Stanford
12-2 in 2012 (8-1 in the Pac 12) defeated Wisconsin
20-14 in the Rose Bowl
2012 Recap:
Stanford was as hot as any team in the country at the end of
the 2012 season. Stanford won 8 straight games to finish the 2012 season,
including wins over #11 Oregon State, #2 Oregon, #17 UCLA and a second win over
#16 UCLA in the Pac 12 title game. Those four games came in four consecutive
weeks.
Stanford began their season by beating then #2 USC at home
only to fall to Washington on a Thursday night after a bye week. Stanford
needed overtime to beat Arizona the following week, and lost a controversial game
to Notre Dame a week after that.
The early season struggles might have cost Stanford a shot
at a National title in 2012, but it helped them find their quarterback for 2013
and beyond. Kevin Hogan was the starting quarterback for the run that finished
the season and he will be back for his junior season in 2013.
The Schedule:
There is no reason that Stanford shouldn’t be 6-0 on October
19th when they host UCLA, who they beat twice last year. The only
game before UCLA that could cause any problems would be Washington, but they
get to play the Huskies at home in 2013.
Starting with the UCLA game, Stanford plays 5 teams ranked
in the preseason top 25 in a 6 game stretch. They do get a bye week before
hosting Oregon on a Thursday night. Stanford is known for their physical
nature, but they will have to prove just how tough they are playing so many
good teams in such a short time frame. They finish their season by hosting
Notre Dame on November 30.
Key Returner:
Quarterback Kevin Hogan. Hogan was steady down the stretch
in big game after big game in 2012. Whether Hogan can take the next step as a
quarterback in 2013 will be the defining factor of Stanford’s season. The
Cardinal lose their leading rusher from 2012 Stepfan Taylor and their leading
receiver Zach Ertz. All eyes will be on
Hogan to see if he was just a game manager who happened to be the quarterback
of a good team last year, or if he is the type of player that can make people
around him better.
Key Loss:
Tie, Stepfan Taylor and Zach Ertz. The strength of
Stanford’s teams over the past few years has been their physicality in a league
that lacks physical play. Stanford dominates at the line of scrimmage on both
sides of the ball, and unlike other Pac 12 teams, they love to run the ball.
Stepfan Taylor ran for more than 1500 yards in 2012, and anyone can tell you
that a young quarterback’s best friend is a good tight end like Zach Ertz.
Without these two guys, it will be interesting to see if Stanford can play the
type of offense they like to play. I don’t think they have the type of team
that can come from behind to win a lot of games, but even if they have a lead,
they might not be able to control the clock the way they did in 2012 with
Taylor.
Success Will Be:
Stanford has played in 3 consecutive BCS games, so their
expectations coming into 2013 are pretty clear. Success for Stanford will be
returning to the Rose Bowl, either on January 1st in the Rose Bowl
game, or on January 6 in the National title game.
2013 Prediction:
I really like Stanford. I like the way they play. I like the
attitude they seem to have. But I think they lost too much on offense with an
inexperienced quarterback to run the table. The schedule is brutal in the
second half of the season, and I think it is asking too much to repeat what
they did at the end of last year. I still believe they will win the Pac 12,
which will mean another birth in the Rose Bowl, their fourth consecutive BCS
game, but they will lose a game or two along the way to take them out of the
National title picture.
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