Stanford (7-3) clinched its first Rose Bowl berth since 1971 on Saturday with a 31-13 victory over California. The Cardinal finished the Pac-10 Conference season with a 7-1 mark and will play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on January 1. They last played in Pasadena on the first day of 1972, posting a 13-12 victory over Michigan.

The Cardinal have lost both of their non-conference games, dropping decisons to Texas and San Jose State. This is the first time that Stanford is not ending its season against California since it played Arizona in Tokyo in 1986.

Stanford is led by the ninth-best offense in the country, which is averaging 36.9 points per game. The Cardinal have 4,666 yards this season, 253 shy of the single-season school record, set in 1969.

It has been a much different season for Notre Dame (5-6), which was officially eliminated from bowl contention last week with a 31-29 loss to Boston College.

It is the first time since 1986 -- Lou Holtz's first season at the helm, when they went 5-6 -- that the Fighting Irish failed to qualify for the postseason. They turned down a bowl bid after posting an 8-3 mark in 1996, Holtz's final campaign. Coincidentally, Notre Dame's last losing season came in 1986.

The Fighting Irish do have something to play for tonight. They have lost all five of their road contests this season and six straight overall dating to 1998. The last time Notre Dame did not win a road game in a season was 1985, Gerry Faust's last year as coach.

This also will be the final game in the career for Irish quarterback Jarious Jackson. He needs two passing attempts and eight completions to break the single-season records set by Ron Powlus in 1997 (298 and 182).

Notre Dame has taken nine of 13 meetings from Stanford in a series that dates to the 1925 Rose Bowl.

NOTRE DAME Season schedule and results	STANFORD Season schedule and results
Aug. 28 Kansas W 48-13 Sep. 4 @Michigan L 22-26 Sep. 11 @Purdue L 23-28 Sep. 18 Michigan State L 13-23 Oct. 2 Oklahoma W 34-30 Oct. 9 Arizona State W 48-17 Oct. 16 USC W 25-24 Oct. 30 Navy W 28-24 Nov. 6 @Tennessee L 14-38 Nov. 13 @Pittsburgh L 27-37 Nov. 20 Boston College L 29-31 Nov. 27 @Stanford 8:00pm ET	Sep. 4 @Texas L 17-69 Sep. 11 Washington State W 54-17 Sep. 18 @Arizona W 50-22 Sep. 25 UCLA W 42-32 Oct. 2 San Jose State L 39-44 Oct. 16 Oregon State W 21-17 Oct. 23 @USC W 35-31 Oct. 30 @Washington L 30-35 Nov. 13 @Arizona State W 50-30 Nov. 20 California W 31-13 Nov. 27 Notre Dame 8:00pm ET