Notre Dame Football: What a Win over Stanford Would Mean for the Fighting Irish

Heading into Saturday evening's contest against Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal, Notre Dame finds itself ranked 22nd in the most recent BCS standings.

While a BCS bowl game is, for the most part, completely out of the equation, a win over Stanford would still be equally as meaningful for a program desperate for a signature victory. Brian Kelly has yet to achieve that mark.

The opportunity is awaiting Kelly's squad in Palo Alto, California.

Earn a victory over the nation's sixth-ranked team, and a once-promising season will be validated. Lose, and the doubters will continue to add more fuel to the fire.

A few things need to fall into place for a Fighting Irish win, though.

First and foremost, Brian Kelly must concoct an offensive game-plan to counter a Stanford defense that has been one of the stingiest in the country this season. David Shaw's defense is likely to implement a defensive scheme similar to that used by Boston College a week ago.

Tommy Rees will be forced to be patient and distribute the football in order to move the chains. That's much easier said than done for the sophomore quarterback, though.

Rees had, perhaps, the worst performance of his career against a Boston College squad that entered Saturday's contest with a record of 3-7. It's hard to imagine how he'll fare against an elite defense such as Stanford's. There's no question that the Cardinal defense is the best Rees will have seen all season.

After Rees's abysmal game, pundits were calling for backup quarterbacks Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson to see the field. However, that doesn't seem likely, as Kelly has made it clear that he is sticking with Tommy Rees at quarterback.

That belief is hard to support, but Kelly has forgotten more about football than most of us will ever know.

It's up to Brian Kelly and his offensive staff to prepare their quarterback and his offensive counterparts well enough to give the Irish a chance to pull off the upset of Stanford. 

A win in Palo Alto would do wonders for a program starved for a signature win on a grand stage. Opportunities to accomplish such a task rarely come in primetime and on national television.

Only time will tell if Notre Dame will make the most of it.