The Stanford Cardinal lost only three games last season, winning 10. For a lot of programs, that’s a great season, but the thing about the Cardinal is that they lost their three games relatively early in 2016. Before the final week of October, this team was already eliminated from the Pac-12 North Division race, and it had no shot at a New Year’s Six bowl. That’s not the Stanford standard, but a 10-3 record is still solid. Can this team remain in the hunt in the Pac-12 race this year? The Cardinal know what – and where – they need to improve.
How Did They End 2016
The team stumbled and bumbled in late September and early October, but it did finish the season strongly. The Cardinal hammered Oregon on the road, polished off archrival California, and put together a perfect month of November before winning the Sun Bowl in late December against a talented North Carolina team with No. 2 NFL Draft pick Mitchell Trubisky. It’s notable that Stanford won that bowl game even though its best player, Christian McCaffrey, made national headlines by not playing in it and deciding to prepare for the NFL Draft. This program remains resourceful and agile, even when it is not playing at its very best.
Offseason Changes
Christian McCaffrey was mentioned above – given his flight to the NFL Draft, it is obvious that he is out o the picture for this season. Bryce Love is the new man in the backfield, and he gave a strong performance in the Sun Bowl against North Carolina. He showed promise as a tough, slashing runner with good patience and recognition of blocking patterns, but now Love must prove it over a full season and not just in one game for which he had a full month to prepare without getting beaten up by weekly game play. Love has to be able to answer the call for a team which also lost star defensive lineman Solomon Thomas to the NFL. Stanford regularly replenishes its losses on the defensive line, but replacing McCaffrey is more of an open question, since he was such a special player who took on so many roles for this team.
Team X-Factor
Ryan Burns or Keller Chryst – someone needs to take charge at quarterback and deliver the combination of leadership and performance David Shaw expects. Stanford needs a reliable quarterback to set up play action and make the running game more effective. If the trigger man of the offense doesn’t earn the respect of defenses, the Cardinal’s offense doesn’t just become predictable; it becomes impotent. That’s a huge concern for this team heading into the 2017 season. Chryst was injured in the Sun Bowl against North Carolina, so his rehab process bears monitoring through the summer and into August camp.
What To Expect From The Cardinal This Year
The quarterback position is a huge source of uncertainty, but the team does play Oregon and Washington at home. (Washington State and USC on the road, though, will be very tough.) This team doesn’t appear likely to dominate its schedule, but if the quarterback position solidifies into something generally acceptable, a 10-2 season is there for the taking.
Record Last 5 Seasons
2016: 10-3
2015: 12-2
2014: 8-5
2013: 11-3
2012: 12-2
Schedule & Outlook
The Cardinal have a challenging schedule to start the season. They’ll have a layup against Rice to start the year but things get serious after that. They’ll go to USC and to San Diego State before coming home to face UCLA and Arizona State. For most Cardinal teams, going 4-1 in that stretch shouldn’t be a problem. For one that has some lingering doubts about the quarterback position, they might end up 3-2 or even 2-3 if everything goes wrong.
The questions at quarterback are too great to think that Stanford can reach 10-2. The offense is fragile enough that another three-loss season is more likely than not. This is not just a negative reflection on Stanford, though; the other teams in the Pac-12 have really good quarterbacks. Stanford might have a better chance at returning to power in 2018, when some of those quarterbacks leave college football.
Regular Season Win Total Prediction: Over 8.5
Click here to bet on the college football futures for the 2017 college football season right now. DSI will have all of the latest lines, spreads and props for this year’s action!
