2011 Stanford Cardinal Football Preview

In late January, Stanford football – fresh from the euphoria of a BCS bowl victory – was beginning to face the possibility of entering its next season without any hope whatsoever.

Fortunately, the Cardinal quite literally had a little Luck on their side.

Having already lost its leader and mastermind, Jim Harbaugh, to the San Francisco 49ers, Stanford’s gridiron soul was ripped away. Harbaugh built the program from the ground up, instilling both a style of play and a way of competing that transformed the Bay Area campus. Harbaugh delivered tangible X-and-O improvements while recruiting physical, chiseled players to perform in his system, but his immense value transcended those measurable dimensions. Harbaugh gave Stanford its winning edge, so when the boss moved across the bay to coach in the NFL, the Cardinal stood on the abyss. The 2011 team needed its best player, quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Andrew Luck, to stay in school despite Harbaugh’s exit. If Luck had gone to the NFL, the idea of the 2011 campaign unfolding without an elite signal caller wasn’t one Cardinal fans were going to anticipate with great optimism.

In a surprising move, however, Luck decided to return to the program for his junior season. Things looked a little rosier after that gift. The Cardinals return just 11 players from the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, five on offense and six on defense. Thankfully for new head coach David Shaw, four of those returning players are All-Pac 12 performers (All-Pac 10 last year, of course). A question mark on the offensive side of the ball will be the line, which lost three players to graduation. Can three new starters protect Luck and opening up running lanes for Stepfan Taylor? With returning wide receivers Chris Owusu and Griff Whalen, Luck should have more-than-decent targets to throw to.

Shayne Skov and Delano Howell will lead the Stanford defense in 2011 after being terrific last season. A new defensive staff will lead a Cardinal squad which allowed just 17 points per game, statistically good enough for a top 10 national ranking. A hard-knock style of play and a surprisingly fair amount of athleticism will aid Stanford again in 2011. The Cardinal pitched three shutouts during Pac-10 play last season, and after a dominating 40-12 blowout of Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, they have eyes on a bigger prize: the conference crown that eluded them in 2010. Standing in the way of an outright Pac-12 title are the Oregon Ducks. Stanford is the only Pac-12 team to beat Chip Kelly’s Ducks during the decorated coach’s two years in the league. It would be a surprise if the Pac-12 crown doesn’t come down to a November 12 matchup between the two squads in Palo Alto. Stanford doesn’t have Harbaugh to match wits with Kelly, but since Luck stands in the Cardinal’s corner, a “red revolution” could still occur in this year’s Pac-12 title chase.

> Buy Stanford Cardinal jerseys & merchandise and Stanford gear and find a great selection of NCAA Fathead logos through College Sports Fans!