Stanford Football: 5 takeaways from Cardinal in spring 2018

Stanford football has finished up spring ball and is looking ahead to the 2018 season. What did we learn about the Cardinal this spring?

Spring ball is in the books for Stanford football and David Shaw is already looking ahead to the start of the 2018 season. The Cardinal have high hopes for 2018 after finishing with a 9-5 record in 2017 as well as a Pac-12 North title, but slim losses to USC in the Pac-12 title game and TCU in the Alamo Bowl were the difference between 9-5 and 11-3.

Shaw returns a strong team in 2018 and it had a nice spring despite nursing some injuries to star players such as KJ Costello and Bryce Love being absent from the spring game.

The Cardinal should be a favorite to return to the conference title game, but their offense needs to show even more improvement than it did this spring.

What else did we learn about the Cardinal this spring?

5. Defense could get back on track

Although Stanford had the 35th-ranked scoring defense in college football last season, the Cardinal were a far cry from their dominating defenses of a few years ago.

David Shaw’s teams have been physical and stingy defensively over the years, but not in 2017. The Cardinal allowed just about 23 points per game, but the 400-plus yards per game allowed was the eye-opening stat that could have been the difference between nine wins and 10-11 victories.

Despite losing, via a tweaked scoring system, during the spring game, the defense showed plenty of potential for the 2018 campaign.

Defensive coordinator Lance Anderson understands the losses taken in his unit, but he’s excited about the young guys who stepped up this spring, especially in the secondary.