Problems in Palo Alto

The last few years have been pretty good for Stanford fans and for the program. Rose Bowl trips, Pac-12 Champions, having Andrew Luck, and having one of the toughest defenses in the country. They have been a thorn in the side of all Oregon Duck fans the last couple of years and ruined their National Championship hopes.  However, things are not the same for the Cardinal this year.


Things have changed for the Stanford Cardinal. Part of the reason is that they are younger than they have been the past couple of years and that has its own growing pains, but the amount of speed combined with strength is not there. Last night, being in attendance at their game against the Arizona State Sun Devils I saw just how slow this Stanford team is. They could not catch up to the Sun Devils. The first half of last nights game was a scene of one team not being able to do anything offensively. Stanford had to many third and long situations because their play calling on first and second down were not effective in terms of trying to slow down the fast Sun Devil defense. The Devil defense was not going to let Stanford run between the tackles at all. The Stanford running attack was doing nothing and then they had to rely on the arm of quarterback Kevin Hogan.


Kevin Hogan has had the difficult task of being the guy that followed the All-American and overall number one draft pick Andrew Luck. He's not Luck by any stretch of the imagination. He doesn't have Luck's strength, arm strength, or ability to run, but Hogan has won and in the grand scheme of things that is what it comes down to. Hogan does not have the experience at running back that he needs to be effective in the passing game.  Last night, he was not effective. As I was watching the ineptness of the Stanford offense I started thinking should Oregon be concerned with Stanford?  Not that Oregon has a great defense, but I also thought that if Stanford Head Coach David Shaw doesn't fix these offensive problems, the speed of the Ducks is going to run right by the Cardinal.


One thing the Cardinal still do have is a big, strong defense. The defense can be physical and tough, but when they spend a lot time on the field and have to constantly chase down fast, quick offensive athletes then they get tired and the other team takes advantage of that. The Sun Devils have the quickness and the offensive tempo to wear down the opposition.  Guess what? That is exactly what they did with Stanford.


Stanford is not the same old Stanford that we have been accustomed to and they need to fix their issues on offense or they will not have the success that they have had the last few years. They got put on notice last night in Tempe. Hopefully, they heed this notice.