By Derek DeBurger
After a historic upset victory and a well-deserved bye-week, Louisville will travel to the west coast to face the Stanford Cardinal.
Here to give the Cardinal perspective is one of the Managing Sports Editors of The Stanford Daily, Isaac Sullivan.
There’s no hiding it: Stanford has had a rough go of things this year. The transition to the ACC has not been easy sledding, but to look at the macro the Cardinal are in year two of a total rebuild. How do you think the rebuild under Troy Taylor has gone so far?
The rebuild has been seemingly nonexistent. Of course, improvements are not to be expected immediately, but the second season of Taylor’s tenure here at Stanford is wrapping up and the Cardinal do not even have stability at the quarterback position. There are still way more questions than answers with this Stanford squad.
Taylor inherited a program that had finished 3-9 in the final two seasons of the David Shaw era. Taylor matched that record in his first season last year, and with Stanford sitting at 2-7 overall, he may match that record once again. Taylor has simply not moved the needle in his first two years.
How do the Cardinal faithful feel about their new home in the ACC? Do you think Stanford can succeed being three time zones over from most conference members? Does being on the Pacific coast in the Atlantic Coast Conference give Stanford a major home-field advantage that could assist them once the rebuild is over the hill?
There are mixed feelings about Stanford’s transition to the ACC, but it may be too early to form a solid opinion, as the Cardinal has only been an ACC member for a few months. As for the effects the travel has on Stanford and its east coast opponents, it is hard to tell with an objectively poor football team. Stanford has only one win each on the road and at home, which tells us nothing about the consequences of ACC travel.
Stanford’s offense looked impressive in the first three weeks, but has fallen off significantly. In your assessment, where does the blame fall? The health of Ashton Daniels? The youth of the team? The lack of depth on the roster or something else?
All of the above. After the win against Syracuse, I genuinely was excited about Stanford football. There was a buzz on campus. Since the win, the health of Daniels has been iffy, and playing time for freshman quarterback Elijah Brown as a result of Daniels’ unavailability has been wildly disappointing. A freshman quarterback, shaky offensive line and a very young backfield is not a recipe for success against ACC competition. All this youth, however, hopefully means substantial development will take place in the next few years.
Louisville and Stanford have never played in football, so this is the inaugural Battle of the Cardinal(s). In your wildest of fantasies, does this spawn a new rivalry between the new conference mates? Should the two athletic departments go ahead and make a trophy?
As much as I like how cool the Cardinal v. Cardinals battle is, I would rather we not give it more attention than it is already getting. I say this because I know the inevitable. The casual college football fans will start calling us the Stanford Cardinals, and that is a Cardinal sin. For the readers who are probably already making this horrific mistake, we are the Stanford Cardinal. The “s” is both silent and nonexistent, thank you very much.
Finally, how do you think this game will go? What’s your score prediction?
This weekend marks the season home finale and Senior Day here on the Farm, which should mean a fired-up Stanford squad. Let’s pencil in an epic first-half touchdown from redshirt sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (because, why not?), keeping the Cardinal in the game at halftime. But, in true Stanford football fashion of late, Louisville will likely come out swinging in the second half, and things might get ugly by the fourth quarter. By then, the last few hundred fans who showed up will probably have drifted out. If a miracle happens and the stands are packed, maybe—just maybe—Stanford keeps it close.
Score Prediction: Louisville 41 – Stanford 18.
Photo by Vinny Porco