Instead, as the Pac-12 champion, No. 6 Stanford will play in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual against Big Ten runner-up No. 5 Iowa, which suffered a tough 16-13 defeat in the Big Ten Championship on Saturday to Michigan State on a last-second touchdown that won the game for the Spartans.

“If the worst thing we can do is go to the Rose Bowl, I think that’s pretty cool,” said head coach David Shaw after the Cardinal’s Pac-12 title victory Saturday night.

In the two Dec. 31 Playoff bowls, No. 1 Clemson will play No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, while No. 2 Alabama will match up against No. 3 Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.

Although he had stayed mum for the most part about his team’s College Football Playoff aspirations during the season, instead choosing to focus on things within the team’s control, Shaw was very unequivocal about his stance on where he feels Stanford should be with regards to this year’s Playoff after Saturday’s game.

“The question is, should there be an eight-team playoff? Absolutely,” Shaw said. “If you win one of the big five conferences, should you be in the playoff? Absolutely. Eventually I think we’ll get there. We’re not there now, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

In the Hawkeyes, the Cardinal will meet a third different Big Ten opponent as it makes its third trip to the Rose Bowl in the last four seasons. Stanford defeated Wisconsin 20-14 in the 2013 Rose Bowl, while the Cardinal lost to Michigan State 24-20 in the 2014 Rose Bowl.

Before this stretch of three Rose Bowls in four seasons, Stanford played in the “Granddaddy of Them All” just once in a stretch from 1973 to 2012. This will mark just the third time in Stanford history that the Cardinal will qualify for a third Rose Bowl in four years, matching similar stretches from 1925-28 and 1934-37.

Stanford will presumably be making its 15th Rose Bowl appearance in program history; the Cardinal are 6-7-1 all-time in the hallowed game. Meanwhile, Iowa will make its sixth Rose Bowl appearance in program history and first since 1991, a 46-35 loss to Washington.

Iowa is enjoying perhaps the best season in program history. The Hawkeyes went 12-0 in the regular season for the first time ever and rose as high as No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings before their close loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship. Entering championship weekend, they were one of only two undefeated teams in the country along with Clemson.

The Hawkeyes are much like Stanford in that they play hard-nosed, power football behind a big offensive line, stud running back in Jordan Canzeri and a stiff, battle-tested defense, which should make the Hawkeyes very similar to 2012 Wisconsin and 2013 Michigan State, the Cardinal’s last two Rose Bowl opponents.

The 2016 Rose Bowl Game will mark the first ever meeting between the Cardinal and Hawkeyes.

The Cardinal and Hawkeyes will meet in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m., with the game televised by ABC.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Well, except for the part where they lost to Stanford… and then to Washington… and then twice more for good measure, losing their head coach somewhere along the line as well. It wouldn’t be USC football without all of the requisite drama and baggage that came along with it, but to their credit, this time the Trojans finished the season 5-0 against their opponents in the Pac-12 South despite all of the distractions and media cacophony that tagged along for the ride.

This year’s edition of the “University of Spoiled Children” media circus was absolutely eye-opening and entertaining for Pat Haden’s continued indecision and unpopularity, sure, but to me, it felt completely different from the analogous situation two years ago (ft. Lane Kiffin), and unfortunately, this time, I think that the Trojans might have come out of the drama all the better for it.

In 2013, Ed Orgeron’s success down the stretch after he replaced the stiff, aloof Kiffinator was due in large part to the spirit that he revitalized the team with using his players-first mentality and his rustic Southern charm, and in many ways, this year’s situation with the player-favorite Clay Helton has been incredibly analogous. At least from an outside perspective, it really looks like USC’s players have their swagger and their identity back — I hate to deal with intangibles like that, but they absolutely seem to have an added bounce in their step.

That’s due in large part to what Helton has done for the Trojans that Orgeron did not two years ago: While Orgeron just righted the ship, Helton has already begun to steer the Trojan cruiser in his own direction by bringing USC’s old, smashmouth, power football identity back to great success.

And that’s why you should absolutely be terrified of USC for this Saturday’s game: They’re playing with nothing to lose, and for a coach that they love that is finally utilizing his overwhelming talent in an advantageous manner to great success. This is a very, very different USC team from the one that Stanford beat up at the Coliseum two months ago.

Particularly in last week’s blowout of crosstown rival UCLA, the Trojans ran their offense through stud running back Ronald Jones, and if they commit to using their monstrous behemoths on the offensive line to maul Stanford’s front seven instead of trying to win the game with an inconsistent Cody Kessler on Saturday, I’m not sure Stanford’s battered front seven can hold up to the full force of angry Trojan man-child linemen tunneling a path for their stud running back.

USC’s offensive line has suffered some key injuries over the last few weeks, but the Trojans have had consistently elite recruiting to the point where, like Notre Dame, they can essentially be plug-and-play. Given Stanford’s exhaustion on the defensive line, especially after huge running games by Oregon and Notre Dame, if the Trojans try to run instead of forcing the issue with Kessler, the Cardinal could be running on fumes sooner rather than later.

And even if the Cardinal keep USC’s running game in check, the Trojans still have an Adoree’ Jackson and a terrifying JuJu Smith-Schuster, even when injured, to take advantage of Stanford’s particularly porous bend-but-don’t-break secondary, especially if Alijah Holder and Ronnie Harris aren’t back by Saturday.

That should scare you.

It’s always absurdly difficult to beat the same team twice in one season (except UCLA, for reasons that remain mysterious to me but I’ll accept all the same), particularly with USC, which has enough superstar talent to keep things interesting even when the team schematically isn’t playing up to its standard.

The players are on the highest of emotional highs right now after hiring the coach that they’ve played their hearts out for over the last few weeks, and they’re going to be out for blood against the team that ousted them from the playoff conversation so unceremoniously that week in September.

Stanford hasn’t been playing its best football over the last few weeks, especially on defense, and Notre Dame almost made the Cardinal pay dearly for it. The Ducks did. USC arguably has more talent than either of those teams, and this isn’t a good matchup on paper for the Cardinal.

The last time this happened, Stanford had its national title hopes derailed by USC in 2013. The stars seem to be aligning again now, two years later.

The media narrative would be crazy if, at the end, the Trojans ended up winning the Pac-12 anyway. Let’s derail the hype train before it begins — I know you wouldn’t be able to stand months of offseason “ARE THE TROJANS BACK??!?!?” talk.

Give Do-Hyoung Park suggestions for how to get over a (potential) loss to USC at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

But even in their last ever 30 seconds playing in front of their home crowd, there was no sense of desperation or distress in that final huddle — only excitement and confidence.

“Where else would you rather be right now? This is the best moment ever,” said fifth-year senior wide receiver Devon Cajuste about the conversation in the huddle. “We were all excited. We weren’t worried.”

And to cap a send-off drive for the ages, Cajuste and classmate Kevin Hogan connected one last time on a career night for both seniors with a 27-yard completion up the seam in their final act at Stanford Stadium to set up a game-winning field goal attempt.

Conrad Ukropina’s kick from 45 yards perfectly split the uprights as time expired, and mayhem ensued as Stanford’s players and fans all stormed the field to celebrate a dramatic 38-36 victory for No. 13 Stanford (10-2, 8-1 Pac-12) over No. 4 Notre Dame (10-2) in one crowning triumph for Stanford Football’s class of 2016 on a dramatic Senior Night.

Senior kicker Conrad Ukropina (above) nailed a no-doubter from 45 yards as time expired to make sure that Stanford’s seniors wouldn’t walk off the field for the final time with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths. (Stanford Athletics)

“For our fans to be able to come out on the field and celebrate with us at the end of the game was awesome,” Hogan said. “Perfect way to finish the season.”

Before all of his kicks, Ukropina likes to say a few words to his holder, senior safety Dallas Lloyd.

This time, it was pretty simple.

“Shoot, man. Might as well make it.”

Ukropina’s ensuing no-doubter made sure that Stanford’s seniors didn’t walk out the tunnel for the final time with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths and made sure that Stanford didn’t put to waste titanic efforts from Hogan and Cajuste that were still barely enough to hold back an injured yet supremely talented Notre Dame squad.

Hogan, the Pac-12’s leader in passing efficiency and the winningest quarterback in Stanford history, had perhaps the best start of his storied career, going 17-of-21 for 269 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. On the other end of his passes, Cajuste caught five passes for a career-high 125 yards and a touchdown.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Hogan (above) completed 17 of his 21 passes for 269 yards and 4 touchdowns against the team that he and his late father fervently supported growing up. Hogan notched his 34th win as a starter, the best mark in program history. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

“I couldn’t have pictured it going any better,” Hogan said. “It’s awesome to just kind of put it all together. It’s a huge game for me; it meant a lot.”

“It’s kind of a blur right now,” Cajuste added. “I had so much fun tonight playing with my team… I’m still smiling from it.”

In a barn-burner of a game that featured 955 yards of combined offense and nine lead changes, Stanford needed every bit of the career-best efforts from both Hogan and Cajuste to keep up with the Irish on a night when Stanford’s offensive line and sophomore Christian McCaffrey couldn’t get much going on the ground against a stout Notre Dame front seven.

McCaffrey was held to 3.48 yards per rush — his worst mark since the UCF game — and failed to top 100 rushing yards for the first time in 10 games.

“They have an unbelievable defense and some unbelievable players and when they’re stacking the box it makes it’s tough to run,” he said.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s playmakers were popping off big plays at an alarming rate: The Irish scored three times on plays of longer than 60 yards and had seven offensive plays of longer than 15 yards on Stanford’s normally-stout bend-but-don’t-break defense.

