Bagpipe Monday: What Does The Future Have In Store For The Fighting Irish?

Welcome to a 4-0 Bagpipe Monday on One Foot Down! Friends, we are officially ¹⁄₃ of the way into the season, and suddenly there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not often that an undefeated team makes a change at quarterback, but Brian Kelly did just that this week when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish elevated Ian Book to the starting role, and then beat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 56-27.

@phillykelly

The Irish looked the best that they have been on offense, and now we look toward the rest of the season with a little more optimism.

That optimism should be on a high level right now, and it has less to do with the Irish as it does with the rest of the opponents on their schedule.

The schedule looked somewhat brutal at the start of the season, but as each week passes, it becomes clearer and clearer that the schedule is a lot easier than we thought.

• Notre Dame beat the Michigan Wolverines (one of the toughest games on the schedule).
• Notre Dame beat the Ball State Cardinals & Vanderbilt Commodores.
• Notre Dame beat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in their first road game.
• The Stanford Cardinal are up next in South Bend, but has looked vulnerable.
• The Virginia Tech Hokies just lost to Old Dominion.
• The Pittsburgh Panthers are Pitt — so I suppose anything goes.
• BYE WEEK IS NEEDED.
• The Navy Midshipmen present their own challenges in San Diego.
• The Northwestern Wildcats haven’t impressed.
• The Florida State Seminoles have mostly been trash.
• The USC Trojans aren’t nearly as formidable as we thought.

Looking down that list, it’s easy to start putting a “W” next to most of the remaining opponents— if not all of them.

The key remains the game right in front of them. The Stanford Cardinal will come to South Bend to play in a prime time game inside Notre Dame Stadium. Much like the Michigan game, Notre Dame (and its fans) absolutely have to go “all in” for this game.

If the Irish can beat the Cardinal to start out at 5-0, they will have a great opportunity to run the table — and if they want a spot in the playoffs this year... they will absolutely have to be 12-0 to do so. The schedule just doesn’t compare in difficulty as it has been in previous years.

It’s all what makes this game against Stanford sooo ridiculously crucial. Besides the obvious points about this season, Brian Kelly has a ton to prove as Stanford has been the biggest thorn in his side during his time at Notre Dame. David Shaw is 5-2 against Brian Kelly at Notre Dame. That’s OWNAGE. If Kelly and the Irish want to do anything this season, they are going to have to break the curse that Stanford football has had on the Irish since 2010.

Can they do it? Enjoy the pipes of glory!