By Tyler Bright

After a thrilling upset victory over Clemson, the Louisville Cardinals now turn their attention westward to face the Stanford Cardinal on the road in Palo Alto.

But while fans and pundits are still buzzing over the upset, Louisville can’t afford to let that momentum cloud their focus on what lies ahead. This cross-country trip to face Stanford brings challenges, and if the Cards look too far ahead, they could fall right into a classic trap game scenario.

Stanford is on a six-game losing streak as they find themselves near the bottom of the ACC under second-year head coach Troy Taylor.

Scraping the barrel

Taylor arrived with a very successful track record from Sacramento State and a reputation for energizing offenses. His goal has been to reignite a Stanford team that has struggled since their peak years with Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw, a time that saw them regularly compete for bowl games and even Rose Bowl titles. While Taylor’s tenure has begun with challenges, his offensive creativity and strategic adjustments have given Stanford a fresh perspective.

Stanford’s quarterback struggles, however, have been getting stale.

Despite some competitive games, costly mistakes under center from quarterbacks Ashton Daniels, Justin Lamson, and Elijah Brown have led to a disappointing season and eliminated Stanford from bowl eligibility. In nine games, the Cardinal’s quarterbacks have combined for 12 interceptions, with Daniels alone throwing eight.

Daniels has been the starter for most of the season, but health has sidelined him on more than one occasion. Daniels is also the biggest dual-threat at QB for the Cardinal, and almost all of their rushing attack. Louisville has struggled with dual-threat’s the past two seasons, but Stanford’s offensive line has been so bad that against NC State a week ago a simple blitz completely shut down the running game.

Elic Ayomanor has been the lone bright spot for Stanford’s offense with 46 receptions and 592 yards receiving on the year. A year ago, Ayomanor hauled in 11 catches against Colorado star Travis Hunter.

Ayomanor is dangerous, but he’s the only player that has proven he needs to be specifically schemed against. Quincy Riley and Tamarion McDonald will likely have to work in tandem to hold him to minimal production.

Nothing to write home about

Stanford’s defense has been bad.

There’s no other way to put it.

The Cardinal actually have some very average numbers on defense as far as sacks and forced turnovers go. These numbers make the defense look middle-of-the-pack on paper, but the actual results are staggering.

Stanford gives up 34.6 points on 412.9 yards per game, which rank 122nd and 95th, respectively.

Louisville will put up points no problem. Tyler Shough and Isaac Brown will likely have one of those games that reminds them how fun football can be.

Louisville will look to finish strong in the ACC but can’t look too far ahead with games against Pittsburgh and Kentucky coming up in the tail end of the season. If the Cards focus one week at a time, there should be no problem against this struggling Stanford squad.

The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network.

Photo by Vinny Porco