Well, it’s finally here.

Cal (2-0) will travel to South Bend, Ind., to play a reeling 0-2 Notre Dame team in its iconic stadium this Saturday, for what is possibly the most anticipated matchup of the season for Cal fans and members of the football program alike.

The Fighting Irish came into this season ranked No. 5 in the country, but falling to No. 3 Ohio State and unranked Marshall in back-to-back weeks has knocked them out of the top 25 altogether while bringing a lot of scrutiny upon hew head coach Marcus Freeman.=

Despite the recent struggles for Notre Dame, there’s reason to believe that this is likely to still be Cal’s marquee matchup of the year.

Although the quarterback position is a source of concern at this point, the Irish have plenty of talent -- not to mention motivation. Starting 0-2 under the wildly popular Freeman isn’t likely to sit well with a squad that had aspirations of going to the College Football Playoff.

Saturday in South Bend is also going to feature thousands of Cal fans making the pilgrimage to one of college football’s most iconic venues, so despite some of the air being sucked out of this game, expect Saturday to bring an entirely different sort of energy for the Bears. One way or another.

Let's take a closer look at the matchup with Notre Dame ...

Location: South Bend, Ind.

Conference: Independent

Coach: Marcus Freeman (1st season, 0-3 including game as interim coach)

Scoring Offense: 15.5 PPG (Tied for 117th nationally)

Total Offense: 302.0 YPG (117th)

Scoring Defense: 23.5 PPG (69th)

Total Defense: 379.5 YPG (79th)

What the Irish do well:

Notre Dame has an extremely disruptive front seven, which has totaled 4 sacks and 10 tackles for loss in the first two games. Frankly, that’s not even really playing up to their talent level.

The Irish defense has not really had the benefit of being in games where they can play to their talent level because of just how much that offense has struggled. There have not been many obvious passing situations for their top rushers to really get after the quarterback and they’ve been playing on their heels in the run game a bit just because of how often they actually have to be on the field due to those struggles on the other side of the ball.

Despite a less than favorable situation, the Irish put Marshall under an extreme amount of pressure all game last week. It is going to take an incredible week of improvisation for Jack Plummer if Notre Dame gets home like that again. The defense brought a bunch of different blitz packages and stunts that had the Marshall offensive line guessing and spinning. If the Bears struggle to move the ball on this front early, it could be a ‘bounce back’ game for an Irish defense that is already cooking.

Where the Irish might be vulnerable:

Everywhere except tight end on offense.

Notre Dame just does not look like an offensive football team in the slightest. For whatever Brian Kelly did or didn’t do with his time in South Bend, he at least gave this team some identity and a reliable scoring attack. Under Freeman and offensive coordinator (and former Irish QB) Tommy Rees, it looks like Notre Dame is trying to be different but with the same personnel. It’s not really working so far.