UPDATES:

Interesting...Stanford only had 105 yards of offense in the 2nd half, about 30 of that on one running play.  That makes the turnovers harder to stomach.

Thoughts on last night:

• Wow.  It's been a long time since I've seen someone prove to the Earth that they are the biggest pussy on it.   Good job Stanford douche bag, way to go, coward.  Spearing Moevao after a handoff on a dive play left no doubt in the matter.
  
• It's just one game, but it's hard to stomach losing when the opposing team's leading tackler was their cornerback. 
  
• Lyle Moevao had 400 yards passing and 3 TDs, what more can you ask for?
  
• Stanford had 6 giant misting fans on their sideline, OSU had 0.  It was a hundred degrees.  Stanford's bench is in the shade, OSU's in the sun.  It was a hundred degrees.  Can somebody explain this lack of giant misting fans to me when it's a hundred degrees?  I know it's really not that big of a deal, but it's a big deal. 
  
• SIGNIFICANT players left the game due to leg cramps on multiple occasions.  I know that there's a chance that teams from the Northwest might not be as well-adjusted to high heat as teams from California or Arizona or other very hot places, but this is NCAA football, and we have a professional training staff.  Get a salt tablet.  Drink some Gatorade.  Invest in some pickle juice.   Practice with the heat on in the indoor facility during the summer.  Get adjusted.  I'm tired of seeing this every time we play in the heat. 
  
• I can't decide if this game reminds me more of Stanford 1999, ASU 2001, or USC 2006--from USC's perspective? 
• Could somebody tackle Gerhart?  That guy is good.  And big.   But we have a guy just like him to practice against.  So  I don't get why we wouldn't be able to wrap up this guy.  But, it doesn't make me feel better about the fact that there were only a handful of practices where full tackling of the ballcarrier was allowed. 
  
• Speaking of good, big running backs....4 carries for Ryan McCants?  I know they were loading the box, and I know that Lyle could not be stopped, and Shane Morales was MONEY, but I still don't get it. 
  
• Speaking of things I don't get,  The Flysweep--why only use it 5 times a game to keep a defense honest, when you could run it 10-12 times a game to drive a defense insane?  James Rodgers is lethal.
  
• Jacquizz's 10 yard run was pretty awesome. 
• The game wasn't lost in the 4th quarter.  It was lost when OSU couldn't punch it in on the 8 minute drive to open the 3rd quarter.  That would have done more to change the outcome of the game than anything else.
  
• Lyle looked GREAT.  One bad pass--to the smartest safety in the conference perfectly executing a great defensive call--out of 54 attempts.  400 yards.  3 scores. 
  
• More than 50 passing attempts?  Seriously?  Is that who we are?  I don't think that's our offense. 
  
• Not since they took down all of the Saddam Hussein posters in Iraq has there been someone as likely to be wherever you look as Bryant Cornell was last night. 
  
• The defense got 2 sacks in only 17 passing attempts against a very good offensive line--that's a lot of disruption ...against the pass.
• Giving up only 90 yards through the air is a secondary that's doing their job ...against the pass.
• Victor Butler is completely UNBLOCKABLE.
• Keaton Kristick needs Al Afalava behind him so he can loosen up and take more risks.
• Stephen Paea was amazing.  There was a play where about 2-3 Beavers ran the running back out of bounds, and he was one of them--getting there from the defensive tackle position is some serious hustle. 
• I never really thought about it before, but giving possession to a team that doesn't actually recover a fumble is a pretty weird rule. 
  
• It's right up there with whatever Leaping & Landing is. 
  
• Last year's Pac-10 champion lost to Stanford, too.
• Down by 16 in the 4th quarter, and it was no big deal.  The team was moving the ball and my comeback sense was tingling.
  
• Same thing in the 2-minute drill.  ...why not run more of a hurry-up offense?  Stanford probably doesn't have the depth to hang with that.
  
• Man, Lyle was poised out there.
• About 40% of Stanford's rushing yards came on 2 plays, 1 of them where the guy bounced off a group of guys who were swarming to the ball.  It's hard to imagine that really happening too often in the future, but you never know. 
• It's all correctable; this team will still be good this year. 
  
• Look on the bright side, as hard as it is to believe, Pac-10 refs made the correct call on a goalline fumble. 
  
• That Stanford guy is still a HUGE pussy.

Amazing.

The Game Thread can be found by clicking THIS LINK. 

#14 Tavita Pritchard - Quarterback (6-4/198) Senior

Tavita earned the starting job in fall camp after outperforming Alex Louckas and Michigan transfer Jason Forcier. When Pritchard was a sophomore, he played in five games and had held reserve quarterback, wide receiver, and special teams roles. Last year, his junior year, he became the backup. With three career passes and no career starts, Tavita was thrust into the starting role when Stanford traveled to take on the mighty USC Trojans. We all know what happened in that game, and Tavita went on to start seven consecutive games for the Cardinal. 

