Stanford Football: 5 reasons the Cardinal defeat Oregon

PALO ALTO, CA - AUGUST 31: Head coach David Shaw of the Stanford Cardinal talks with K.J. Costello #3 after the Cardinal scored a touchdown against the San Diego State Aztecs at Stanford Stadium on August 31, 2018 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

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Time of Possession

In 2017, the Stanford Cardinal had a down year, with one of their contributing factors being their rank of time of possession dropping off. Leading up to last season, the Cardinal had been one of the best teams at holding onto the ball, and keeping it out of their opponents’ hands. Averaging five minutes more of possession time from 2014-2016, the Cardinal’s number fell to almost splitting time of possession in 2017.

Some may think this is a silly stat, but when you’re holding the ball longer than you’re opponent, and are winning football games, that means your offense is clicking on all cylinders, and the defense is handling their end of the deal. In terms of possession time, the Cardinal are mirroring what they did a year ago in terms of possession time so far in 2018. But in their last two meetings against the Ducks, they won the possession battle by an average of 12 minutes per game.

So why fix what isn’t broken? The Cardinal will once again look to dominate time of possession this Saturday night.

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