Notre Dame fans associate the 2018 season with a win over Michigan to start the year, a quarterback change in late-September, and a 12-0 regular season that concluded with hard-fought victory on Southern California’s home field.
Did something Notre Dame did that year have a lasting impact on a rival, though?
Stanford started that 2018 season 4-0 and entered Notre Dame Stadium ranked seventh in the AP Poll, a spot ahead of the Irish at the time. The Cardinal were coming off a road-victory over No. 20 Oregon and seemed primed to be making another Rose Bowl run.
For Notre Dame, Ian Book was making his third career start but first at his home venue.
Related: SEE IT! A photo from every Ian Book victory at Notre Dame
What followed was a coming out party for the Irish as Book and running back Dexter Williams, who made his season-debut that night, led Notre Dame to out-gain Stanford 550-229 yards in a 38-17 victory.
Notre Dame has spent nearly the entire time since competing for a spot in the College Football Playoff while Stanford has gone into a tailspin.
Starting with that night that Book made his first home start for Notre Dame the Irish have gone a mind-boggling 38-3 in regular season games while Stanford, who had won eight or more games in nine-straight seasons entering 2018, has gone just 16-22 overall since.
The Cardinal are a lowly 3-8 as they welcome Notre Dame to the Stanford for Saturday’s regular season finale for both squads.
Somehow one of those three however was against an Oregon team that was ranked third-nationally in the CFP rankings before they were routed at Utah this past weekend.
How did it get this bad, this fast for Stanford?
There are probably more logical explanations but I’ll go ahead and blame, or actually, credit Ian Book.
Related:
Projecting the next College Football Playoff rankings after Oregon upset
10 things that happened the last time Notre Dame and Stanford didn’t play (from 2020)