College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Stanford season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Stanford Schedule Analysis
– Stanford Cardinal Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2020 Record: 4-2 overall, 4-2 in Pac-12
Head Coach: David Shaw, 11th year, 90-36
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 31
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 35
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 98
Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– Very. very quietly the Stanford offense had a nice comeback year. The team only played in six games, but it scored 24 or more in five of them after doing that just four times in the 12-game 2019 clunker.
The running game wasn’t special, but new Houston Texan Davis Mills and the passing attack were strong as the O led the Pac-12 in third down conversions and did a great job of controlling the clock. Eight starters should be back for what could be an even better year if …
– The program can get a steady starting quarterback to replace Mills. It’s Stanford, so it has plenty of 6-4, 220ish-pound NFL-looking passing quarterbacks waiting in the wings, but it needs one with more experience.
Jack West is a 6-4, 215-pounder who threw 19 passes last year and was solid when he had his chances, and Tanner McKee is a 6-6, 228-pound former superstar recruit who spent a few years on an LDS Church mission and got his feet wet in the offense last season. McKee has the slightest of edges going into fall camp.
Leading receiver Simi Fehoko is gone to the Dallas Cowboys, but 6-4, 205-pond Brycen Tremayne is back after averaging close to 19 yards per catch and finishing second on the team in yards. Michael Wilson was the second-leading receiver with 19 catches in just four games, and Elijah Higgins makes it three of the top four targets back.
– The offensive line doesn’t have Foster Sarell anymore at tackle and misses Drew Dalman at center, but the group that finished seven in the nation in fewest tackles for loss allowed and was okay for the ground game gets back three starters. 6-6, 320-pound Walter Rouse is the main man for the line at left tackle.
The running game wasn’t amazing, but it got back over four yards per carry after a rough few years. Austin Jones worked his way into a team-high 550 yards and nine scores, and Nathaniel Peat averaged over seven yards per carry with 204 yards. The 1-2 punch is back along with 220-pound Justus Woods to add a little thump.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Stanford Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Defense
4. Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Defense
– The Stanford defense didn’t generate enough of a pass rush, the pass defense was the least efficient in the Pac-12 with just two picks, and it gave up 35 points or more in three of the six games. But it managed to get enough big stops in key moments to get by, and now eight starters are back.
– Leading tackler Curtis Robinson is gone from the linebacking corps, but Levani Damuni is a big 6-2, 247-pound presence on the inside – he finished second with 42 stops.
The outside should be okay with a few options in a rotation with Stephen Herron and Thunder Keck two 6-3ish 230+ pounders who should start to get into the backfield more. Gabe Reid has been one of the team’s better pass rushers over the last few years and finished last season fifth with 27 tackles.
– The line has the size to go along with the experience. Now it needs to translate into a bit more production. Dalyn Wade-Perry is a solid 330-pound anchor on the nose, and Thomas Booker is a 6-4, 310-pound NFL-looking 3-4 end who could boost his stock in a big way with a few more sacks.
– The secondary that allowed 217 yards per game gets back three of the four starters. Kendall Williamson is one of the team’s better tacklers at one safety spot, and the junior corner tandem of Salim Turner-Muhammad and Kyu Blu Kelly are big and can move.
Now the group has to pick off a pass – the Cardinal came up with just two on the year and none of them came from the corners.
– What You Need To Know: Offense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Stanford Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Best Stanford Cardinal Offensive Player
RB Austin Jones, Jr.
Fast and active as a receiver – with 35 catches in his first two seasons – he took over the running game with 85 yards or more in five of the six games. He led the team with 550 yards and nine scores, hitting Washington for 138 yards and Oregon State for 126. There will be a rotation, but he’ll be the workhorse when needed.
2. OT Walter Rouse, Jr.
3. QB Tanner McKee, Soph.
4. FB Houston Heimuli, Sr.
5. WR Michael Wilson, Sr.
Best Stanford Cardinal Defensive Player
DE Thomas Booker, Sr.
The 6-4, 310-pounder is exactly the sort of versatile lineman the NFL types love. He hasn’t been a special pass rusher over his three seasons with just 8.5 sacks to go along with 15.5 sacks, but he’s active against the run with 100 career stops. Beyond the stats, he’s the main man up front offensive coordinators worry about.
2. LB Gabe Reid, Sr.
3. LB Levani Damuni, Jr.
4. S Kendall Williamson, Sr.
5. CB Kyu Blu Kelly, Jr.
Top Incoming Stanford Cardinal Transfer
DE Aaron Armitage, Fr.
