6Magazine’s Dope 25 College Football Previews: #19 Stanford CardinalAugust 9, 2012
Last Season
The definition of a great leader or CEO is how does the company peform when you are gone? Jim Harbaugh left the team after the 2010 season, and the team returned to a BCS game. Andrew Luck left last season and this season the Cardinal will not return to a BCS game but they will be successful. Andrew Luck might have been the engine for the team, but those are replaceable and the Cardinal has some other pretty good parts.
2012 Offense
Andrew Luck is gone, and if this was a pass happy spread offense, that would be a problem. When Luck was there, the Cardinal wasn’t a pass happy offense. It was a pro style power running offense. They lacked elite WRs. It doesn’t matter who steps in for Luck as long as they minimize mistakes and hand the ball off to returning RB, Stepfan Taylor, as much as possible. The offensive line is back and is awesome again! I expect redshirt sophomore, Brett Nottingham to replace Luck. Nottingham was a four-star recruit from the Bay area and ranked the #4 pro style QB by Rivals.com when he came out of high school.
2012 Defense
Harbaugh brought a toughness to this football program that isn’t going anyway any time soon. Linebacker, Shane Skov returns from season ending knee injury last season to lead the Cardinal this season. The front seven is not athletic but tougher than a motorcycle gang. The only weakness is their secondary which is putrid.
Outlook
Like I said, earlier, the Cardinal will not make the BCS, but they will make some noise in the Pac-12. Look for the Cardinal to go 8-4.
That’s all I got,
Ricky Writer