Notre Dame was able to do that in part because it was winning at the line of scrimmage and was able to effectively run the ball at will, averaging 8.5 yards per carry as it rushed 35 times for 299 yards. Running back Josh Adams (168 yards) and quarterback DeShone Kizer (128 yards) became the first pair all season to rush for over 100 yards on Stanford in the same game.

Senior inside linebacker Blake Martinez described the Irish offensive line as the best he’s faced all season.

“They’re exactly like our offensive line,” he said. “They’re a physical group, and you have to be able to play perfectly on every single play or they’re going to offensively outmaneuver you.”

When they weren’t running the ball down Stanford’s throats, the Irish were also burning Stanford through the air with a 234-yard passing day from Kizer and six catches for 136 yards by standout wide receiver Will Fuller.

But the difference in the game was that Notre Dame couldn’t convert when it needed to most, and Stanford did: The Irish had to settle for field goals on their first three red-zone trips, while Stanford scored touchdowns on all five of its own forays into the red zone.

A first-quarter touchdown pass to Remound Wright on a play-fake from the heavy set was followed by a fade touchdown to Cajuste and a perimeter touchdown pass to senior Michael Rector, who broke a tackle before sprinting into the end zone. A Wright 1-yard run and a play-fake reverse-field pass to junior Austin Hooper accounted for the remainder of the scoring.

Fifth-year senior wide receiver Devon Cajuste (left) had a field day matched up against an injured Notre Dame secondary, notching five catches for a career-high 125 yards and a touchdown. He also caught the 27-yard pass that set up the game-winning field goal. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

And even when the offense stalled late in the game, the defense, which had one of its roughest outings of the year, bailed the Cardinal out with some huge stops.

“Right before the fourth quarter happened, I brought our defense together,” Martinez said. “I told them, ‘Hey, this is our time, this is where we need to just nut up, basically, and say we’re not going to let anything get past us.’ We’re going to make those stops for our offense. They’ve been doing it for us the whole game and it’s time for to us make that stop and contribute in this game.”

The only time Notre Dame scored a touchdown in the red zone was on its final drive with 30 seconds remaining in the game, when Kizer appeared to be down short of the goal line on a quarterback keeper but the play was ruled a touchdown anyway, which set the stage for the late heroics from Hogan, Cajuste and Ukropina.

For his efforts on an emotional Senior Night against the team he supported with his late father growing up, Hogan was awarded the game ball and got a heartfelt and emotional congratulations from head coach David Shaw after the game was over.

But in classic Hogan fashion, he wasn’t too caught up in the moment — no matter how big. Instead, even as his storied career draws to a close, he’s still forever looking ahead at the next task that lies ahead.

“Thanks, coach,” he said. “But we’ve got to play USC next week.”

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee came out with its first round of rankings on Tuesday. Stanford is ranked 11th compared to its No. 9 ranking in this week’s AP Poll. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Despite the Cardinal currently sitting at No. 9 in the AP Poll (as voted on by sports media) and No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll (as voted on by college football head coaches), the 12-person committee left Stanford out of the top 10 of the rankings, leaving the Pac-12 as the lone Power Five conference without a team in the top 10.

Stanford was one of three Pac-12 teams that were listed in the initial top 25, along with No. 12 Utah and No. 23 UCLA. The Pac-12 ranked fourth among the Power Five conferences in team representation, behind the SEC (six teams), Big Ten (five teams) and Big 12 (four teams) and ahead of the ACC (two teams). Notre Dame also broke into the ranking at No. 5.

Among the “Group of Five” conferences, the American was represented by three teams (No. 13 Memphis, No. 22 Temple, No. 25 Houston) and the MAC was represented by No. 24 Toledo.

Stanford was the fourth-highest one-loss team in the ranking, behind No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 10 Florida.

The comparatively low rankings of the three Pac-12 teams, particularly Stanford, were cause for concern for many Pac-12 supporters.

Because the committee focuses intensely on strength of schedule and quality of victories, the fact that Stanford and Utah fell so far down the ladder among the one-loss teams seems to indicate that the committee holds Stanford’s bigger wins in the Pac-12 (UCLA and USC) in lesser regard than those of teams in other conferences.

However, with Stanford still likely to face a ranked Notre Dame team and a ranked Pac-12 South champion before the final playoff rankings are determined, Stanford still has the ability to move up the rankings, much like defending national champion Ohio State did last season (the Buckeyes debuted last year at No. 16).

With UCLA and USC steadily climbing the rankings after their early-season losses to Stanford, the Cardinal’s marquee victories could also start looking better as the season wears on.

Stanford will take on Colorado in Boulder on Saturday before the next iteration of the ranking is released next Tuesday afternoon.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Meanwhile, I’m writing about college football.

While I care about getting people jobs and making these jobs better, like many of these candidates I am also very interested in college football. I am a Republican, but more importantly for the purposes of this column, I am a Stanford football fan. My big non-economic question is this: Am I ready to drink the Kool-Aid?

Let’s get this out of the way. The answer is no.

Stanford is definitely a contender for the conference championship. But there’s a lot of good teams above it, and during a year that’s increasingly recognized as a weak season for the Pac-12, Stanford’s going to need all the help it can get to force its way into the national conversation.

Can Stanford ride carnage to the top? I’m confident that teams above No. 8 Stanford will lose – in fact, there are three sets of teams above No. 8 Stanford that play each other. Michigan State plays Ohio State, Alabama plays LSU and Baylor plays TCU. If Stanford wins out, it’ll be at least No. 5 in the AP Poll. And Stanford can expect at least one team to take a stupid loss. How many times have there been three undefeated teams?

Would carnage be enough? It’s nice to have other teams lose late in the season, but that doesn’t guarantee a shot at a title. Stanford might be No. 4 in the AP Poll, but the playoff committee doesn’t need to take the AP’s word as gospel. And lest you wonder whether the AP might try to split the national championship: When it’s time to crown a national champ, the winner of the CFP will have played a slate that will clearly make it the most deserving team in America. The playoff committee doesn’t have to pick the four most deserving teams. It just has to avoid picking teams whose omission would threaten its legitimacy. The odds of the committee being so monumentally tone-deaf as to leave out an undefeated, top-ranked Ohio State (or something like that) are pretty much zero. Last year, after all was said and done, the only real controversy was irrelevant to anybody outside of Fort Worth.

At the end of the day, how does Stanford’s resume stack up? Last year, Ohio State lost to a 7-6 Virginia Tech team and went on to win the national championship. Is Northwestern last year’s VT? I don’t think so. We forget that Ohio State needed the committee to utterly humiliate the Big 12 in order to get into the playoff. And if Stanford’s in the hunt for the No. 4 seed, people are going to ask the same hard questions they asked the Buckeyes about whether Stanford really deserves to vault over another 1-loss team.

People will find out soon enough that the Cardinal’s schedule is not actually that great. You can’t blame them for doing their best with the schedule they’ve been given (well, apart from Northwestern), but this is unquestionably a down year for the conference. UCLA is acquiring a national reputation for wilting in big games, making Stanford’s win over UCLA less notable. Cal hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt. Oregon, Washington and Arizona are all down. And it’s increasingly clear that when Stanford went to the Coliseum the Trojans were in shambles.

Yes, I’ve illustrated a worst-case scenario. But worst-case scenarios should be not only considered but also expected. The committee will always have tough decisions to make, and Stanford’s shaky schedule gives it a reason to ding the Cardinal. It’s hard to run the table anywhere. But even if Stanford runs the table, you could talk me into thinking that Stanford would be a team with one victory worth mentioning. And while I really want the Stanford seniors to go out with a national championship, one marquee win is not going to be good enough. Let’s root for chaos. Stanford’s going to need it.

Winston Shi sent in his column past his deadline tonight after being spotted at a Republican debate watch party. Tell him to stop fawning over the GOP and start helping his editors out at wshi94 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Freshman midfielder Michelle Xiao (middle) has provided much-needed offensive support to powerhouse forward Haley Rosen and midfielder Andi Sullivan. Xiao has scored four times with just 14 shots at goal this season. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

Stanford’s latest victim was Washington, which was able to match the Cardinal’s pace and on-ball skills with a defense that bent but didn’t break for the first 60 minutes. The Cardinal eventually wore down the Huskies, getting goals from freshman Jordan DiBiasi, fifth-year senior Haley Rosen and freshman Alana Cook in a 3-0 victory that fully reflected Stanford’s dominance on the field.

Looking at the Cardinal’s stat sheet, it’s hard to imagine a time in which this team was not the Pac-12-slaying juggernaut it is today.

This season, Stanford has recorded 311 shots while conceding only 96, a testament to both the overwhelming amount of time the Cardinal control the ball and the immaculate play of the Cardinal defense.

However, this statistical dominance hides an uncomfortable fact about the Cardinal: For all their talent, they often seem to be less than the sum of their parts.

Despite ranking seventh in the nation in shots per game, Stanford ranks just 44th in goals per game, a disparity coming from many sources, including tentative finishing, overreliance on crosses and poor shot selection.

While some of these problems have partially resurfaced in the Cardinal’s current eight-game winning streak, it seems like the entire team is playing its best soccer at exactly the right time.

Gone are the days in which Rosen or sophomore midfielder Andi Sullivan had to carry the offense by themselves. Now freshman wingers Michelle Xiao and Tegan McGrady and sophomore Mariah Lee give the Cardinal spark and balance from the outside.

