Is Stanford back?

After last week in Tempe, people were ready to write the obituary for the Stanford Cardinal.  I was in attendance at the Stanford/Arizona State game and witnessed something I didn't expect to see. A Stanford team taken apart physically.


The Stanford team I saw in person couldn't do anything against a smaller, faster team in Arizona State. Kevin Hogan had no arm strength, his running back couldn't must anything on the ground, the receivers didn't help their quarterback at all, and the play calling seemed boring and very predictable. I knew that the Cardinal had some young skill guys and it was going to take some time to feel comfortable in the offense, but not like this. Lets fast forward to today.


Watching the Cardinal play against an Oregon State team that had also taken a heartbreaking loss at home against a very upstart Utah Ute team. It was apparent right from the start today that the coaches at Stanford had shortened the playbook a little bit and put in a bit of no huddle to change things up and not seem so predictable. They were still going to line up and hit you in the mouth with their strong offensive line and knock you back on defense.


They were running power and sweep plays in any direction they wanted. They were throwing the ball around the yard much better than last week. Even though Hogan threw two interceptions early, they kept with the game plan and tried to find that balance. They did. They were up 28-7 at the half. The game was over at that point. The Beavers didn't have anything to challenge the Cardinal today and the Cardinal was not going to let them come back in anyway.


Here's the question. Which team is Stanford? Are they the smash mouth team that I saw today? Are they the predictable team I saw in person against the Sun Devils? Those are two things I am wondering as Stanford heads into their big match up with the Oregon Ducks. David Shaw needs to keep doing what he is doing this past week. They looked like they have the past few years at Stanford. However, going into the Oregon game they can not be this up and down with their play on the field. Oregon is not the team to be so unsure with in regards to your play because they will take that uncertainty and blow you out by 40 points.


Stanford is a good team, they are not great like they have been the past few years because of youth and bit of inexperience. I hope the Stanford team that played today is the one that shows up in Eugene next week. The one thing I do know is that the Ducks and their crazy fans will be waiting for them with open feathers.