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Stanford Football: 5 bold predictions for 2017 season

By Connor Muldowney

PALO ALTO, CA - OCTOBER 22: Bryce Love #20 of the Stanford Cardinal tries to run away from Chidobe Awuzie #4 of the Colorado Buffaloes at Stanford Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - OCTOBER 22: Bryce Love #20 of the Stanford Cardinal tries to run away from Chidobe Awuzie #4 of the Colorado Buffaloes at Stanford Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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Stanford football begins its 2017 season on Saturday with high expectations. Here are five bold predictions for the Cardinal campaign.

The 2017 season is right around the corner for Stanford football as the Cardinal are one of the few Power Five teams to start their season on Saturday. The season will open Saturday against Rice as the Cardinal begin their quest for a Pac-12 title.

In a conference that has its headlines dominated by programs such as USC, UCLA and Washington, the Cardinal look to be the dark-horse contender. Although, under David Shaw, Stanford has been no stranger to Pac-12 contention.

Stanford has the talent to compete with the big boys of college football and it’s only a matter of time before it pulls off an upset, or two, and makes a run at the Pac-12 Championship. This team isn’t going down easily, despite the loss of Heisman candidate Christian McCaffrey.

Let’s take a look at five bold predictions for Stanford in the 2017 season.

5. Defense sneaks back into top 10 nationally

Stanford has been known as one of the best defensive teams in college football over the past five years, or so. The Cardinal have been stymying opposing offenses left and right, but that all seemed to change during the 2016 season.

Although Stanford finished with a 10-3 overall record and 6-3 mark in conference play, it didn’t seem to have that same defensive dominance which helped make it one of the best programs in the country. In fact, the passing defense ranked 61st and the run defense was just 38th.

Fortunately, the unit brings back eight starters and five of them were underclassmen just a season ago. That youth an inexperience was a major contributor to the lack of success, but we can expect to see that change this season.

The Cardinal bring back a solid secondary and an even better front-seven. This unit looks to be gelling and Stanford will sneak back into the top 10 nationally in total defense in 2017.

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