Stanford’s impressive array of quality attacking options is one of the team’s best assets and has allowed for goals from all over the field. Although Rosen and Sullivan still lead the team with 5 goals each, the Cardinal have 10 players who have found the net at least twice. The Cardinal appear to have finally solved their finishing woes by relying on a goal scoring by committee approach that produces new heroes every night.

This offensive parity complements a rock-solid defense that makes even one-goal leads look insurmountable to opposing teams. Junior Maddie Bauer and Cook have been among the best in the country at their center back position, leading a Stanford defense that has allowed just 10 goals in 16 games.

Though the Cardinal are overflowing with talent and seem to be peaking at the right time, the team must continue to make adjustments in order to contend for a national championship.

Ratcliffe consistently preaches that the attack must remain on its front foot and take high-percentage shots with a more clinical approach. The normally-stout Cardinal defense often looks shaky on set pieces, most recently when it conceded an own goal off a free kick against Colorado.

USC provides a good opportunity for the Cardinal to put those adjustments into effect. The Trojans play a similar style to the Cardinal, winning games by ruthlessly controlling possession and conceding very few shots.

Junior midfielder Morgan Andrews, who transferred from Notre Dame before the season, is the centerpiece of the Trojan offense, recording 3 goals and 4 assists so far for USC.

Like Stanford goalkeeper Jane Campbell, Sammy Jo Prudhomme has done well in her few opportunities, posting a 0.62 goals against average while saving 83 percent of the shots she faces.

The two teams will face off at home on Thursday, Oct. 29, and play will begin at 7 p.m. on Maloney Field.

With the Pac-12 title on the line and the prospects of a College Cup appearance down the road, the Cardinal are showing their playoff form. Their playoff hopes may rest on a difficult question for Ratcliffe and his coaching staff: How do you improve a team that already has everything?

Contact Sanjay Srinivas at sanjay_srinivas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Sandip Srinivas: Simply put, I don’t think it does. On paper, it seems like all the signs are there: Stanford hosts an unranked team that boasts the Pac-12’s best defense (Washington is allowing just 16.8 points per game), struggles to get momentum early and loses a low-scoring game. But that sells this Stanford team very short.

In that 2012 game against Washington, Stanford failed to score a touchdown on offense. It was quarterback Josh Nunes’ fourth career start, and the team was still figuring out how to adjust post-Andrew Luck. Now, Stanford is very sure of who they are, as everyone from David Shaw to Kevin Hogan has spoken of Stanford’s clear identity on the offensive end. The team is playing with resolve and purpose, and they’re getting to opponents early: Over the last three games, Stanford has outscored its opponents in the first quarter by a margin of 41-17.

For the last two games especially, it has seemed like almost an inevitability that Stanford will score when it gets the ball. Fans no longer hold their collective breath when the Cardinal enter the red zone, as Stanford has scored 20 touchdowns and 4 field goals in its 28 red zone trips this year. While the offense will certainly face a worthy opponent in the Huskies’ defense, with the way the team has been playing, it’s hard to see them being stopped.

While in years past, this may have seemed like a dangerous game (and not to say it should be taken lightly), I expect the Cardinal to come out strong and put up another tremendous performance.

Neel Ramachandran: Given Stanford’s recent history in similar situations, my heart beats a little faster in anticipation of the Washington game. However, like Sandip mentioned, the 2015 Cardinal football team possesses a sense of identity and maturity that it lacked in previous years, especially offensively. Kevin Hogan is playing at an altogether new level: His 170.8 passer efficiency rating is good for eighth in the country, over the likes of Cody Kessler and Jared Goff. Meanwhile, the offensive line —  led by seniors Joshua Garnett and Kyle Murphy — is among the best in the country, giving up only eight sacks in six games, and has paved the way for the running back committee to average 5.9 yards per carry. And finally, speaking of the run game, a certain sophomore by the name of Christian McCaffrey has vaulted himself into the Heisman conversation, as he leads the nation in all-purpose yards.

All this has been enough to start attracting attention to the Cardinal offense, which has in recent years been tremendously overshadowed by its stifling defense. Despite the fact that Hogan & Co. have been entertaining to watch, keep in mind that none of the offense’s success has come against legitimate defenses (the only top-50 defense Stanford has faced this year was Northwestern, and we all remember how that went). Thus, with Washington currently in the top-20 in scoring defense, I don’t expect the team to put up the gaudy numbers that have become typical of this season. Instead, the focus should return to the Cardinal defense, which has played extremely well despite receiving little attention.

Washington’s offense is struggling: Barring a 49-0 blowout of FCS opponent Sacramento State, the team is averaging 20 points per game, and put up only 20 against Oregon, the 111th best defense in the country. To make matters worse for the Huskies, freshman quarterback Jake Browning is listed as questionable for the game, as he exited the Oregon game late with a shoulder injury. His backup, K.J. Carta-Samuels, threw a pick on the second of his two passes to seal the game. Given these factors, I don’t see the Huskies coming anywhere near pulling off an upset. Stanford’s defense will shut out the UW offense; meanwhile, while the offense won’t score over 40, it will do more than enough to give the Cardinal an easy victory.

Vihan Lakshman: The two young grasshoppers above me make compelling points, and let me elaborate by telling you a story of a not-so ancient creature capable of inducing high blood pressure at will: The Cardiac Cardinal.

The 2012 and 2013 seasons saw Stanford advance to consecutive Rose Bowls for the first time since the ‘70s, but Cardinal fans endured an uncomfortable amount of heart-bursting finishes along the way. Wins against Arizona in 2012 and Oregon, Oregon State and those same Huskies in 2013 could have easily gone the other way. Stanford loved to flirt with the edge of disaster, and eventually fate caught up with the Cardinal in the form of inexplicable losses.

But this year Stanford has been blowing out Pac-12 opponents left and right and hardly resembles those Cardiac Cardinal squads that allowed teams to linger late into the game. This year’s version of the Cardinal offense has finished drives with clinical precision, picked up first downs and, perhaps most importantly, taken care of the football. Washington certainly has a strong chance of pulling off this upset, but it will likely require near-flawless execution on its part as opposed to a head-scratching performance from Stanford, who has flashed nothing but consistency after the first 90 minutes of the season.

Could the Cardinal conceivably lose this game at home to an unranked, but talented UW squad? Absolutely — we saw how a strong defense in Northwestern could knock Stanford off of its rhythm and Washington might be even stingier. Moreover, any team coached by Rumpelstiltskin in a baseball cap, a.k.a. Chris Petersen, demands the utmost respect. However, I don’t see a potential upset stemming from Stanford simply forgetting to show up to play; it will require a heroic, but certainly realistic, performance from the Huskies against a team that bears little resemblance to the Cardiac Cardinal of old.

Contact Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu, Neel Ramachandran at neelr ‘at’ stanford.edu and Vihan Lakshman at vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The Cardinal were originally scheduled to open their 2016 season against Rice but instead are now scheduled to face Kansas State on Sept. 2 as their season-opener. In 2021 Stanford will travel to Manhattan, Kansas, to take on the Wildcats. (KAREN AMBROSE HICKEY/stanfordphoto.com)

The addition of Kansas State to the 2016 schedule officially completes Stanford’s non-conference slate. The Cardinal will open the 2016 campaign by hosting the Wildcats on The Farm on Sept. 2 before traveling to South Bend for their annual game against Notre Dame on Oct. 15. Stanford will finish the season by hosting Rice on Nov. 26.

Although Kansas State made its official announcement of the series several days ago, Stanford’s announcement was delayed, likely due to scheduling conflicts that arose with Rice, with which Stanford already had a home-and-home scheduled for 2016 and 2017.

The Cardinal were originally supposed to open their season against Rice on Sept. 3, 2016 but rescheduled that game after reaching their agreement with Kansas State.

The matchup between the two teams next year will mark the first time the programs have ever faced each other in football. It will be Stanford’s first matchup against a Big 12 team since the 2011 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State and its first regular-season meeting against a Big 12 foe since a 2000 loss to Texas.

Although Kansas State is just 3-3 this season, the Wildcats had nine wins a year ago, eight wins in 2013 and had a tremendous 11-2 campaign in 2012 that saw them ranked No. 1 in the country for a week. The Wildcats lost to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl that year.

Stanford’s home games in 2016 will be against Colorado, Kansas State, Oregon State, Rice, USC and Washington State. The Cardinal will go on the road to face Arizona, Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA and Washington.

Stanford’s upcoming non-conference series:

• BYU (2020, 2022, 2023*, 2025*)
• Kansas State (2016, 2021*)
• Northwestern (2019)
• Notre Dame (2016*, 2017, 2018*, 2019, 2020*, 2021, 2022*, 2023, 2024*)
• Rice (2016, 2017*)
• San Diego State (2017*, 2018)
• TCU (2024, 2027*)
• UCF (2019*)
• Vanderbilt (2021*, 2024, 2025*, 2027)

* denotes a road game

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Watch out, Odell Beckham, Jr. There’s a new “catch of the century” in town, and it belongs to Stanford junior Francis Owusu. His remarkable, behind-a-defender’s-back catch off of a double reverse from the Wildcat trended nationally on Twitter, found ESPN announcer Joe Tessitore in a stunned moment of candor and shocked a nation on primetime Thursday night television.

“I saw the catch and didn’t know what to do,” said sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey. “Sprinted to the sideline and just sat down. And I was at a loss for words, kind of like I am now. I couldn’t believe that. That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“That was probably the greatest play I’ve ever been a part of,” said fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Hogan, who heaved the ball downfield for Owusu to grab.

