Stanford Football: 3 things we learned from win over Rice

1. Stanford’s athletic performance program is second to none

Bleacher Report‘s Max Rausch covered the Cardinal strength program back in 2013 with his article, “How to Build a Bully: Inside the Stanford Football Strength Program.” Stanford brought in Kissick Family Director of Football Sports Performance Shannon Turley. Turley’s job is to take highly competitive student-athletes who know how their body works (hence Love’s Human Biology major) and turn them into football players that can compete with the SEC.

As Rausch said in the article, “Stanford’s player development team focuses its efforts on injury prevention, athletic performance and mental discipline.” Turley doesn’t even let freshman touch a weight for three weeks. What does he want? He wants football players not strong men or body builders. He’s preparing the program for a long season including regular appearances in bowl games under David Shaw.

That requires flexibility, stability, and muscle endurance. What has it proven? His Cardinal football players came off a flight to Sydney and scored within the first minute of the game. Regardless of opponents most programs have to work off some rust, not Stanford. The Cardinal are trained properly and behind one of the smartest teams in college football can compete for a conference title every year.

Next: College Football: Top 50 breakout candidates for 2017

Can Stanford win without McCaffrey? Yes. It has recovered after Andrew Luck and will continue to win double-digit games a year as long as Turley and Shaw are on campus. Stanford should be a 10-win team in 2017.