TGS 2007 Football Preview Bonus: Stanford Cardinal

STANFORD—Rose Bowl trips and Top Ten finishes have never been prerequisites in Palo Alto, where Stanford’s wine-and-cheese crowd will usually be satisfied with a competitive product that occasionally challenges for Pac-10 honors and wins more than it loses vs. Big Game rival Cal. But woe to the coaches who can’t meet those minimum requirements, as the Cardinal has proven as impatient with underachieving mentors as George Steinbrenner once was with Yankee managers. Since , there have been eleven different coaching regimes on The Farm (counting Bill Walsh’s two tenures), and though The Genius and a few others moved to more prominent jobs, a greater number were dumped, some unceremoniously so. The latest to walk the plank was Walt Harris, jettisoned just 2 years into his tenure by AD Bob Bowlsby after a 1-11 mark LY—and another loss to Cal.

Enter Jim Harbaugh (left), the former Michigan and longtime NFL QB who cut his head coaching teeth at I-AA University of San Diego the past three seasons with remarkable success (try a sparkling 29-6!) while featuring an explosive attack. Moreover, the contrast between the outgoing Harbaugh and the introverted Harris is about as stark as the difference between C-SPAN and MTV. Whether that translates into any immediate improvement, and puts more fans into the seats at the sparkling 1-year-old “new” Stanford Stadium, remains to be seen.

Although oft-injured QB Trent Edwards has mercifully departed for the NFL after absorbing more punishment than George Chuvalo, the offense can’t be any worse (can it?) after ranking at or near the bottom nationally of almost every meaningful stat category in ‘06 Rough-hewn 5th-year sr. T.C. Ostrander (right), who’s seen lots of relief work in the past and is the only QB on the roster who’s thrown a college pass, will be the first to test-pilot Harbaugh’s version of the West Coast offense. Harbaugh hopes the return of C Tim Mattran (granted a 6th year of eligibility after missing ‘06 due to injury) will help solidify a sieve-like OL that allowed a hard-to-believe 50 sacks (!) LY. Perhaps veteran RBs Anthony Kimble & Toby Gerhart could do some damage if they had anywhere to run; we wouldn’t know after the Cardinal gained a puny 65 ypg on the ground last fall. But 5th-year sr. WRs Mark Bradford & Evan Moore opted to return after both missed most of ‘06 with injury, and their presence, along with soph Richard Sherman (one of the few bright spots LY), should at least provide Ostrander some viable targets.

The “D” is also in retrofit mode after getting pushed around when allowing a whopping 211 ypg rushing LY (ranking 117th). Harbaugh and new d.c. Scott Shafer immediately junked the old 3-4 alignment, instead installing a speed-based “attack 4-3" that will supposedly feature various interchangeable parts. Sounds good. The 2ndary at least held its own most weekends LY and returns some experience at CB with srs. Nick Sanchez (left) & Tim Sims & jr. Wopamo Osaisai, although a brand new pair of safeties (which could include WR Sherman) must emerge.

Summary...Harbaugh isn’t being asked to merely revive a slumping program—he’s been asked to exhume one. But as long as Ostrander serves as an effective stop-gap at QB and injuries don’t decimate the WR corps again, Stanford ought to at least be more competitive this fall. Which in itself would be a major upgrade from ‘06.

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