In fact, the least hyperbole-filled account of the jaw-dropping play probably belonged to Owusu himself, who didn’t even seem the least bit energized in postgame interviews — if you hadn’t seen the play, you wouldn’t have been able to tell whether he’d made the catch of the century or he’d bought a new pair of shoes.

“I saw it for a little bit, and then from there, I just felt the ball after that,” he deadpanned. “Didn’t really see it and then squeezed as hard as I can when I felt it.”

“[The safeties] were playing a little low and I was able to sneak past them,” he added. “And then I just… caught a ball.”

Yeah, that’s one way to put it.

basically pic.twitter.com/pq1w4X8B2G

— Holly Anderson (@HollyAnderson) October 16, 2015

There was not a soul in the stadium that expected that pass to be caught, including head coach David Shaw, who didn’t even watch the end of the play, assuming that it was going to be incomplete and a pass interference. He was already looking down at his play sheet, ready to call his next play, when he heard the roar of the crowd and his players going nuts around him.

“I was looking at my call sheet for the next call because I thought it was incomplete, and the guys were telling me that he caught it,” Shaw said. “And I said he didn’t catch it, it’s incomplete. And then it showed up on the board and I — apparently, I’ve been told that my facial expression was on TV for many times, and I still feel that way right now.”

Shaw, in the immediate aftermath of The Catch. (Twitter)

What made the catch even more special for most Stanford supporters, though, wasn’t just the catch itself, but the development of the play leading into it.

It was actually one of three Stanford touchdowns on Thursday night scored out of the Wildcat, which has drawn lots of criticism in recent years but has been the gift that has kept on giving for the Cardinal this season.

It’s not unusual for Stanford to leave Hogan on the field for the Wildcat split out wide, but 99 times out of 100, he’s essentially a non-factor, drawing one of the defensive backs towards his side of the field so that Stanford doesn’t have an easy completion to an uncovered receiver. (“Just staying out of the way,” as he put it a few weeks ago.)

But this past week — perhaps with the extra time due to the bye week — the coaches brought the reverse pass out of hibernation and the team actually ran it in drills several times throughout the week to get comfortable with it in case a situation arose in which it could use it on Thursday against UCLA.

Shaw, in the slightly less immediate aftermath of The Catch. (Twitter)

The Cardinal used the Wildcat aggressively in the first half, including two consecutive Wildcat runs in the red zone at one point to set up Hogan’s touchdown pass to Devon Cajuste. And during halftime, even with the Cardinal up 35-17, the coaches decided that they liked what they were seeing from UCLA’s safeties and told Owusu that they were going to dial up the reverse pass.

“We practiced that a couple of times over the week, and it worked,” Owusu said. “Coach said during halftime that they were going to call it, and we ended up doing it.”

“Just the way that the UCLA safeties had to come up and support the run, we thought that we could get them to bite and get behind them and Francis did the rest,” Hogan added. “Just made a heck of a catch.”

McCaffrey took the snap and handed it off to a sweeping Bryce Love, who pitched it to Hogan, who was reversing field from his wide receiver position. Hogan took a few steps back to the middle of the field, set his feet, and let loose. He actually had to take a little off the ball because the play developed too slowly and he didn’t want to throw it out of the back of the end zone, setting the stage for Owusu’s heroics.

For as crazy as the Cardinal’s Wildcat shenanigans have seemed, though, this play is far from unique in the Cardinal’s recent history.

The last time Stanford ran this exact variant of the play was in the triple-overtime game at USC in 2011, when the Cardinal — down 20-17 in the third quarter — brought the energy back into their offense by running the play for a 62-yard gain.

On that play, the Wildcat quarterback was Tyler Gaffney, the sweep man was Anthony Wilkerson, the wide-receiver-quarterback was Andrew Luck and the deep bomb went to Ty Montgomery streaking down the field. That catch was a lot less eventful because of Stanford’s field position, which allowed Luck to air the ball out and for Montgomery to keep running to the ball, instead of going back for it like Owusu did.

Schematically, it was a very similar play — and executed without a hitch, though one could argue that the “hitches” in Stanford’s Owusu catch were what allowed for the catch to be once-in-a-generation in the first place.

The other instance of Wildcat trickery in the Shaw era came on one of the biggest stages of the sport: The 2013 Rose Bowl between Stanford and Wisconsin.

In that game, with Stanford moving the ball effectively on Wisconsin on its first drive of the game, Shaw emptied his playbook by dialing up the Wildcat reverse pass and a jet sweep to Kelsey Young on back-to-back plays for an explosive touchdown drive.

In that case, though, Wisconsin had less of a reason to be tipped off to the pass because it wasn’t the quarterback (Hogan) out there that delivered the pass; instead, it was wide receiver Drew Terrell, who had established himself as a passing savant of sorts during his time at Stanford. (He was also the quarterback on the Andrew Luck one-handed catch in 2011).

After Stepfan Taylor got Stanford a first down near midfield, Stanford sent out the Wildcat, with Wilkerson as the quarterback, Young as the sweep man, Terrell as the wide-receiver-quarterback and Jamal-Rashad Patterson as the recipient of the pass. Although it was no Owusu grab for sure, Patterson’s snag itself was something to behold, too.

The base idea of the Wildcat is that Stanford can devote one more blocker to the point of attack, which is advantageous in its running game and something that, as Shaw pointed out after the UCLA game, has made the Wildcat incredibly efficient for the Cardinal. And once in a very long while, when everything is going right, it can also offer some crazy trick plays as well.

Who ever said that David Shaw was bland?

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

I don’t know what Stanford team will show up on any given day, but Good Stanford showed up on Saturday, and it punched USC in the teeth again and again and again.

After a terrifying first series on defense during which USC ran all over Stanford, the Cardinal D stiffened – it wasn’t great by any means, but it was manageable.

More to the point, the offense put on a show. The offensive line ripped apart the USC front seven, the receivers were open pretty much wherever and whenever they wanted, and let’s not forget, goodness gracious, Kevin Hogan sliced and diced the Trojans on one leg.

Helping the Stanford offense were its playcallers, who were absolutely excellent. USC defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox is one of the brightest young stars in college football, but his defenses have twice surrendered over 30 points to David Shaw and company during the past three years – and the other time, the Trojans gave up over 400 yards of offense.

I don’t think it’s because of any particular fault on Wilcox’s part – I think he’s positively brilliant – but Stanford shows that if you can put the right plays together it can be very hard for a defense to respond.

***

Let’s take a look at how Stanford punished USC on the flanks. Stanford’s shown that it can really pound the outside when it wants to – last year Stanford put on an outside attack coaching clinic against Oregon State – but Stanford’s identity, at least in the popular imagination, is still ground-and-pound, up-the-middle. Nevertheless, on this third-and-long screen pass to Christian McCaffrey and many more plays like it, Stanford put up points using its speed as well as its power.

At this point in the game, Stanford had a real chance to put the game away. It was late in the fourth quarter and the Cardinal were up 38-31 near midfield. An attempt to burn off clock by calling run plays had led to 3rd and 7; if Stanford got a first down it would be difficult for USC to score, and if Stanford punted USC would have plenty of time to complete a game-tying drive. On the USC sideline, Wilcox thought he was calling a conservative defense, but there is no such thing as an airtight scheme: conservative defenses are just defenses that are weak in different ways, and Stanford called the perfect play in response. (As usual, Web viewers can take a look at the video here.)

A lot of people complain about David Shaw calling screen passes on third and long. In fact, a lot of people seem to think that screen passes on third and long, regardless of who is calling the plays, is an affront to their intelligence. But in this case – and in many others – USC set up defenses where a screen pass was exactly the wrong thing to do.

In search of the first down, Stanford calls not a single screen but a double screen, attacking both sides of the field. Nevertheless, to keep things simple, both screens are variants of the same concept – the “slow screen.”

Kevin Hogan has two options on this play. Both his running backs are leaking out in the passing game – one to either side of the field. The receiver drags his man up the field and the running back exploits the space that the cornerback leaves behind.

USC’s two-deep, five-underneath zone focused on avoiding the big play, asking the cornerbacks to follow their receivers (Z and X) vertical – itself a common variant, albeit a particularly conservative one. A seven-man Cover 2 zone with these coverage rules effectively transitions into a 4-deep, 3-underneath zone when the outside receivers go deep, and that coverage offers huge opportunities in the short passing game – that is, if you can get a player to exploit the space first. The defensive playcall showed that Wilcox feared Stanford’s receivers more than anybody else, and why not? Stanford’s receivers had done whatever they pleased against USC’s back seven all day long. (That’s yet another example of how great wideouts indirectly distort defenses.)

Wilcox was trying to put pressure on Hogan while playing zone coverage behind his pass rushers. Stanford’s playcall showed that there’s more to offense than a simplistic dichotomy of conservativism and aggression: It attacked the exact point where USC’s conservatism ended and its aggressiveness began.

***

Hogan’s first read was actually to the left – it’s the quicker play, and with Hogan injured every second mattered – but once Su’a Cravens (R) settled in a zone instead of following Austin Hooper (Y) vertical, there was no point in throwing to the left.

Cravens’ decision allowed Hooper to run deep and block for McCaffrey (H) on the right. Stanford went to great lengths to open the field for McCaffrey on this play – the offensive tackles dropped deep, feigning a deep pass and pulling USC’s front four well upfield and out of the play. The interior offense linemen blocked upfield, taking out all but one of the defenders near McCaffrey. The only defender that could realistically make a play on the ball was USC’s free safety, and he’s far away from the play.

