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Stanford Cardinal Football: 2015 Season Preview and Prediction

By Logan Shaw

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After failing to reach double-digit wins for the first time since 2009, the Stanford Cardinal are looking to rebound this season with a very experienced offense. 

Last season was a bit of a disappointment for Cardinal fans. Stanford finished the season with eight wins and five losses, with three of those five losses coming by only three points, USC, Notre Dame, and Utah (2OT).

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However, the Cardinal’s most disappointing loss of the season came to the eventual runners-up in college football, the Oregon Ducks, who defeated the Cardinal in Eugene, 45-16.

One bright spot in last season’s efforts was the Cardinal defense. A big question entering the season was how the Cardinal defense was going to fair without former Cardinal defensive coordinator, Derek Mason, who left Stanford last January to take the Vanderbilt head coaching job.

Mason was a great coordinator while at Stanford, but last season, the Cardinal defense didn’t seem to miss a beat, as they allowed only 16.4 points per game, ranking second in the country in that category.

Stanford’s defense last season was impeccable. In their thirteen games last fall, the Cardinal allowed more than twenty points only twice, Oregon and Maryland, and because of this, the Cardinal were able to mask their inexperienced offense, who scored only 27.2 points per game in a very high-powered Pac-12 conference.

This season the roles are reversed. The Cardinal are returning most of last season’s offensive starters and contributors, but are losing a bit of talent on defense, in fact, pretty much everybody.

The Cardinal offense will be the more experienced group this season, led by senior quarterback, Kevin Hogan, but with so much talent departing on defense, will the Cardinal win more games in 2015?

The Cardinal defense was the rock that kept last year’s group together, and with so much talent leaving, the Cardinal are going to be dependent on their offense, something that wasn’t possible last season.

Offensive Breakdown

This season the Cardinal will be returning most of last season’s contributors on offense, but no returning starter will mean more to the Cardinal this season than Hogan.

Hogan has started games at quarterback since his freshman year at Stanford, and now, as Hogan enters his senior season, he will play a very large role in his team’s success.

Fortunately, for Hogan, Stanford’s offense is stacked with talent this season. However, a season ago, Stanford’s offense was a bit inconsistent. They seemed to hit their stride against lesser competition, but as teams grew tougher, the struggles worsened.

Last season, Stanford relied more heavily on their passing attack than their rushing. Both Stanford’s rushing and passing attack ranked in the bottom half of college football last season, but with so much of last year’s talent returning at all positions on offense, 2015 will surely bring more success for the Cardinal offense.

Stanford’s offense wasn’t bad last season, by any means, but this season they will be relied on heavily with a very inexperienced defense behind them.

Defensive Outlook

A season ago, Stanford’s defense was solid, one of the better groups in the country, but with so much of last year’s talent leaving, the Cardinal will be faced with the anxiety of not knowing how their defense will look until September.

A year after losing Mason to Vanderbilt, long-time assistant, Lance Anderson, took over the defensive coordinator role and had much success his first year. The Cardinal defense ranked second in the country in points allowed against some of the more high-powered offenses in college football, and it was thanks, in large part, to their experienced defensive line and defensive backs.

Although the Cardinal are only set to return four of last season’s defensive starters, the four returning starters are all seniors with much experience. These four players (Anderson, Martinez, Harris, and Hoffpauir) will be relied on heavily this season as their performance and leadership will be the deciding factor in how this season will play out in Stanford.

Stanford always plays defense well, and with some experience returning, I’m sure the next group of dominant defenders will enter and have much success this season because that’s what Stanford does.

Prediction

Stanford’s offense will be much improved this fall, but will their young defense be good enough to win ball games in Stanford? Yes, but with a very tough schedule ahead of the Cardinal in 2015, the road to double-digit wins might not be as easy as season’s past.

The Cardinal are set to face some very tough Pac-12 opponents this season, as well as a very tough non-conference schedule that features a visit to fellow academic powerhouse, Northwestern, and a visit from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who defeated the Cardinal in South Bend a season ago.

Double-digit wins are possible this season for the Cardinal, but it’s going to take much scoring from the offense and very dominant play from the Cardinal defense, which wouldn’t be abnormal.

David Shaw will have his hands full this season, but with some veteran leadership on both sides of the ball, the Cardinal should have no problem returning to their high level of play that we’ve season in the years past.

Regular season prediction: (9-3)

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