Stanford football enters the 2017 season with high expectations, but what does each game have in store?
Coming off a solid season in 2016, Stanford football looks to build on a 10-3 finish and mold itself into one of the best teams in the country. The talent is there, too. David Shaw has assembled a solid team under his watch and he’s ready to kick things off on Saturday.
The Cardinal are one of the first Power Five teams in the country to start their season on Saturday, Aug. 26, and for fans of Stanford, that’s perfect. The long offseason has brought plenty of anticipation and fans of opposing schools are probably jealous that Stanford gets to give its fans a taste of football a week earlier than everyone else.
Even more intriguing is the fact that the Cardinal begin the season across the Pacific Ocean in Sydney, Australia. They will face off against a Rice team in which they closed the 2016 regular season against.
Let’s take a look at that matchup and the rest of the regular season schedule’s game-by-game predictions.
As previously mentioned, Stanford and Rice met at the end of the 2016 season, and the Cardinal had their way with the Owls, pulverizing them at home to the tune of 41-17.
The same will happen this year. With a revamped offense and an improving defense, Stanford will likely hold the Owls to 10 points or less. The Cardinal had a strong 2016 season, but the 2017 crop of talent seems to be on the up-and-up.
Rice, on the other hand, returns just 11 total starters and must replace its quarterback, running back, tight end and two receivers on an offense that finished 86th in the nation last year. This one could get ugly early on and Owl fans will be turning off their TVs in rapid succession.
Final: Rice 6, Stanford 41 (1-0)
There may not be a more hyped team in the Pac-12 this season than USC. The Trojans enter the 2017 campaign as the expected conference champion. In fact, USC looks to be one of the more dominant teams in all of college football this season but it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Trojans lose an early-season matchup.
Stanford is a prime candidate to pull off an upset here. While USC is a top-five team in college football, it seems each season comes with an early-season upset loss. The Trojans have been sitting in the spotlight ever since their Rose Bowl victory, but will it be too much for these young guys to handle.
In Week 2, technically Week 3 since Stanford has a bye on Sept. 2, the Cardinal will travel to Los Angeles to face off against Sam Darnold and Co. Last year, the Trojans marched into Stanford looking for blood, only to leave with their tails between their legs and a 27-10 defeat which dropped them to 1-2.
That won’t be the case this year as the Cardinal’s young defense will be trying to gel still and USC’s offense will be too much to handle. The game will be relatively close for three quarters, but the Trojans hold on in the fourth thanks to a late touchdown pass by Darnold.
Final: USC 37, Stanford 24 (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12)
Another trip down the road to San Diego will be on tap for the Cardinal in Week 3. San Diego State boasted an 11-3 record a season ago under head coach Rocky Long, but the Aztecs are losing one of the best running backs in all of college football: Donnel Pumphrey.
The Aztecs had the seventh-best rushing attack in all of college football last season, averaging over 260 yards per game on the ground, but that looks to be changing this year. Although senior Rashaad Penny has the talent to replace Pumphrey, finding his backup won’t be a simple task.
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Penny did, however, rush for over 1,000 yards last season and he’s going to be the main target for the Stanford defense. If the Cardinal stack the box and focus on the run, they should be just fine. In fact, junior quarterback Christian Chapman led the Aztecs to the 119th-best yards per game mark through the air last season. Passing won’t be a problem.
Keller Chryst will have yet another big game, following his solid showing against Rice in Week 1, and he will torch San Diego State’s secondary for 350 yards and three scores. Bryce Love will add 125 yards on the ground and the Cardinal win soundly.
Final: Stanford 38, San Diego State 21 (2-1, 0-1 Pac-12)
The UCLA Bruins were one of those teams that just didn’t live up to the preseason hype a year ago. Not only did they not make a bowl game, but they had just four wins and eight losses. It truly was a forgettable year for Jim Mora and Co.
Entering the 2017 season, though, there’s hope. The Bruins return All-American candidate Josh Rosen at quarterback after he missed a good chunk of the 2016 season with injuries. However, some of his top targets in the passing game are gone. Still, he has the talent to make do with what he’s given.
This will be another test for the growing Stanford secondary and it will be one that it handles well, but still gets touched for 250-plus yards. Holding Rosen to less than 250 would be a miracle, but this secondary will hold him under 300, which is still a win.