The throw is reasonably easy to make. It’s a quick and dirty one-read play. Even mediocre execution would give Stanford a good shot at the first down.

And that’s why screen passes, despite their unpopularity with fans, are so popular with coaches: not only do they take a guaranteed profit, but also, by putting fast guys in space that is often a one-on-one situation, they offer the potential for much more.

McCaffrey blazed down the sideline, and his 19-yard catch-and-run brought Stanford within five yards of field goal range. A few plays later Conrad Ukropina kicked a field goal to ice the game, Stanford slew the top team in the Pac-12, and the Cardinal returned to national relevance.

Contact Winston Shi at wshi94 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

I watched the Emmy’s.

While, admittedly, Jon Hamm’s first win for Outstanding Lead Actor was a feel-good story and Viola Davis’ acceptance speech was both compelling and thought-provoking, I still turned off the television with a bitter taste in my mouth over what was unquestionably the greatest snub of all time.

Where was the trophy for the writers of these Stanford-USC scripts?

Just when we thought that the battles between the Cardinal and the Trojans couldn’t possibly produce another adrenaline-pumping sequel, the drama that is Stanford-USC produced another breathtaking episode for the ages. This time around, the theme was redemption.

For the previous two meetings in this rivalry, Stanford left heartbroken, doomed by turnovers and missed opportunities. Though those previous installments were quality entertainment in their own right, little did we know that these faceless writers were really hard at work setting up a larger narrative arc.

Sure, “The Empire Strikes Back” just might be the best Star Wars movie, but the entire series was taken to another level when Han Solo emerged from the carbon freeze and returned to save the day. Rocky’s victory over Drago wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t also mean avenging the death of Apollo Creed.

And as Conrad Ukropina stood at the focal point of 90,000 glares in the center of Coliseum awaiting the end of an interminable TV timeout, the potential for redemption was everywhere, from the sideline, to the trenches, to that sliver of air between the uprights that can free glory from the iron clutches of despair.

This last storyline came into play in a big way in this latest episode as Ukropina, who memorably had a field goal blocked during the Stanford’s last outing at the Coliseum, put the game effectively out of reach with a pressure-packed 46-yarder. Moreover, our writers continued to outdo themselves with the vindication of Stanford’s offense, who scored on all six red zone trips, including five touchdowns, after notoriously falling short in 2013 and 2014.

When it comes to Stanford and USC, we’ve been told countless times to expect the unexpected, but “unexpected” doesn’t quite cover it — at this point we might as well expect the absolutely ludicrous. The Trojans charged out of the gates Saturday and played phenomenal football, running it down Stanford’s throat with Tre Madden and Justin Davis before unleashing the sledgehammer that is Cody Kessler to JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Stanford, however, absorbed every blow and the shorthanded defense grew stronger as darkness enveloped the Los Angeles skies before ultimately igniting (along with the Olympic torch) in the fourth quarter as the Cardinal held the juggernaut Trojans’ offense to just three points in the final period. Who saw that coming after the opening two possessions?

And Kevin Hogan delivered a performance of heroic proportions while battling an ankle injury, earning his first win over the Trojans as a starter. Despite another dominant performance from Kessler — one good enough to win on virtually any other Saturday — Hogan was better. Stanford was better. The Cardinal, as always, took USC’s best shot, responded to every blow and ultimately earned a redemption two years in the making in the fourth quarter.

This game wasn’t the “Biggest Upset Ever;” nor did it match the pure gridiron beauty of 2011’s triple overtime. It wasn’t as cathartic as the 2013 “Orgeron Field Storm;” it didn’t have the off-the-field intrigue that was “What’s Your Deal.”

Nevertheless, 2015 should deservedly take it’s place in the pantheon of great Stanford-USC clashes. It was as clean and well-played of a football game as you will ever see; a back-and-forth shootout that no one saw coming with more than enough defense to keep things interesting. It may lack a catchy title sandwiched between quotation marks, but it was unquestionably a game for the ages, proving once again that when these teams get together there’s truly something mystical in the air.

But I’m still waiting for that Emmy.

Part of the reason Vihan Lakshman is bitter about the writers of the Stanford-USC saga not getting an Emmy is because he is in fact waiting for his own for his KZSU broadcasts with fellow football writers Do-Hyoung Park and Michael Peterson. To give him tips for getting on the radar for the award, email him at vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

And yet, after twin disappointing and confusing performances — Stanford against Northwestern, and UCF against Florida International — this matchup, all of a sudden, has taken on a whole new meaning for both teams, giving Saturday’s game between the Cardinal (0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) and the Knights (0-1, 0-0 American) an air of unexpected urgency.

For two teams that are virtually mirror images of one another on the playing field, the objective on Saturday is simple: Execute better on offense.

“We have to do everything better,” said head coach David Shaw. “It sounds so cliche, but when you look at it, there was not one glaring problem. One play was protection. One play was a dropped pass. One play was a missed block on a running play. One play was a fumble.

“If we just do what we’re supposed to do and play hard and play smart and protect the football and try to get turnovers instead of giving away the ball, we have a chance to win. It’s going to take that kind of effort this week.”

Shaw and the coaching staff are adamant that it was a lack of sound execution that doomed the Cardinal on offense last weekend at Northwestern in an anemic 230-yard performance that yielded only 6 points for Stanford.

This week, after having practiced with the bitter taste of defeat in their mouth and with the return of top wide receivers Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector to major roles, the Cardinal are looking for a major bounceback performance in front of their home crowd in order to pick up momentum before arguably their toughest test of the season at USC.

Shaw certainly feels that they’re ready to make a statement.

“I’m always in awe of our guys,” he said. “The players are so much more resilient than we give them credit for.”

However, a very understated UCF defense might prove to be a tricky obstacle to that endeavor.

The Knights have fielded a national top-15 defense in three of the last five years, including a stellar effort last season in which they allowed 299 yards per game — fifth in the nation — en route to a second consecutive AAC title.

Although UCF graduated its entire starting secondary after last season, the Knights return most of a front seven that held opponents to just 104 yards per game on the ground last season (sixth in the nation) and sacked opposing quarterbacks 36 times.

That deep front will try to keep Stanford’s offensive line and running back from establishing a steady rhythm throughout the game, which has seemingly been a key to stymieing the Cardinal offense as a whole. However, the Knights were decisively inconsistent defending the run against more talented opponents last season, a trend that the Cardinal offensive line would love to continue.

Meanwhile, fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Hogan should have a matchup advantage against a young UCF secondary that allowed 260 passing yards to Florida International last week, particularly with Cajuste and Rector set to return to prominent roles in the Cardinal’s passing attack.

Hogan struggled with his timing and accuracy last week at times against a stiff Northwestern secondary that played sound coverage all afternoon, meaning that Saturday will likely provide him an opportunity to regain his footing and find his rhythm.

If Hogan can re-find the deadly accuracy that made him such an effective quarterback down the stretch last season, Stanford should be much-improved in arguably the most disappointing area of its offensive game last week: third downs.

“Third down offensively we were not very good, and third down defensively we were not very good,” Shaw said. “Forget about everything else; if you’re not good in those two spots, it’s hard to win a game because you don’t stay on the field long enough offensively to score points, and you don’t get the defense off the field enough for the offense to get the ball back.”

The UCF offense, meanwhile, will just try to get any semblance of a rushing attack going in order to balance out the efforts of promising quarterback Justin Holman. Although Holman has shown good accuracy and arm strength throughout his career, he has been held back by an abysmal running game that ranked among the bottom 25 in the country last season and only mustered 46 yards on 30 carries against Florida International a week ago.

For the second season in a row, UCF has expected William Stanback to be its long-term solution in the backfield, and for the second season in a row, he was replaced by Dontravious Wilson, who led the team with 34 yards on the ground. However, an injury to Wilson opened the door for Stanback to provide a disappointing performance (6 yards on 10 carries).

The lack of success on the ground has meant that opposing defenses have been able to stop the UCF run with just their front sevens for the most part, freeing up the safeties to help in pass coverage. Given that Stanford’s defense has played as well as any in the country against one-dimensional defenses, the Cardinal seem confident that their secondary can limit the Knights’ passing attack on Saturday.

“[The DBs] played well [last week],” Shaw said. “Once again, not perfect. We let a couple of things get outside of us… If we clean up a lot of things, we’ll be even better. I expect both sides of the ball to make a big improvement this week, but I expect all these new guys [in the secondary] to really improve steadily throughout the year.”

The lack of a running game is also fortuitous for Stanford’s defensive line, which is still reeling from the season-ending injury, a torn ACL during the Northwestern game, suffered by sophomore nose tackle Harrison Phillips. The Cardinal will likely play Jordan Watkins and Nate Lohn, and potentially Luke Kaumatule, in Phillips’ vacated rotation spot.

But whether it’s rebounding from a lost key contributor on the line or from a tough season-opening loss, Shaw has faith that Stanford can still persevere and play through adversity to fight its way back into the national picture.

“People forget we have a lot of guys on this team that won a Pac-12 Championship; a lot of guys on this team that won a Rose Bowl,” Shaw said. “Those guys are leaning on those experiences, because those seasons weren’t perfect. We haven’t been undefeated, but we found a way to get ourselves back after a loss and try to go on a run.”

