Stanford Cardinal Way Too Early Preview

The Cardinal have big shoes to fill, Stepfan Taylor can help with that.
Alex Baranda

The Stanford Cardinal have spent the last couple seasons under coach Jim Harbaugh and saw success they hadn't experienced since John Elway was under center. Harbaugh left for the San Francisco 49ers and left the table set for coach David Shaw. They opened the season on a tear and walked through much of the Pac-12 schedule until they had to face USC at the Coliseum. It was the first time all season that the Cardinal faced a deficit and they responded by taking the lead before the end of the third. Things got dicey when Andrew Luck threw a pick 6 and put the Trojans back on top. Stepfan Taylor, though would tie the game up with under a minute remaining. After a back and forth affair in overtimes one and two, Stanford took the lead and recovered a USC fumble in the end zone to preserve the victory. After drubbing the Beavers in Corvallis, they returned home for what was being touted as the game of the year against Oregon. The game was tight early but the Ducks capitalized on Stanford mistakes to pull away in the end 53-30. It was the only regular season loss the Cardinal would face before losing a see saw overtime affair against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Stanford faces probably the highest profile loss in the Pac-12 having to replace the conference's premier quarter back in Andrew Luck. Not only are they going to be losing Luck but they are going to be without the services of Griff Whalen, Chris Owusu, Coby Fleener, David DeCastro, and Johnathan Martin. All of them made the offense a lot of what it was and a lot of youth is going to take their place. Fortunately, the Cardinal recruited well across the line and Brett Nottingham was a highly touted recruit out of high school. This upcoming season they open with the same squads they did a year ago in San Jose State and Duke. That lines up well before they face USC and follow it up with a road test against Washington. Those two games will steer the course for the season early on.

On offense, while many pieces have left, Nottingham, the likely starter will have help from one of the most underrated backs in the Pac-12. Stepfan Taylor is going into his Senior season after he rushed for over 1100 yards last season. He provided the balance in the play action game that kept defenses honest and also flummoxed. It was truly a pick your poison scenario with Luck at QB and Taylor at RB. Losing TE Coby Fleener will hurt also but TE was a position that was already pretty stacked for Stanford. Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo are returning this season and the two of them combined for over 50 receptions and 10 scoring catches. For a first year starting quarterback a solid tight end corps can be a great security blanket and help them grow up in a hurry. Conventional wisdom says to blitz a rookie quarter back for defenses and the conventional counter is dropping it off to the tight end. Stanford has the perfect counter punch to go against the most likely defense against Stanford.

The Cardinal also boast one of the best line backing tandems in the conference in Jarek Lancaster, the teams leading tackler and Shayne Skov. The Cardinal lost Skov early on last season and his absence really caused Lancaster to have to grow up quickly in the 30th ranked scoring defense in the country. The Linebackers are going to have to live up to expectations as 4 of the Cardinal leading tacklers were not only seniors but three of them were defensive backs. Stanford did not have a huge turnover margin as a lot of defenses do, they were only +5 on the season. But what is notable is that in their losses, the Cardinal were -4 in those games. However, in those wins they showed that good defense isn't all about big plays but it's also about playing with discipline and keeping things in front of you. Anchoring the defensive line will be Ben Gardner. Gardner had 10 tackles for a loss last season and proved himself to be trouble against offensive lines.

Forecasting the upcoming year, it's easy to see a 9-3 record, competing for a shot at the Rose Bowl, and a win in the big game against rival California. Their toughest early season test is at home and when they go on the road to face Washington, the game will not be in often raucous Husky Stadium. It's being renevated so the Huskies will be playing in CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seahawks. Although if the offensive line isn't what it has been and Nottingham shows his inexperience, the Cardinal could be looking at a 7-5 season with losses against Notre Dame, USC and Oregon. It's not going to be an easy season but we're going to see if coach David Shaw has an encore to his first season which saw his team in a BCS game.