Moreover, the Cardinal will halt the Bruins’ run game as Soso Jamabo had a rough season in 2016 and is still trying to gain confidence. Overall, Stanford plays well in front of its home fans and earns the first win of the season in Stanford, Calif.
Final: UCLA 27, Stanford 37 (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12)
When you look at Arizona State, you can’t help but to realize they took an unexpected step back in 2016 with a 5-7 overall record and just two wins in Pac-12 play. If Todd Graham wants to stay away from the hot seat, he needs to lead the Sun Devils back to relevance and a bowl game in 2017.
Fortunately, he will have a wealth of talent to choose from at the quarterback position. In fact, he has returning starter, and junior, Manny Wilkins back under center along with Alabama-transfer Blake Barnett, a sophomore. Those two have been engaged in a fierce battle this offseason and it’ll be interesting to see who starts by Week 5.
If it’s Barnett, I believe that gives the Sun Devils the best chance to win. He has a strong arm and was one of the top quarterbacks in the nation coming out of high school.
Unfortunately, the shuffle at quarterback through the first few weeks will cause some discontinuity between the receivers and whoever is starting. That will work in Stanford’s favor as the Cardinal secondary will feast on the starter and send him home with his tail between his legs.
This one won’t be a blowout, per say, but it won’t be all that close.
Final: Arizona State 17, Stanford 33 (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12)
In a surprise decision this week, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham decided to name sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley the starter for 2017 over senior captain Troy Williams. It’s not that Williams is a poor quarterback, which he isn’t, it must be the fact that Huntley has exceeded expectations and looks to be a future star.
Last year, Williams started all 13 games as a JUCO transfer and passed for over 2,700 yards with 15 touchdowns. He helped the Utes take down teams like USC, UCLA, Arizona State, BYU and Indiana on their way to a 9-4 record. It was shocking to see Huntley named the starter over the captain.
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However, Whittingham had to do what was best for his team. That could pay off early on as the Utes have a favorable schedule until they meet up with Stanford in Salt Lake City. There’s a good chance they will be 4-0 by the time they meed the Cardinal and having a home game against a potential top-10 team will draw huge crowds.
The game will be back-and-forth early on, but Huntley’s inexperience in big games will cause some silly turnovers. That will give Stanford the upper hand, even on the road, and the Cardinal will rely on a big game from Chryst who will be facing a secondary that struggled mightily in 2016.
Final: Stanford 35, Utah 24 (5-1, 3-1 Pac-12)
Ah, the Oregon Ducks. One of college football’s most interesting stories, the Ducks had a horrendous 2016 season, finishing 4-8 and missing a bowl game. It was shocking to see since Oregon began the season as a serious contender to win the Pac-12, but after starting 2-0, it fell to 2-5.
This season will be much different as Mark Helfrich is now gone and former South Florida head coach Willie Taggart is leading the way. There is a different feel in Eugene this season compared to last and the excitement is back.
Year one under Taggart’s guidance may not be completely successful, though. There are a number of tough games on the schedule, including this road game against Oregon. The Ducks will face their toughest road battle to this point in the season and it will be just too much for Justin Herbert and Royce Freeman to handle.
The Ducks will have a solid offensive day, but the defense just won’t be able to make many stops. In case you forgot, Oregon ranked 126th in total defense last season. Bryce Love will have a field day and Keller Chryst will find Dalton Schultz six times for 122 yards and a score.
Final: Oregon 31, Stanford 41 (6-1, 4-1 Pac-12)
Following the first true bye week, Stanford will get Oregon State. While the Cardinal technically got a bye week on Sept. 2, they opened the season a week earlier and basically played in Week 1A while the rest of college football started in Week 1B.
Oregon State will host Stanford on Oct. 26 and many believe the Beavers will be slightly better in 2017 than they were in 2016. Meaning Oregon State has a good chance to make a bowl game instead of finishing with four wins again.
Unfortunately, I just can’t see Oregon State doing much offensively against the Cardinal. Quenton Meeks, Alijah Holder and Justin Reid are going to have a field day against first-year starting quarterback Jake Luton, a junior. He has no idea what he’s walking into and despite it being a home game for the Beavers, it won’t be pretty.