Stanford will try to start another one of those runs in its home opener against UCF at Stanford Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be aired on Fox Sports 1.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Those were the words of Batman in the final scene of “The Dark Knight,” but they just might apply as well to Stanford football, a program that emerged as a ferocious chihuahua yipping at Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly before becoming the great dane of the Pac-12 — a bastion of top-flight recruits and lofty talent that it once sought to destroy on the field, one call to power after another.

If I’m coming across as too nostalgic, please forgive me. After witnessing Stanford’s nightmare at Northwestern in person, I hopped on a plane back to California and pulled out my copy of “Rags to Roses: The Rise of Stanford Football.” I had planned to read the book on the return journey from Evanston, anyway, but now (thanks in large part to Joey, George and Sam’s excellent writing) I just couldn’t get enough of it; it was oddly therapeutic.

After just witnessing one of the most demoralizing Stanford defeats in recent memory, I somehow found solace in the stories of Toby trampling the Pac-10, Jordan Williamson’s redemption and Jim Harbaugh’s terrifying games of squash.

But the most striking — and fun — aspect of each and every page was the intensely physical underdog culture that Harbaugh cultivated, one built on a seething anger that translated into a brutal machine on the field. As former offensive lineman Alex Fletcher described it on the last page of the book, “[Harbaugh] went to Stanford and convinced Stanford kids they were the toughest kids in the Pac-12…and those Stanford kids kicked the shit out of the Pac-12. On toughness.”

Since 2007, we’ve seen Stanford at its best when counted out and given the opportunity to fight as the angry, disrespected challenger. From USC in 2007 to UCLA amidst a disappointing 2014 season, the Cardinal rose to the occasion and delivered on their physical brand of football when its opponents had everything to play for, while Stanford was left written off into obscurity.

Now, with a season-opening loss and another serious test in UCF before the real gauntlet of conference play begins, Stanford needs to channel that tough, underdog mentality and play with the fury and sense of purpose that rebuilt the program from the ashes.

Head coach David Shaw has mentioned throughout the week that he has been impressed with the maturity of his team in bouncing back from a crushing defeat, but Stanford must carry this mindset onto the field and look to put opposing teams on their backs, both literally and figuratively.

Amidst all of the longstanding criticism over Shaw’s conservative play-calling and the overloaded nature of Stanford’s playbook (each of which undoubtedly has some merit), we know for certain that Stanford’s style of play can wreak havoc on college football when applied judiciously, with an air of disrespect.

After watching Stanford fall to Northwestern in week one, I still have my doubts about this as the team heads into matchups with UCF and USC, as well as the season beyond, but that loss to the Wildcats just might have tickled a sleeping bear.

Vince Lombardi once said: “When you get into the endzone, act like you’ve been there before.” But, for Stanford, perhaps the exact opposite is true. If Stanford plays free from the burden of expectations and with that patented physicality that only comes from a singular drive and that feeling of disrespect, they just might be able to “kick the shit out of the Pac-12.”

It’s still very early in 2015, so let’s reserve some of our critiques of Stanford until after we see the Cardinal take on the Knights. Let’s judge this team, as we have with many of the great Stanford squads of recent years, not by how they get knocked down, but how they respond.

Contrary to popular belief, Vihan Lakshman didn’t write this column as product placement for “Rags to Roses: The Rise of Stanford Football.” However, if the shoe fits, Vihan will gladly wear it, and Joey Beyda, Sam Fisher and George Chen will gladly profit from it. Remind Vihan that he should avoid the dangers of corporate influence in his columns by sending him an email at vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Predict the games:

Predict the Pac-12 Championship:

DHP: Arizona State over Stanford
MP: Arizona State over Stanford
NR: USC over Stanford
VL: Arizona State over Oregon
SS:  USC over Stanford
AW: USC over Oregon

Stanford offensive MVP:

DHP: Austin Hooper
MP: Kevin Hogan
NR: Kevin Hogan
VL: Christian McCaffrey
SS: Kevin Hogan
AW: Christian McCaffrey

Stanford defensive MVP:

DHP: Solomon Thomas
MP: Peter Kalambayi
NR: Blake Martinez
VL: Blake Martinez
SS: Aziz Shittu
AW: Peter Kalambayi

Newcomer of the year:

DHP: Brennan Scarlett
MP: Dalton Schultz
NR: Solomon Thomas
VL: Dalton Schultz
SS: Brennan Scarlett
AW: Isaiah Brandt-Sims

Conference champions:

Predict the playoff:

But for most of those fans, it’s all downhill from here. After all, every week sees half of the teams in the country lose.

A lot of fan bases can reasonably expect to know where on the ladder their teams will realistically fall during the course of a season, but going into 2015, Stanford is shrouded in a lot of tantalizing mystery.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the inconsistency of the past continued and Stanford finished 8-5 again. I also wouldn’t be surprised if it all finally came together and Stanford ran the table and won the national title.

After last season, the nation was quick to preach Stanford’s downfall and assume that Jim Harbaugh’s success was finally starting to wear off — just a couple of years later than everyone expected. If the Cardinal have another down season, the naysayers’ voices will re-double and more Stanford fans will likely join the fray.

I’m here to tell you not to fall into that trap — whether or not Stanford has a successful 2015.

Let’s make one thing abundantly clear: The Stanford program isn’t fading away any time soon.

The foundation for Stanford’s continued success starts and ends with the coaching staff; even as players shuffle through in five-year cycles, the coaches are the constants that hold the program down. And luckily for Stanford, it has one of the most talented and proven staffs in the nation to lean on moving forward.

I firmly believe that David Shaw is committed to the Cardinal for the long term, and unlike many, I think that’s a huge blessing. Whereas programs like Oregon State, Washington and USC have had to adjust their systems and styles to match the whims of new coaching hires, there’s no question of what Stanford’s team will look like year after year after year.

Consistency in a system means that younger players will never have to trash everything that they’ve learned while on the bench waiting for their turn to match the style of a new hire. It means that for whoever Stanford loses, there will always be a man to step up that’s familiar with the system and the goals of the program.

That consistency also shows recruits that Stanford is a destination program for a proven coach like Shaw and not just another stop with higher aspirations in mind. It shows those recruits that these coaches and players all want to be on The Farm and part of a program that has established a winning culture with all of the pieces that are still in place.

It also helps that Shaw’s assistants all fully buy into Shaw’s style of football and have proven to be exceptional at developing collegiate talent, regardless of the pieces that they have to work with.

And those pieces are only getting better and better.

Stanford’s success over the last few seasons was built on the blood, sweat and tears of two-star and three-star recruits, with the occasional four-star guys that came along to headline a recruiting class.

That shows that Stanford’s success was predicated not on incredible physical talent or star performances, but on a fundamental system and smart play on the field. Stanford’s coaches have gotten incredibly good at squeezing every last ounce of potential from their players and fitting them into a plug-and-play system, particularly on defense, that’s stood the test of time (and hordes of frustrated Pac-12 offenses).

Now, those two-star and three-star recruits have been replaced by four-star and five-star recruits. Stanford’s 2015 class brought one of the most ridiculously loaded defensive back classes in school history, and the 2016 class is already shaping up to be, by far, the best in program history.

That’s not an anomaly. Success turns heads; sustained success starts a paradigm shift. Recruits don’t just come to Stanford because they “value their education” or “life after football” anymore — they also come because they can play for an elite football team and compete for a national title year after year.

And for those that come play their college ball on The Farm, the pro-style system that Stanford runs and the physical mentality that is ingrained in the players translates to the NFL perfectly. That’s a good reason why Stanford, despite its lofty admission and recruiting standards, is third in the Pac-12 and 14th in the nation in number of active NFL players.

If they don’t go to the NFL, players still get a friggin’ Stanford diploma as a consolation prize.

It’s not exactly a hard sell. And Stanford’s coaches are excellent salesmen.

Is it tough, as a coach, to say no to some talented players because they can’t meet admissions standards at a school like Stanford? Absolutely. That’s part of why Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL and why Gary Andersen got frustrated with the head coaching gig at Wisconsin. But as a Stanford man, Shaw has much more patience for that standard — he himself had to adhere to it when he played on The Farm, after all.

And while that standard may have been a problem before, for every player Stanford now has to turn away, there are two or three more to take his place.

Now that Stanford is firmly on the radar, for as long as it can maintain even a moderate level of success, there’s no reason Stanford won’t keep reloading its big, bad intellectual brutality juggernaut machine of doom.

Stanford could lose a few games in 2015. It probably will. Kevin Hogan could fail to live up to his potential in a few crucial games. He probably will. The defense could be a question mark and get gashed a few times. It… maybe will. David Shaw could punt from the opposing 35-yard line a handful of times. He definitely will.

It’s okay to get frustrated by those things at the time, but never lose sight of the big picture. Every failure that Stanford sees from here on, no matter how big it may seem at the time, is just a blip on the radar.

No matter what happens, the Cardinal’s big, bad intellectual brutality juggernaut machine of doom will keep chugging on.

After years of carrying The Daily as a former two-star recruit from Minnesota, Do-Hyoung Park must now fight for his job amidst the swarm of five-star recruits now taking over The Daily. To offer Do suggestions on how to keep his job, contact him at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu and bug him on Twitter @dohyoungpark.

Week 1: Offense roundtable
Week 2: Defense roundtable
Week 3: Special teams roundtable
Week 4: Schedule roundtable

Which matchup on Stanford’s schedule presents the overall biggest challenge?

Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan (center) has failed to beat the Trojans in each of his two tries as a starter, falling 20-17 at the Coliseum in 2013 and 13-10 at Stanford Stadium in 2014. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

Michael Peterson (MP): It’s no secret that Stanford’s once-recent dominance of USC — the Card topped the Trojans in five of six matchups from 2007 to 2012 — has dramatically faded after two heartbreaking defeats in 2013 and 2014. The last time Stanford visited the Coliseum, it was arguably three victories away from a national championship appearance, or at the very least, a debate for the ages with Auburn as to who deserved to play Florida State. Last year, Stanford lost a game it absolutely should have won, outgaining USC by 122 yards and reaching at least the Trojans’ 32-yard line on all nine drives. Stanford’s USC demons are real. This year, Stanford has to again travel to the Coliseum and face what will be a top-10 team with a Heisman candidate quarterback and talent all across the board. That situation sounds familiar and Stanford has vanquished equally talented USC teams before, but USC must certainly be feeling the pressure to regain its elite status this year and will be hungry to start the season out doing just that. A raucous atmosphere and a fired-up Trojans team await Stanford in a game that will set the tone for the rest of the season.

Vihan Lakshman (VL): I’m also going to go with USC. The Coliseum is a scary, scary place for visiting teams, and Stanford had more than its fair share of difficulties communicating the last time it entered that deafening pit. And that doesn’t even account for the fact that USC will be bringing in arguably its most talented team in the post-sanction era. Cody Kessler, undefeated against Stanford in his career, returns for his third year under center, and the Trojans might also have the best offensive line and defense in the conference. Playing a team this talented in a rivalry game on the road has to be considered the biggest challenge on the schedule.

Do-Hyoung Park (DP): I mean, USC is undoubtedly the correct answer from what we know now. But seeing as how Michael and Vihan have already beaten that topic to death, I’m going to go against the flow and bring up another opponent that so many people are overlooking: UCLA. Even though the Cardinal have now beaten UCLA in seven straight matchups, the Bruins return almost everybody on both sides of the ball, and despite a quarterback battle that still rages on, I think that whoever wins the job will at least maintain an adequate standard of play under center and work with a powerful running game and talented defense to create, in my mind, the best team Jim Mora has had to work with in his tenure at UCLA. Even though it’s a home game for Stanford, you can bet the Cardinal are going to get the Bruins’ best shot as UCLA tries to avoid an embarrassing eighth straight loss and prove to the doubters that they were wrong to sleep on the boys from Westwood.

What may be the most likely trap game on the schedule?

Fifth-year senior running back Remound Wright (center) and the No. 21 Cardinal will face a much stiffer test from an improved Cal team in 2015, which boasts a Heisman hopeful at quarterback in Jared Goff. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

MP: It seems like so many pundits (including Do-Hyoung Park) are down on UCLA this year despite 18 returning starters from last year’s team, which was one win away from appearing in its second Pac-12 title game in three years. But there’s something to be said for truly wanting revenge. In 2012, Stanford beat UCLA twice in a row, including a nailbiter in the conference championship to rob UCLA of its first Pac-12 title since 1998. Then in 2013, Stanford handed a top-10 UCLA team its first loss of the season. Last year, a 6-5 Cardinal squad robbed another top-10 UCLA team of a spot in the Pac-12 championship in a crushing 31-10 victory. All in all, Stanford has topped UCLA seven straight times. Think UCLA remembers that? I certainly do. With so many returning players who vividly remember those defeats, UCLA will come to Stanford with vengeance on its mind. Though Stanford gets the Bruins at home and opponents like Oregon, USC and Notre Dame have more probable national title aspirations, don’t overlook UCLA.

VL: You can never underestimate the power and magic of a rivalry, and I have a feeling there will be a special electricity in the air when Cal arrives at Stanford Stadium for the 118th Big Game. The Bears possess one of the best quarterbacks in college football in Jared Goff, who leads a dangerous air-raid offense that will punish even momentary defensive lapses. With Stanford facing Oregon a week earlier and Notre Dame a week later, the Big Game comes at the heart of a tough, emotionally draining stretch of the season. If the Cardinal come out flat against a bitter rival with an obvious score to settle, an upset would be a real possibility.

DP: “Trap game” is one of my least favorite terms in the college football vocabulary because it tries to pin a tough loss on any one of a host of assumptions that likely aren’t true, so I’m just going to go with the upset on Stanford’s schedule that I could most see happening and pick Cal as well. I firmly believe that Jared Goff will be a Heisman finalist this season, and that’ll certainly help the Golden Bears’ cause, but as we all know, it’s the defense that really needs to take a step forward for Cal to compete with Stanford. It’s obviously incredibly unproven, but the pieces are there for that unit to take a step forward this year: The defense is now entering its second season under new coordinator Art Kaufman, and almost every projected starter is an upperclassman, meaning that although the talent might not necessarily be there, there’s a lot of experience to go around. If Cal’s defense can be just average, the Golden Bears could be a dangerous team that could knock off any team in the conference.

With Oregon, Notre Dame, UCLA and Arizona visiting The Farm, how big of a benefit, if any, will the schedule shift from last year be for the Cardinal?

Hosting four ranked teams at Stanford Stadium will not only benefit the Cardinal football team, but it should be a boost to the fan base and raise home attendance numbers in 2015. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

MP: It’s massive. Stanford’s schedule is completely unbalanced in terms of difficulty of home and road conference games. Last season, Stanford faced four top-20 teams on the road and just one at home. This time around, the Card will probably face three or four at home and just one on the road. Stanford is not too far removed from a 17-game home-winning streak, which ended last year against USC. Stanford Stadium may not be the loudest or most intimidating place to play for opponents, but the Card certainly feel comfortable at home. In an evenly-matched game, the location can make all the difference. I expect it to be a major part of the reason why Stanford improves on its 5-4 conference record from last season.

VL: I think this is a softball question. Which team wouldn’t want to play the toughest opponents on its schedule at home? In fact, after digging around the Stassen College Football Database and comparing the home and road win percentages of every Division I team in the BCS era, I found that no team performed better on the road than in the comforts of home (and the teams that came close, such as Texas and Duke, either won or lost almost all of their games). As Michael mentioned, Stanford was almost a lock to win at home prior to last season, so this year’s schedule has to be considered a critically large benefit.

DP: It definitely helps Stanford a lot, and not just from a football perspective. Last season, Stanford Stadium was one of the least exciting home environments in college football, and it’s no wonder why when you look at the schedule: If your home slate during the school year consists of Washington State, Oregon State and Utah, it’s going to take a lot to get anybody outside of the most devoted fans to come out to games. This year, though, that certainly won’t be a problem, as every home game will be against a meaningful or nationally relevant opponent, which will almost certainly bring the students back in droves and bring Stanford’s football fan culture back to life. The loaded home slate certainly helped bring fans out on Saturdays during 2013, and I expect things to be no different this season.

How likely is it that the Pac-12 champion finishes with two or three losses? Is this the deepest the conference has ever been?

In 2013, Stanford won the Pac-12 title despite two conference losses to Utah and USC. The conference champion in 2015 may have a similar scenario because of the depth of the Pac-12 conference. (DON FERIA/isiphotos.com)

MP: With the way the conference is shaping up, I find it very likely that the champion emerges with two losses. In my opinion, there is no clear front-runner in the conference. USC was picked to win the conference by the media, but the last time that happened, the Trojans finished the season 7-6. Defending champion Oregon lost its Heisman-winning quarterback to the NFL and though transfer Vernon Adams is receiving plenty of hype, it remains to be seen if his play in the FCS can translate to the Pac-12. Stanford, the champion in 2012 and 2013, lost nine starters on defense. To top it off, Arizona State and UCLA each have enough talent to win the Pac-12 South, and Arizona State has possibly the conference’s best schedule. This is all to say nothing of defending Pac-12 South champion Arizona. Whoever emerges on top will not get there unscathed.

VL: Based on what we’ve seen in recent seasons, it’s almost a certainty that the eventual Pac-12 champion will suffer at least one loss. A nine-game conference schedule shows no mercy. The Pac-12 South is shaping up to be this year’s SEC West with four elite teams ready to ruin each other’s dreams, and the North doesn’t get much easier. I would say there’s a very good chance the eventual Pac-12 champ finishes with two losses, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if a team like USC or Arizona State separated itself as truly elite and ran away with the title. The Pac-12 is extremely deep this year, but the conference was even deeper last year with better quarterback play from top to bottom. Experienced signal-callers such as Mariota, Hundley, Mannion and Halliday kept their teams in games, and I don’t see the Pac-12 being as formidable this year with the loss of so much talent at the most important position in the game.

DP: There’s no way that the Pac-12 champion will be undefeated. No chance. Zip. Nada. Zilch. But I do agree with Vihan in that I think the conference was much deeper last year, when proven quarterbacks were at the helm of a lot of the more dangerous offenses in the league. Now that Oregon, UCLA, Oregon State, Washington State and Washington all have to replace their starting quarterbacks from last season, I have to say that there are a lot more questions about those teams’ ability to be elite than there were at this point last season. But I firmly believe that there’s a tremendous amount of parity, particularly in the South, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the top five teams in the South beat any of the other four. There are no cupcakes on the conference schedule for anyone, either, and like we saw last season, even the best teams are liable to slip up on an off week. I fully expect that to be the case again this season, and whoever wins the conference should have two or three losses.

The Pac-12 versus the SEC: which is the nation’s best conference?

