NOTRE DAME, Ind. (WSBT) — Notre Dame heads on the road to close out the regular season this weekend.

The Irish will travel to Stanford, where they have a chance to earn their ninth win of the season.

At 3-8, Stanford is not particularly intimidating.

However, two of Notre Dame’s three losses have come on the road this season. Perhaps more troubling, the last two times the Irish went on the road, they lost.

Marcus Freeman was asked this afternoon about that trend.

He says, getting off to slow starts has been a big reason for his team’s recent struggles away from home.

“I don’t want to make this only a road issue, but we haven’t performed to our standards. So, as I studied those games, we’ve got to start better. I think both of those games — we were down to Clemson, 7-3, and then Louisville, I think 7-0 to start the game. And we’ve got to — from the first play of the game — have the mentality that we’re going to have to go out there and win the interval on this play. We can’t lose it in any game. And so, it’s my job to make sure we are mentally and physically prepared. And, as I told them, it’s their job too to make the choice that we’re going to be mentally ready to go. And so, there’s no one answer that can guarantee it’s going to happen, but it won’t be from a lack of effort by myself and our coaching staff to make sure this group is ready.”

Notre Dame will leave for California on Friday.

The Irish and Stanford play at 7:00 Saturday night.

The game is being televised on the Pac-12 Network, which is not available on most cable systems or major streaming services.