After a 1-11 season last year, a regime change for the Stanford Cardinal was beyond needed. Enter Jim Harbaugh to take over as head coach, the former Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and 15-year NFL veteran quarterback earning his second coaching job, tasked with turning around Stanford’s program.
Though the Cardinal could still finish in the conference basement once football season has ended, one thing is for sure: The team will not go down as quietly this year as last. Already exhibiting no reluctance to make the newspapers with an inflammatory quote, the first step out of the cellar is a sense of pride.
Too bad pride alone can’t stop a rushing game.
Winless in its last five matchups against Oregon, and without a victory over the Ducks at Stanford Stadium since 1997, the Cardinal may struggle against an Oregon team that can neutralize its strengths and exploit its weaknesses. Stanford is last in the conference and 87th in the nation in rushing defense, averaging 185 yards against per game so far this season, and that could prove problematic against Oregon’s prolific running game. Though Stanford is second in the conference against the pass, it might not help if the Ducks continue to focus on the ground game.
Stanford’s defense against the run from their front seven took a hit as well with the serious neck injury suffered by starting middle linebacker Fred Campbell in last weekend’s victory over San Jose State. Campbell, a sophomore, underwent surgery Monday to fuse two vertebrae in his neck and though he is expected to recover fully, his football career is over.
“He won’t be able to play football, though,” Harbaugh said in the San Jose Mercury News. “I know Fred’s very disappointed about that. But he’s in great spirits and feels like he put everything into it that he had.”
In Campbell’s absence, two Cardinal freshmen will be tasked to step up into serious playing time. Freshman Chike Amajoyi and redshirt freshman Nick Macaluso were playing in the first team in practice this week.
Against Oregon’s still-suspect rush defense – which has given up an average of 173 yards per game so far this season – Stanford would like to take advantage, but with a knee injury to sophomore running back Toby Gerhart, the Cardinal may have to look more to the pass. Stanford has had success through the air so far this season, ranking third in the Pacific-10 Conference with 288 yards per game, and though the Ducks’ secondary has not put up gaudy statistics so far this season – ranked just fifth in the Pac-10 in pass defense – they are still playing well. Fifth-year senior quarterback T.C. Ostrander will have his hands full, even if the receiving corps – featuring senior wide receivers Mark Bradford and Evan Moore – is the strength of the offense.
The biggest task for the Harbaugh is convincing the team that they have put last year’s horrible season behind them. However, against a top-15 team with a potent offense and tight defense, even Harbaugh is realistic regarding his team’s chances.
“That’s the thing that everybody is trying to figure out, how to slow them down,” Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said in the Oregonian. “I don’t know if I have the answer.”