All three teams are down this year by their standards

Michigan was lucky to beat Army, and got blown out by Wisconsin.

USC lost to BYU.

Stanford has lost three in a row. Without looking it up, that probably hasn't happened in over a decade.

Fwiw, ND currently has an 82.9% chance to beat USC, a 71.0% chance to beat Michigan (on the road), and an 84.3% chance to beat Stanford (also on the road). That translates into a 49.6% chance, right now, of sweeping the three (traditionally) toughest remaining opponents on our schedule. And I think those odds could increase prior to game time, especially in Michigan's case.