David Lombardi, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

One-time Notre Dame fan Kevin Hogan looks to lead Stanford past Irish

Our Ivan Maisel documented Kevin Hogan's story of tragedy and triumph earlier this year -- the Stanford quarterback lost his father, Jerry, to cancer late last season. Now, Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel has taken a look at how Hogan's journey is about to come full circle.

He grew up a Notre Dame fan -- 25 family members have degrees either from there or neighboring St. Mary's -- and once wore Joe Montana and Brady Quinn jerseys to games. Now, as a fifth-year senior, Hogan will face the Irish for the last time on Saturday after converting his entire family to Stanford fandom.

Thamel's feature highlights Hogan's maturation this season, which he's marked with a more vocal leadership role and a conference-best passer rating. Hogan also admits to a serious flirtation with the NFL draft after last year.

"At the end of the day I didn't feel comfortable leaving on [2014's 8-5] terms," Hogan told Thamel. "I wasn't ready to leave Stanford, I love this place, and I think what we built here is here to stay and last year was a hiccup."

The Cardinal have a chance to put a real exclamation mark on those words against Notre Dame this Saturday. With the Pac-12 championship game looming after that, Stanford's worst-possible postseason destination -- given two wins, of course -- is the Rose Bowl. But the chances of a College Football Playoff berth seem to be bettering, so maybe a trip to Pasadena is not the ceiling.

That's all premature talk, though. Hogan and the Cardinal will have their hands full with a fellow title contender in the Irish. It's the fifth straight season Stanford and Notre Dame have been ranked when facing each other, the second-best streak in the nation. That's just more evidence that this is blossoming into a top-tier rivalry -- and that stakes will be massive this time around.

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