Stanford vs. Notre Dame: Irish Will Stay Undefeated with Win over Cardinal

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are easily the best story of the 2012 college football season thus far, and that great story will continue after a Week 7 win over the Stanford Cardinal.

Last week, Notre Dame figured to have its toughest challenge of the 2012 season against the Miami Hurricanes. But after dismantling the Hurricanes, 41-3, the Irish are still waiting for that challenge.

There's no doubt this matchup between Stanford and Notre Dame heavily favors the Irish.

Coming into this game, the Irish have the No. 2 ranked defense in the country, allowing a measly 7.8 points per game. As if we needed more evidence of Notre Dame's elite status on defense, it shut down Miami's potent offense last week without a problem.

Stanford isn't a team that will wow anyone with its offense. After five games this season, the Cardinal is ranked No. 49 in the nation with 31.6 points per game.

However, that stat is a bit misleading as Stanford hasn't faced a defense like Notre Dame's this season and there's no doubt offense will be hard to come by. The Cardinal don't have nearly enough weapons to overcome the Irish defense.

Notre Dame wasn't expected to have an explosive offense this season, but that all changed after last week.

The Irish were flat-out dominant on the offensive end against the Hurricanes and while they may not have the same success this week, Notre Dame's offense will be able to put enough points on the board to be successful against Stanford's defense, which is ranked No. 41 in the nation.

Yes, Stanford's defense is better than Miami's in the rankings, but the Cardinal haven't faced many legit offenses this season. Besides, the Irish won't need many points with the way their defense has played this season.

Everything continues to come together for the Irish this season. The team's defense is playing at an incredibly high level and with quarterback Everett Golson beginning to come into his own, the Irish should have no problem improving to 6-0.