For those of you who don’t get the reference, ‘The Farm’ is the nickname for Stanford University’s home football field.  And that’s where we’ll go to get back in the win column after last night’s backdoor cover loss in the Boise State/Nevada game.  Seriously, is there a more thankless job in sports than Notre Dame head coach?  You’ve got a hierarchical, religious oriented administration always nosing in on the athletic program, one of the highest profile teams in the country meaning that you can forget about a ‘rebuilding’ season or two, and a completely unrealistic level of expectations.  But with Charlie Weis all but certain to be cleaning out his office next month, someone will eventually take the gig.  For now, the Golden Domers have another game left on their schedule:

NOTRE DAME AT STANFORD

Notre Dame is a mess, Charlie Weis is likely out the door to the point that sports books are taking action on his successor and quarterback Jimmy Clausen is getting beat up in South Bend bars by Irish hockey players.  And that’s the good news.  Irish have lost three straight and now head cross country to face arguably the most improved football program in the land.  Stanford is off an upset loss to California, which means they’ll have their full focus on Notre Dame here.  Had things broken a little differently, this might be a spot for the Irish to show some backbone and put up a good fight in a last ditch (and likely futile) attempt to save their coach’s job.  Had Stanford won last week, it may have been a ‘letdown’ spot’ for the Cardinal.  Instead, Notre Dame is in the wrong place at the wrong time against a team that is still trying to improve their record for an upgraded bowl invitation.  Irish haven’t covered a game away from South Bend all year, with a 0-2-1 road record and a pointspread loss to Washington State on a neutral field.  That’s bad news here, as Stanford has become one of the best home team investments in college football with a 5-1 SU/ATS mark and eleven covers in their last 12 home games.  Just don’t see a lot of fight left in this Irish team, and they should get whipped by a proud Stanford team.

PLAY STANFORD -10 OVER NOTRE DAME