Al Dannity begins Sports Interaction’s countdown of the preseason Top 25 as the College Football season approaches. Al’s heading out west for his first entry, the Stanford Cardinal.
The schedule If Stanford goes 8-4 against its 2010 schedule then it will finish a lot higher than 25 at the end of the season. The Cardinal have an easy opener against Sacramento State but the rest of the non-conference slate should tell us a lot about Jim Harbaugh’s team. Wake Forest present a solid test at home before Stanford travels to South Bend to take on a rebuilding Notre Dame. I like Brian Kelly to get the Irish off to a good start in 2010 so this could be a real banana skin for Stanford. One date looms large on the Cardinal’s Pac-10 schedule, October 9th. That’s when USC comes to town and the Trojans have a score to settle. Unfortunately for USC fans, the recent batch of NCAA sanctions imposed on the Trojans mean a repeat of 2009 could be on the cards.
The players Every team needs a little luck to succeed but in Stanford’s case they’ll be relying on a lot from Luck, Andrew Luck that is. The quarterback heads an offense eager to show it can keep racking up yards without Toby Gerhart. Replacing Gerhart will be tough but I like the platoon at Stanford’s disposal. Sophomores Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney will be supplemented by senior Jeremy Stewart and redshirt freshman Usua Amanam to give the Cardinal a unit that should be able to carry the load.
The number of returning starters is always important when looking at College Football betting and Stanford returns a total of 14 starters on offense and defense. Throw in a returning kicker, punter, and kick returner, and this is a team with the talent required to mount a run at the Pac-10 title.
The forecast Teams that start the year near the bottom rungs of the Top 25 never finish there. They’ll either outdo expectations or, as often happens, it will turn out they’re over-rated and end up out of the rankings. I like Stanford to step up to the next level in 2010. While I have them on the fringes at the start of the season I see plenty of opportunities for Jim Harbaugh to prove his worth as a coach. This year the Big Game won’t be the biggest game. Stanford could enter its home game with Oregon State on November 27th with at least a share of the conference title at stake, and potentially a place in the Rose Bowl. Much as I like the Cardinal I think this is one year too soon for that kind of breakthrough. Back Stanford to have a great, but by no means perfect, year in 2010.