Since the Cardinal aren’t bringing in any major transfers, the main new guy to watch for is the 6-5, 250-pound pass rushing prospect from Canada. The star of the latest recruiting class has the size and burst to be a big-time factor as a hybrid type for the D once he gets comfortable.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Stanford Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Stanford Cardinal Biggest Key: Offense
Will the running game ever get its groove back? In recent years, its the program of Christian McCaffrey, Bryce Love, Toby Gerhart, and guys like 1,530-yard Stepfan Taylor and 1,717 Tyler Gaffney.
With McCaffrey, the Cardinal ran for 200 yards or more seven times in 2016 and hit the 300-yard mark four times. The 2017 team got a massive year out of Love and hit 200 yards or more four times and flirted with the mark in three other games.
Stanford got to 200 yards once over the last three seasons and didn’t do it at all over the last two.
It’s a different college football world than it was just a few years ago and the passing game has to work, but good things usually happen when Stanford is effective on the ground. Yeah, it’s season-high on the ground came in the blowout loss to Oregon, but Davis Mills was out.
Run well this year, hit 200 yards once in a while, and good things will happen.
Stanford Cardinal Biggest Key: Defense
What happened to the Stanford run defense? The Cardinal defensive front was one of the keys to the David Shaw era. Run the ball, stop the run, move on. Last year, though, the Cardinal allowed more than five yards per carry for the first time in his era.
Stanford was able to get away with it – winning the last four games despite giving up over 200 yards in three of them – but allowing way over six yards per carry in three games on the season wasn’t okay.
There weren’t enough tackles for loss, but that was only part of the problem. Teams were able to blast away too easily and got too physical.
The result? The D allowed four 200-yard rushing games in the six games. The 2019 defense allowed just two teams to hit 200, and that was in 12 games. The 2018 defense played 13 games and allowed 200 three times.
Stanford Cardinal Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Tanner McKee, Soph.
Depending on which recruiting service you prefer, McKee was generally considered the third-best pro-style passer in the 2018 class behind JT Daniels and some Trevor Lawrence guy.
After going away on a church mission for a few years and easing his way back last season, he needs to be the star bomber the Cardinal were waiting so patiently for. If he’s not it, then it has to be Jack West who rises up into the job – it’ll be a battle this offseason.
Stanford Cardinal Key Game To The 2021 Season
at USC, Sept. 11
It’s the Pac-12 opener for Stanford, and it’s just another game in the most brutal schedule in college football – more on that in the next section.
It’s a must-win game among a season of must-win games, but it’s also the moment when the Cardinal can show they’ll be a major factor in the Pac-12 race.
Yeah, it’s a nasty slate, but the key games in the North against Oregon and Washington are at home. This is the hardest road game of the season – if it’s not at Arizona State – and it would show the team’s mental toughness out of the gate.
Stanford lost three of the last four to the Trojans.
2020 Stanford Cardinal Fun Stats
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 5-of-5 (100%) – Stanford 6-of-7 (86%)
– Time of Possession: Stanford 31:50 – Opponents 28:10
– 3rd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 69 – Stanford 35
NEXT: Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Stanford Cardinal College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
One question, Stanford … why?
Why would you put together this schedule when the program is trying to push its way back into the glory it enjoyed up until 2018.
The program had a phenomenal stretch from 2009 to 2018 with eight wins or more in each season, and while last season was a bounce-back from the injury-plagued 2019 run, it was shaky.
But 4-2 is 4-2, and after going 4-8, it was a slide-stopping campaign in the weirdest of weird years.
Not only did Stanford have to deal with a global pandemic like everyone else, but five of its six games were on the road. Even so, it managed to come through with tight win after tight win.
2020 was half full – the Cardinal went 4-1 in games decided by five points or fewer.
2020 was half empty – the Cardinal were ten points away from being winless. But that’s obviously pushing the extreme, and the team deserves a ton of credit for getting through last season under the most trying of circumstances and succeeding.
So, again … why?
Set The Stanford Cardinal Regular Season Win Total At … 6.5
Why would a Power Five program willingly chose to play a full 12 game season of Power Five games?
As if the Pac-12 schedule isn’t tough enough, it misses Arizona and Colorado from the South – likely the two lightest teams in the division this season. But the program didn’t have any say about that.
It plays Kansas State in Arlington, Texas, goes to Vanderbilt, and just for fun, plays Notre Dame. If that’s not bad enough, the first home game isn’t until the end of September.
However, the dates with Oregon, Washington, UCLA, Utah and Cal are at home, and give Stanford credit for being one of those programs that doesn’t shy away from competition.
Now the lines have to be back up to the normal Stanford standards after slipping a bit. The running game has to be better, the run D has to be stronger, and the team has to keep winning those close games like it did last year.
Why? Because playing a good game every week might just make this the mentally-sharpest team in the Pac-12.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– Stanford Schedule Analysis
