The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10) need a win Saturday to make a case for the College Football Playoff (CFP), but so do the Arizona State Sun Devils (9).

Without a statistically spectacular offense or defense, Arizona State has fought its way to the top of the Pac-12 South, beating the likes of USC, Stanford and Utah along the way. If Arizona State can stay atop their division, then they will likely take on Oregon for the Pac-12 title, the winner of which may just make the case for the inaugural CFP.

CLICK HERE to listen to the game live via TuneIn. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET in Tempe, Ariz.

Independent of any conference, Notre Dame has had few chances to prove themselves against the game's tougher teams. All they have to hang their hat on is a 17-14 win at home against Stanford and a "good loss" on the road against Florida State.

Notre Dame may well need to beat Arizona State on the road to prove to the CFP committee that they can beat ranked opponents on the road. But the Irish also end their season on the road against USC, another game that will no doubt be a must-win.

Against Florida State, the Irish gave up 21 second half points as opposed to 10 in the first half. Against Navy, they survived a 22-point second half by scoring 21 themselves in the fourth quarter.

"I think we've got to continue to improve in tighter coverage and get home when we've got the opportunities," coach Brian Kelly said earlier in the week, according to the Associated Press. "I think if we do that, we'll be fine on Saturday."

Arizona State knows they cannot expect Notre Dame to fall apart in the second half and coach Todd Graham will make sure the gravity of the game is not lost on his team.

"This is arguably the best football team we've seen all year and with that comes great opportunity," he said. "I don't have to give our players any motivational speeches this week; they're going to be pretty fired up to play."