Stanford Football: Are Cardinal Really Ready to Face Notre Dame?

Instead of heading into next week's massive showdown against Notre Dame with an easy fourth win in their pockets, the Stanford Cardinal will hit the road to face the Irish battered and bruised after being pushed to the limit against a Washington Huskies squad. 

Even in Washington, the Huskies were supposed to be an easy win for the Cardinal. Washington struggled to bury Hawaii in Week 1, then went into a shootout a week later with Eastern Washington. 

Instead, the Huskies never seemed to go away on Saturday. Three minutes after Stanford took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, Washington quarterback Cyler Miles found Jaydon Mickens on a 25-yard strike. A failed extra point kept the score at 10-6. 

Then after a Stanford field goal, a fumble return for a touchdown by the Huskies' Shaq Thompson knotted the score up at 13-13 heading into the locker room. 

It wasn't until five minutes left in the game that Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan finally found pay dirt on a five-yard touchdown run that gave his team the 20-13 win. 

Nevertheless, Stanford struggled mightily with three turnovers. The 3-of-12 third down efficiency doesn't look that pretty, either. 

So, are the Cardinal doomed for a rough night against the Irish, or can Stanford salvage their College Football Playoff hopes and upend Norte Dame in South Bend? 

While the Cardinal struggled offensively, they still found a way to put up 20 points against a team that in all but one game has allowed fewer than that. 

They also outpaced the Huskies 364-179 in offensive yards. 

Against the Irish though, they'll be facing far and away the best defense they've seen in 2014. Through three games, Notre Dame is giving up just 10 points per game. 

The Irish are also 17th nationally in takeaways with nine—six interceptions and three fumble recoveries. 

Notre Dame possesses a decent offense headed by quarterback Everett Golson, albeit not necessarily a gaudy one statistically. They rank 52nd in passing and 46th in scoring through their first three games.

However, Golson and Co. have to face the Cardinal, whose stout defense through Week 4 had allowed the fewest points per game in the country at just 6.5. 

As the overly-cliched saying goes, defense wins championships. It was Stanford's defense that kept them in the game against Washington as their offense floundered time and time again. 

And it'll be the Cardinal's defense that gives them a shot at upsetting the Irish. 

The key will be putting pressure on and containing Golson. The Irish don't have any big-play backs that can hurt you in one strike in the running game—through Week 4 no Irish running back has racked up 120 yards on the year. 

Golson is also notorious for struggling in big games. The only time he's thrown for over 200 yards against a ranked team was against Alabama in the BCS Championship game, a contest where he was forced to throw as the Crimson Tide built up a big lead early. 

The Cardinal offense will have a week to regain form, while their defense should continue to be staunch. 

The best teams don't learn through losing, they learn through gutting out tough wins. 

The Cardinal did that against a pesky Washington team, and that should have them ready to inject some life back to their playoff hopes against Notre Dame next week.