2013-14 Football Previews — (Pac-12) — Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal are coming off of another strong season, and they’re set to enter 2013 as one of the favorites to rip a national championship away from the SEC. Head coach David Shaw is 23-4 during his two years with the team, and he’s coming off of a 12-2 record, which includes wins in both the Pac-12 championship and the Rose Bowl.
2013 Preview: Stanford Cardinal
Coach: David Shaw
2012 Record: 12-2 (8-1)
UW Gambling Odds from Bovada.lv: 16/1
As good as Stanford is on offense, it’s the defense that will lead it to success. Last season the team gave up just 17.2 points per contest, which was good enough for 11th in the country. The Cardinal’s specialty was stopping the run, as it allowed the fourth-fewest yards on the year in that category.
Offensively, this team was good enough to win, but without the defense as its anchor, a championship would have been far more difficult to achieve. It was 96th in passing yards, 49th in rushing yards and 72nd in points per game.
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The defense may be what this team thrives on, but second-year quarterback Kevin Hogan will look to make the leap into that next category of great NCAA quarterbacks. Hogan showed the conference, as well as the nation, in 2012 that he can win games. He threw for nine touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 71.7 percent of his passes.
Hogan started for the Cardinal down the stretch in 2012, and he’ll look to keep that momentum going. The caveat for Hogan is that he’s missing a number of weapons from last season. Stepfan Taylor, Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo are all gone, and the 2013 version of the Cardinal doesn’t have a single player who caught a touchdown the year before.
With Ty Montgomery healthy, look for him to step up. Hogan also has speedy skill players to look to in Kelsey Young and Michael Rector. But as previously stated, this team is going to win with its defense.
The truth is that there’s no one player to keep an eye on for the Cardinal on that side of the ball. For most teams, that’s a bad sign, as nobody is great enough to steal the spotlight. That’s not the case for Stanford, though, as the collective unit will look to shut down opposing offenses.
In 2012, Stanford got to the quarterback more than any other team in the country. Look for that theme to hold true in 2013. Most of the starters are back, so without massive roster changes or massive scheme changes, there’s no reason to believe the defense will be any less forceful—especially with an improving secondary to fall back on. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
With non-conference opponents like San Jose State and Army to begin the year, Stanford will have plenty of time to warm up to the competition. Arizona State is a bit of a trap game in just the third contest of the season, but for the most part, the competition builds throughout, which will test the team adequately leading up to a finale against Notre Dame.
Although every game is important in college football, the Cardinal’s outlook comes down to one major question: Can they defeat the Oregon Ducks? The two grinded out a defensive battle in Eugene last year—a game Stanford won—and the two will face off once again on national television on Nov. 7.
If they can’t take down the Ducks at home, you’re still looking at a BCS Bowl in their future. If they can, however, a national title becomes a legitimate possibility. This team won’t lose many games in 2013, and the best-case scenario, which most teams across the nation can’t say, is an undefeated year resulting in perfection.
2013 Cardinal Schedule:
Sat, Sept. 7 vs. San Jose St.
Sat, Sept. 14 @ Army
Sat, Sept. 21 vs. Arizona St.
Sat, Sept. 28 @ Washington St.
Sat, Oct. 5 vs. Washington
Sat, Oct. 12 @ Utah
Sat, Oct. 19 vs. UCLA
Sat, Oct. 26 @ Oregon St.
Thurs, Nov. 7 vs. Oregon
Sat, Nov. 16 @ USC
Sat, Nov. 23 vs. California
Sat, Nov. 30 vs. Notre Dame
