits considering Notre Dame. All things considered Notre Dame needs this win more than Stanford does and I feel that it's either win or go home for the Irish!