#5 Anthony Kimble - Running Back (6-1/210) Senior

Kimble is currently Stanford's best back-- however, he's missed eight games in the last three seasons to injury. He's been Stanford's leading rusher the past two seasons despite the setbacks. and looks to lead the team for the third year in a row. Although he's missed out on eight games, he's made 24 starts and has 1,291 career yards-- not the greatest numbers for a back who has played three years. Kimble missed out on playing against the Beavers last season, but he had 78 rushing yards and a touchdown versus Oregon State in '06. 

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Note: If you didn't get a chance to read CV3000's "Twas the Night before Kickoff", you need to do that now.

#91 Pannel Egboh - Defensive End (6-6/270) (Senior)

Egboh has the potential to be one of the Pac-10's quickest and most dominant pass rushers, and he has NFL size. He's made 24 consecutive starts for the Cardinal since recovering from a broken leg suffered the second to last play of a game his freshman year. He enters the season with 109 career tackles, 49 of those coming last season. He's scheduled to go up against the right side of our offensive line (Remmers and Peat), which could spell disaster.

#54 Ekom Udofia - Nose Tackle (6-2, 305) (Senior)

Udofia won't start at nose tackle (Sione Fua will), but look for Ekom to do damage off the bench. He's started at nose tackle the last two seasons (while Fua was on a LDS mission), but missed he last five games of last season with an ankle injury. He also missed all of Spring practice. However, the time without the pads gave him time to work on his conditioning-- he lost 30 pounds and 3% body fat over the summer. He now says that he's "in the best shape of my life" and that the extra conditioning has been "paying dividends".

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Twas the night before Kickoff, OSU versus Trees
Not a creature was stirring, not even the Beavs.
The grill tongs were hung by the barby with care,
In hopes that fine meats soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of touchdowns danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just uh...we'll just say...it's time for a nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like Duck Dodgers (of the 23rd and a half century!),
Tore open the shutters and it was a Rodgers.

The moon on the crest of the freshly-lined field
Gave the lustre of mid-day to TD scorers who kneeled.
When, what did my wondering eyes suggest,
But the UO Assassin, with an eight on his chest.

With a little fly sweep, so lively is Ocho Loco now,
And of course, the slimmer, trimmer Lyle Moevao.
More rapid than eagles the playcalls they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"FIRE ARC ARIZONA, Phantom and GHOST!

We run plays that turn your D into toast!

To the top of the standings! to the top of the poll!
This team won't stop till it's won the ROSE BOWL!"

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To give you a taste of what gameday will feel like in Palo Alto, here's some brief information on Stanford Stadium. If you'll be attending the game, we'd love to hear your first hand account. Post it in the FanPost section if you feel so inclined, or send an e-mail to jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com so we can chat.

Stanford Stadium received a complete facelift after the 2005 season, in which the old stadium was torn to the ground and a new $100 million facility was erected on top of it-- all in the span of 42 months.

via www.cantoni.org

New Stanford Stadium is now considered one of the premier college football stadiums in the country, although it ranks 58th nationally in seating capacity at 50,033. In the second year of the new stadium's operation, the Cardinal averaged crowds of 39,332, the second lowest total in the Pac-10 (only Washington State had a lower average). Also, new Staford Stadium has never expereinced a sellout.

We took a somewhat elaborate look at the Stanford Cardinal a little less than a month ago, but now it's time to refresh our memory on the Cardinal and reacquaint ourselves with the team that finished 4-8 last year, but has their sights set much higher this year. We'll start with the defense.

[Update: BONUS MATERIAL! A Stanford defense pronunciation guide has been added at the end of this post. However, We still reccomend that you struggle through reading the entire post without sneaking a peak at the guide. It's better that way.]

The Defense has eight returning starters, which, as DE Erik Lorig says, has allowed them to "focus more on their individual technique and responsibility". That's kinda scary, when you realize that although the Cardinal return eight starters and even more guys with starting experience (injuries seemed to be a problem last year), their biggest loss was the man in charge: former defensive coordinator Scott Shafer. He left for Michigan, which sounds like a promotion, but with his last accomplishment at Stanford being coaching the Pac-10's #9 run defense, we don't understand why new UM coach Rich Rodriguez made the call. If the players are saying that they can focus more on individual technique after loosing a coordinator, that must mean that new co-coordinators Ron Lynn and Andy Buh are doing something right. 

