Head Coach David Shaw is starting his 9th year at Stanford. Over that period of time he has won 75% of his games, three conference titles, and has a bowl record of 5-3. They have ended up in the post season Top 20 six times, three times in the Top 10. Last year they had an overall record of 9-4, including their win against Pitt in the Sun Bowl, and a conference record of 6-3. Under Shaw they’ve never had a loosing season, averaging 10+ wins a year. It’s a record of consistency that probably shouldn’t be all that surprising if you look at his background and the great coaching and mentoring he has received through the years. As a player he was a WR for Stanford in the early 1990’s where he was coached by Dennis Green and the great Bill Walsh. Prior to becoming head coach at Stanford he worked for 9 years as a successful assistant coach in the NFL for the Eagles, the Raiders, and the Ravens. In 2006, he left the NFL to coach for Jim Harbaugh at the University of San Diego and then followed him to Stanford to become their Offensive Coordinator during Harbaugh’s career there, finally taking over as Head Coach after Harbaugh left at the end of 2010 to coach in the NFL.
Consistency and talent aside, with their losses on the offensive side of the ball, Shaw may need to put in a PAC-12 Coach of the Year performance to come up to his averages this year. Last year, for the first time during Shaw’s tenure, they struggled at the run game and since they have relied so much on that, facilitated by a stout line, to set up their passing offense they limped to a 3rd place finish in the North and ended the season unranked. But give Shaw credit for recognizing the problem and moving to a pass first approach which resulted in four wins at the end of the year to save the season.
After struggling with injury last year Bryce Love, their uber talented RB who in 2017 rushed for 2,118 yards, 19 TD’s and an FBS record of 13 runs of 50+ yards is no longer there. In addition, they loose their best WR’s in JJ Arcega Whiteside and Kaden Smith who combined for 107 catches, 1,604 yards, and 16 TD’s. On the plus side No. 15 on Sporting News List of Top 25 QB’s, K. J. Costello returns who passed for 3,540 yards and 29 TD’s against 11 interceptions last year. It is expected that returning TE Colby Parkinson will have a major role in the offense along with WR’s Osiris St. Brown, Connor Wedington and Michael Wilson. According to Athlon Sports preview of the Cardinal, Cameron Scarlett should get the nod to move into the Bryce Love spot and; “Though not as fast or as elusive as Love, Scarlett is a more consistent between-the-tackles runner.” The offensive line did an uncharacteristically poor job of run blocking last year, some of which can be accounted for by injury, but will need to improve in order to meet Shaw’s goal being physical, efficient, and balanced.
On the other side of the ball last year Stanford allowed more than 250+ yards per game in the air but is expected to improve quite a bit in that area with one of the best cornerback group in the PAC-12. However, there are only five starters coming back and they loose their two two best tacklers on a team that was already 45th against the run. On the plus side all three of their starters in their 3-4 alignment are returning but have lost all four linebackers with the inside being of more concern than the outside linebackers who should be able to hold their own.
While many teams have a soft opener, Stanford starts off at home against a really good Northwestern team on Saturday, August 31st at 1:00pm on FOX. They’ll get no rest as they travel the next week to take on USC at the Memorial Coliseum in their conference opener on Saturday, September 7th—a game that both programs need to win—especially USC. In the end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Stanford with right around the same record as last year, 9-4 overall and 6-3 in conference. Even though they don’t fill every seat for their home games—think super smart students who would rather be studying or working on an experiment in the lab as opposed to sitting outside cheering on the Cardinal—if they come in 3rd in the North again it may be just enough to start the clock on Shaw’s replacement. It’s the nature of the beast.