2009 Previews: Stanford

By Tim Cottrell
Sports Writer/Designer
Published: July 31, 2009

We go to Stanford, where as far as I know Jim Harbaugh hasn’t said anything incendiary in a while, for Preview No. 46. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, in no particular order, will run daily through Aug. 22.

In case you haven’t noticed over the last two years, I love Jim Harbaugh.

Between calling out Michigan or USC and taking a program that had become worse than terrible and making it competitive, he’s one of my new favorite coaches.

He’s created so much buzz at Stanford that both Athlon and Phil Steele are calling for the Cardinal to make a bowl game.

I don’t see it.

This team isn’t bad, but as far as I can tell they need another good recruiting class (last year’s was 16th in the country! At STANFORD!) to really become competitive in a pretty tough Pac-10.

But if the Cardinal find a quarterback, a bowl bid is possible.

Incumbent Tavita Pritchard has been, how do I say, underwhelming in his two years as a starter. There’s a very good chance to incoming freshman superprospect Andrew Luck will be starting by midway through the season, if not earlier.

But regardless of who the quarterback is, he’ll probably spend a lot of his time handing off to Toby Gerhart, white running back extraordinaire. Gerhart became the first Stanford back in 16 years to rush for 1,000 yards, and is good. Really good.

Both the receiving corps and the line have to rebuild a bit.

The defense, however, is in good position to improve on its below-average rankings last year. Seven starters are back, including a solid defensive line in Erik Long and Tom Keiser at end and run-stuffing tackle Ekom Udofia. The linebacking corps is a bit thin with the exception of mlb Clinton Snyder.

The secondary will be in good shape with corner Kris Evans and returning safeties Sean Wiser, who might actually get supplanted by Delano Howell, and Bo McNally.

This version of the Cardinal would murder most from this decade, but they’re just not there yet to really compete in the Pac-10. At least I don’t think so.

Here’s the schedule:

Sept. 3: at Washington State
They’ve definitely moved well past the Cougs.

Sept. 12: at Wake Forest
If this game were in Palo Alto I think Stanford would win. I don’t see them making a cross-country trip and winning.

Sept. 19: San Jose State
Big-time win.

Sept. 26: Washington
They’re also well past the Huskies.

Oct. 3: UCLA
Big game here. There are about four games of which Stanford will have to win two, and this is one of them.

Oct. 10: at Oregon State
Not gonna win here.

Oct. 17: at Arizona
Game 2 of the quadrumvirate.

Oct. 24: Arizona State
Game 3. And they should win this one.

Nov. 7: Oregon
And this is the last one. And there’s almost no chance they beat Oregon, and they are not winning any of the last three.

Nov. 14: at USC
Don’t look for a repeat of the Cardinal’s last trip to L.A. Coliseum.

Nov. 21: California
Upset potential, but Cal is way too good.

Nov. 28: Notre Dame
They might win this one.

I really can’t see the Cardinal doing better than 5-7, though it’s certainly possible.