This may have “trap game” written all over it, but David Shaw will keep his guys grounded and beat the Beavers easily in Corvallis. Sure, it’ll be close for a quarter, and then the Cardinal run game will get going.
Final: Stanford 35, Oregon State 17 (7-1, 5-1 Pac-12)
Be very careful with the Washington State Cougars. Stanford should tread lightly with Mike Leach’s team from the north as the Cougars seem to be poised to pull off a number of upsets in 2017 with Luke Falk under center.
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In fact, Falk looks to be one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football and it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see the Cougars pull off an upset against Stanford here. However, the Cardinal won’t have to worry about guys like Gabe Marks or River Cracraft who combined for 142 receptions last season.
Instead, the Cardinal will focus on Tavares Martin Jr. who has big-play ability, but Stanford has secondary pieces that can handle him. This team is pass-first, to say the least, so expect the Cardinal to focus on stopping Falk and letting the Cougars try to beat them on the ground — it won’t happen.
Granted, this will be one of the better games in Week 10, so expect it to earn some national recognition as both teams are likely to be ranked. Keller Chryst will surprisingly out-duel Falk and Bryce Love and Cameron Scarlett will combine for over 200 rushing yards.
A fourth-quarter field goal for Stanford proves to be the difference.
Final: Stanford 31, Washington State 28 (8-1, 6-1 Pac-12)
What a beatdown Stanford suffered against Washington a year ago. The Huskies hosted the Cardinal in what looked to be a must-see early-season Pac-12 contest, but it got ugly. In fact, the Cardinal put up little fight, falling to Washington, 44-6.
It was ugly and you can bet the Cardinal haven’t forgotten what transpired last September, but they will get a chance to exact revenge on their Pac-12 North counterpart. It’s going to be a must-see game yet again as both teams will be vying for position in the College Football Playoff race as well as the division title race.
Washington has one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in Jake Browning and he will have one heck of a game, again, versus the Cardinal. Chryst will answer him, though, score-for-score.
Trenton Irwin, JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Dalton Schultz will all have big games receiving for the Cardinal as Cameron Scarlett comes off the bench to surprise people in the run game. This will go down to the wire, but the Cardinal will sweep the state of Washington in 2017.
Final: Washington 31, Stanford 33 (9-1, 7-1 Pac-12)
There may not be a soul in the college football world who believes that Cal can seriously compete for a Pac-12 title. Heck, not many believe the Golden Bears can even garner relevancy in the Pac-12 North, especially after a 5-7 season and losing a handful of starters with a new coach, Justin Wilcox, in charge.
Cal enters the 2017 season with low expectations, but that just means they can only exceed them. Unfortunately, by this point in the year, the Golden Bears will be so beaten down that the Cardinal will have no problem walking all over them to improve their Pac-12 title hopes.
There’s one major bright spot for the Golden Bears, though, and his name is Demetris Robertson. The former blue-chip recruit is one of the top young receivers in the conference, but he won’t have a quality quarterback tossing him the ball, unfortunately.
The Golden Bears’ near-last-ranked defense from 2016 will be just as poor and the Cardinal will put up over 550 yards of total offense on their way to a resounding victory.
Final: Cal 13, Stanford 38 (10-1, 8-1 Pac-12)
Last, but certainly not least, is Stanford’s matchup with Notre Dame in the final game of the season. The two programs have developed a decent rivalry over the years and the games are usually close, no matter what each team’s record is.
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The perfect example of that was last season when the Cardinal was just 3-2 and the Fighting Irish were reeling. Stanford and Notre Dame still battled out quite the contest, finishing with a 17-10 final. Expect a similar outcome this season.
Although Notre Dame’s defense wasn’t all that great a season ago, it still has the potential to keep opponents in check. The talent is there, all that’s left is the execution. This game will be close for the entirety and it will come down to who has the ball last.
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Although it’s in Stanford, the Fighting Irish are going to exact revenge for last year’s close loss in South Bend. Notre Dame will be much-improved this season and it will show. The Irish will shock the nation, knocking off a top-10 team and a serious playoff contender.
Final: Notre Dame 21, Stanford 17 (10-2, 8-1 Pac-12)