2. The Cardinal was dominant on the Farm with a perfect record at home
When you get down to it, Stanford was a sub-.500 team on the road and a dominant outfit at home. The Cardinal is staring at an opportunity to get to 10 wins in 2017 thanks to their success at Stanford Stadium. It was a stark Jekyll-and-Hyde difference between home and away contests for the Pac-12 North champions.
A season that began with a neutral-site romp in Sydney and ended with a narrow neutral-site defeat for the conference title saw Stanford dominate at home and struggle on the road. Stanford was 2-3 away from the Farm, the average score going 24-20 in favor of their opponents. Four of the five games all fell within seven points, with only USC’s win at the Coliseum skewing the averages.
At home, it was a completely different story for Stanford. The Cardinal averaged a 38-20 victory when they took the field in Palo Alto. That, of course, was the exact scoreline by which they took down Notre Dame in the regular-season finale.
Home cooking saved the Cardinal in 2017. Getting to play Washington on the Farm proved a stroke of good luck, as it helped set up a tie for the division that went in favor of Stanford. Shift around a few games to road games, though, and a different result could easily have ensued where the Cardinal are neither a possible 10-win team nor a division champion.