(U-WIRE) STANFORD, Calif. — After Saturday’s surprising 65-24 loss to Arizona State, the Stanford football team (1-2, 0-1 Pac-10) has a lot of questions to answer between now and this Saturday, when it takes on No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0).
The most important issue head coach Buddy Teevens and his staff must address is a defensive secondary that was torched for 421 passing yards. They must also address the inadequacy of the pass rush and the defensive playcalling, both of which let the defensive backs get burned continuously on one-on-one situations throughout the course of the game. Like a broken record, Sun Devils’ quarterback Andrew Walter placed deep ball after deep ball into his streaking receivers’ outstretched arms.
Teevens must also address the quarterback position. After the loss, when asked who would start this weekend, he said: “Right now, we’ll just go back and take a look. We’ll find out over the course
of the week who the guy is that’s executing to give us the greatest opportunity.
“Chris [Lewis] didn’t do anything to lose a job, and Kyle [Matter] didn’t do anything to win
a job.”
Fortunately, Stanford will probably have a couple more healthy players by this weekend. Senior running back Kerry Carter and junior wide receiver Luke Powell, both key components of the
offense, had hoped to play this weekend but couldn’t make it back. Powell is recovering from an ankle injury; Carter from a banged-up knee.