The fact that Stanford has new coordinators on defense compounded with the fact that this is Stanford's season opener is likely what keeps Mike Riley up late at night the most. Oregon State really has no idea what Stanford is going to do on defense, and it's not like Riley or Langsdorf can just pop a VHS tape into the VCR (err.. I mean, hit a few buttons on a keyboard) and see what packages and formations Stanford utilized last week. 

Likely, it will be a combination of some 3-4, 4-3, 46-Bear, Tampa-2, Cloud-3 Dog, Raider, Nickel, Buffalo Nickel, Buffalo wing, Dime, Quarter, Penny, Wheat Penny, Fifty Cent Piece, Peso, Pound, Sacagawea and Liberty Dollar packages. And that's the problem, right there.  [Coach Riley has said that he thinks the new coordinator is bringing some type of Tampa-2 defense, but we won't know until Moevao sticks his hands under Linnenkohl's (lawyers). -ed.]

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Last season, Jim Harbaugh took over a struggling Stanford team that hadn't experienced a winning season since 2001 when Current UW coach Ty Williangham was the man in charge. Things hit rock bottom in 2006 when the Cardinal went 1-11, beating only the Huskies.

Harbaugh brought improvement with him in 2007, but the Cardinal still didn't have a season to brag about (4-8, 3-6 Pac-10). Stanford did pull off one of the best upsets of all time, a 24-23 victory over then #2 USC. You may remember it:

I love it: "Touchdown USC!!! er... STANFORD! Touchdown Stanford! My Goodness!"

What's different this year?

Stanford returns the most starters in the Pac-10 (16), Nine of those starters are from the defense, and Tavita Pritchard returns to anchor the offense at quarterback, although he will be challenged. The Cardinal are hoping get to a bowl for the first time since the 2001 Seattle Bowl, but even though they're improving, I don't see them rising to the top of the Pac-10 this year.

The Coaching Staff

Jim Harbaugh is back for his second season, like we said earlier. Before 2007 he was the head coach at Divison I-AA (or Football Championship Subdivision) San Diego. He went 29-6 in his years there, winning Championships in his final two season there.

Former Defensive Coordinator Scott Schafer left for Michigan, and Ron Lynn and Andy Buh will share the duties this year. Buh was promoted to the co-coordinator position from Linebacker coach, and Lynn is a longtime NFL assistant who's worked with teh Chargers, Raiders, and Redskins in the past.

Quarterback

Even though Tavita Pritchard engineered the upset of USC last year, he wasn't the starter at the beginning of the season. In fact, he only had three career passes before the USC game. T.C. Ostrander was the starter for the first half of last season before he went down with a injury against Arizona State. Pritchard will battle junior Alex Loukas and Michigan transfer Jason Forcier for the starting job in fall camp.

Running Back

If Anthony Kimble stays healthy, he'll be the starter heading into 2007. Kimble led the team in rushing last year despite missing a handful of games with a shoulder injury. But he's not the only threat. Junior Toby Gerhart (he plays outfield for the baseball team, too) will be back as well. Gerhart and Kimble were expected to be co-starters last year before Gerhart went down with a season ending knee injury against San Jose State in the second game of the year. 

Sophomore Tyrone McGraw and senior Jeremy Stewart should also get some time. Stanford is set at fullback with sophomore Owen Marecic returning after starting every game as a true freshman.

Receiver

Stanford must replace last year's duo of Mark Bradford and Evan Moore, who combined for a total of 90 catches last season. Junior Richard Sherman is back, but the Cardinal will need him to be dependable, consistent, and mature. He was suspended for a game last season due to sportsmanship issues, which may give you a taste of his demeanor. Sophomores Doug Baldwin and Ryan Whalen are frontrunners to join Sherman. There is also talent at tight end, where Ben Ladner will likely start.

Offensive Line

The Cardinal are anchored in the middle of the line by senior Alex Fletcher (6-3, 298) who's switching from right guard to center after the departure of Tim Mattran. Fletcher was a 2nd team, All Pac-10 guard last season, so if he can successfully learn the ropes at center, he should have a strong year. Allen Smith started the majorty of the games last season at Left Tackle, but he's still recovering from injury. If he stays sidelined, expect Ben Muth to take over on the outside. At right tackle, senior Chris Marinelli (6-7, 302) returns. Senior Gustav Rystedt will likely play left guard, and junior Andrew Phillips will be the right guard. 

Read about the Stanford defense after the break...

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The aforementioned phrase caught my attention as I was perusing the Stanford Athletic Website. 

Yes, they're going to give people their money back if they don't like Stanford football.

It seems like an ambitious idea, especially when your team is expected to finish ninth in the Pac-10. But hey, whatever it takes to fill up "spectacular new" Stanford Stadium.

The fans will get their first chance to throw tomatoes August 28 against the Beavers. 

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--