College football 2018: 15 best non-conference games to watch this year

College football’s 15 most compelling non-conference games to watch in 2018

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 21: The USC Trojans face off at the line of scrimmage against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during a game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 21, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame won 49-14. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

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PALO ALTO, CA – NOVEMBER 25: Bryce Love #20 of the Stanford Cardinal is tackled by Te’von Coney #4 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Stanford Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

10. Stanford vs. Notre Dame (Sept. 29)

One of the more intriguing annual non-conference battles has to be between Stanford and Notre Dame. Though both schools are two of the most prestigious and academically-challenging in the nation, they’re also pretty good at football.

Stanford returns the favorite to win the Heisman in Bryce Love while also replacing starting quarterback Keller Chryst. There are high hopes for KJ Costello under center and he showed flashes of brilliance for David Shaw and Stanford last season. He needs to continue down that same path in 2018 and he could even join the Heisman hopefuls.

Notre Dame lost its Heisman favorite, Josh Adams, to the NFL, but if Brandon Wimbush can improve and feature a more accurate arm, he will be one of the most exciting players in college football. We all know he can run, but he had a sub-50 percent completion rate in 2017. That’s just not going to cut it.

The Cardinal will travel to South Bend for this underrated rivalry game and the Irish will get an opportunity to boost their resume with a big Power Five win.

This is a big game for the Love Heisman hype train.