The Pac-12 and the SEC are commonly hailed as the two best conferences in college football, but much debate surrounds which conference is number one. However, the only premier matchup scheduled for this season between an SEC team and a Pac-12 team is the season-opener between Texas A&M and Arizona State. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

MP: I love the Pac-12’s depth. As I explained above, I think there are six teams with a legitimate shot at the conference title and thus a chance to make it into the College Football Playoff. Additionally, teams like Utah, Cal and Colorado are on the upswing. However, like many down in the south, I believe that the best conference will have depth but will also create champions, and the Pac-12 has yet to do that. Larry Scott said it himself at the Pac-12 Media Days: The Pac-12 needs a national champion for the nation to see it as the best conference, even if he thinks it already is. Count me as one of the people who needs to see a Pac-12 champion to rank the conference at the top. The SEC produced seven straight champions from 2006 to 2013. Once a Pac-12 team wins the championship for the first time since 2004, I’ll be very open to discussion.

VL: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve got to go with the Pac-12. As I mentioned in the previous question, strong quarterback play across the board is very important to the overall health of a conference, and the SEC just has too much uncertainty at this crucial position. Dak Prescott is the only incumbent who will strike fear in opponents and six other schools are still searching for a starter. Meanwhile, the Pac-12, despite also suffering a fair amount of QB attrition, features the likes of experienced players in Hogan, Kessler and Goff. The SEC still boasts a number of the stingiest defenses in the country and the two best individual playmakers — Leonard Fournette and Nick Chubb — but this might be the year where it slips just a little with all of the major questions at quarterback.

DP: It’s so tough to answer this question because the Pac-12 and SEC never match up head-to-head, but I’ve got to give the SEC the benefit of the doubt due to the history that Michael mentioned above. It’s one thing for a weak conference to produce a champion in any given year (cough cough Big Ten) but it’s a different ballgame when you can produce a streak the likes of what the SEC did in the 2000s. Even the strongest teams and conferences can have down years, and until the other conferences show that their elites can consistently compete with the SEC’s elites, I can’t say that they’re on the same plane. It also helps that the depth of the conference (down to Arkansas and Kentucky) is crazy and it’s also located in a recruiting hotspot with lots of raw talent that has little reason to look elsewhere in the country in order to make a big impact on a winning team. I love the Pac-12’s depth, but it’s going to take at least a couple of SEC down years before we can start earnestly having this conversation.

Contact Vihan Lakshman at vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu, Michael Peterson at mrpeters ‘at’ stanford.edu and Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Stanford was one of six Pac-12 teams ranked in the initial poll, making the conference second to only the SEC (eight teams) in poll representation. The Big Ten and Big 12 each had three teams ranked. Stanford and Oregon were the only Pac-12 North teams ranked (with Cal also receiving a vote) while four teams from the South also made the cut.

Defending Pac-12 champion and national runner-up Oregon was ranked No. 7 despite the loss of all-world quarterback Marcus Mariota thanks to a wealth of depth at the skill positions and on defense.

Meanwhile, preseason conference favorite USC checked in at No. 8 and cross-town rival UCLA, returning most of its depth chart from last season, was ranked No. 13. Arizona State and defending Pac-12 South champion Arizona were ranked No. 15 and No. 22, respectively.

No. 21 is where Stanford was ranked in the preseason going into the tumultuous 2012 season, in which the Cardinal upset then-No. 2 USC in the third week to make the jump into the top 10. Stanford finished that season ranked No. 7 in the nation after defeating a Barry Alvarez-led Wisconsin team in the 99th Rose Bowl.

Five of Stanford’s 2015 opponents are ranked in the preseason, including four in the top 15 (No. 7 Oregon, No. 8 USC, No. 11 Notre Dame, No. 13 UCLA). In the Pac-12, only Colorado and USC (six teams) play more ranked teams in 2015.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Represented by head coach David Shaw, senior offensive tackle Kyle Murphy and senior linebacker Blake Martinez, the Cardinal discussed their desire to build upon the momentum they gathered in their final three games of the 2014 season — victories over Cal, then-No. 9 UCLA and Maryland.

“You look at the way we finished the end of the year, we played as well as any team in college football,” Shaw said. “Kevin [Hogan] played as well as any quarterback in college football at the end of the year; he was outstanding. He still didn’t throw the ball 30 times in any of those games, but what he was was efficient. He made great plays with his arms and his legs, he controlled the game, he operated in the pocket unbelievably.”

Shaw seemed noticeably excited about the offense, which returns eight starters, and about Hogan in particular.

“Since he’s come back, he’s calmer, relaxed, confident,” Shaw said. “You feel that fifth-year senior, fourth-year starter presence in the huddle. He doesn’t let little things get to him. He’s been a positive force for all of our young guys. it’s been awesome to have him back.”

The Cardinal enter 2015 with a more established identity on offense, in large part due to electric sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey’s presence will allow Stanford to return to having balance in both the running and passing games while also being versatile and explosive.

Shaw also quickly put to rest notions of another running back-by-committee approach and declared McCaffrey as Stanford’s lead back.

“He’s put on weight, he’s stronger now, he’s more physical now, he can pass protect, he can run the ball between the tackles, we feel more comfortable about him being a complete back,” Shaw said about McCaffrey.

“I’m not going to talk about being a ‘by-committee’ group because I do think that Christian McCaffrey has some stuff that he does that other guys in college football can’t do,” Shaw added. “You can work all you want, but he’s just got it. Whatever it is, he’s got it.”

Though McCaffrey exploded on the scene as a freshman with 9.3 yards per touch, by all accounts, he has significantly improved over the offseason.

“Just sitting down and talking to him and watching him this offseason in particular, there’s no one on this team who works harder than him and there’s no one who cares about being great like he does,” Murphy said. “With all that combined, there’s no doubt that he’s going to have a great year this year and a great career.”

Additionally, senior wide receiver Devon Cajuste is expected to return to full health from a high-ankle injury during fall camp, giving the offense its No. 1 receiver back. Joining him on the field may be freshman wide receiver Trent Irwin, who Shaw said is currently the most ready of the true freshmen to play this season.

Adding to the Cardinal’s playmakers, Stanford has four tight ends “who are all going to be playing this game for money down the road,” according to Shaw.

In addition, Shaw shared his excitement over the improving offensive line as well as the development of senior running back Barry Sanders, who was “the best pass protector [Stanford] had” at the running back position in the spring.

Shaw named execution and efficiency as the keys for the Cardinal offense to avoid repeating the subpar performances they faced at the beginning of last season.

Of course, the major questions for the Cardinal entering 2015 revolve around the departure of nine starters from last season’s defense. The outlook became even more bleak when Shaw announced that senior linebacker Noor Davis, one of the more experienced returners, would be out until midseason with a lower leg injury. However, Shaw is not worried about this version of the defense any more than in previous seasons.

“For me, college football is a progression, but it’s a progression that happens every single year,” he said. “I remind guys I’ve answered so many times about replacing Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck and Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy but what we do on the front end is we recruit like crazy, we recruit depth. We put a lot of pressure on these guys to play on a high level, which we believe they have the ability to do.”

A large part of Shaw’s confidence comes from having Martinez at the heart of the defense. Martinez, Stanford’s leading tackler in 2014 and an All-Pac-12 honorable mention, might be poised for an even-bigger breakout season.

“By midseason, everyone’s going to know about Blake Martinez,” Shaw said. “By midseason, you’re going to see that Blake Martinez is as good as anybody playing college football. He’s as good as any linebacker.”

While the rest of the defense has considerable talent to replace, Martinez is confident that his teammates can step into bigger roles.

“These guys coming in are going to shock the world,” he said. “After a couple games, people are going to be like ‘Wow, where did these guys come from?’ We have D-linemen that no one’s seen before: Solomon Thomas, Brennan Scarlett, Harrison Phillips — he’s gained over 20 pounds this offseason. We have secondary guys that are young and haven’t played yet but seeing them out there against our No. 1 offense and making plays has been incredible.”

The defense will be boosted by the return of senior Aziz Shittu, who is now “completely healthy” according to Shaw, and the addition of Cal graduate transfer Scarlett, who, after tearing his ACL last season, should return to full health sometime during fall camp.

With a young secondary that lost both starting corners, both starting safeties and the starting nickelback, Martinez expressed the importance of having fifth-year senior cornerback Ronnie Harris help the young unit out.

“[Harris] is going to step in and hype us up when we need it,” Martinez said. “I know all the young secondary guys look at him for film work or for extra things on the field…They look at him and say, ‘What can I do next to get better?’”

Stanford’s defense won’t have much time to come together before it needs to be playing at its best. Just three weeks into the season, the Cardinal face possibly their stiffest test — a road date with No. 10 USC, the media’s selection to win the Pac-12.

While Stanford still finished with eight first-place votes in the Pac-12 North and one vote to win the conference, the emphasis at the Pac-12 Media Day was clearly on the conference’s improved depth and the crowd of teams now contending for the conference title.

“Everyone will be better,” Shaw stated. “If you play your ‘B’ game against anyone in our conference, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose.”

Four years ago in 2011, the Pac-12 placed just two teams, Oregon and Stanford, in the preseason Coaches’ Poll. In 2015, six Pac-12 teams made the poll, with Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA and USC joining Oregon and Stanford.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott believes the nation is beginning to respect the conference and see it as the best in the country.

“When you look at Marcus [Mariota] being the Heisman Trophy winner, when you look at our 15 AP All-Americans, more than any other conference,” Scott said, “many are seeing us as the best. Many are seeing the Pac-12 South as the best division in all of college football.

“I definitely see us making a lot of progress and there being a greater respect shown nationally to the Pac-12.”

Part of that respect comes from the grueling schedules Pac-12 teams face. Not only do the schools play nine conference games each, as opposed to the eight played by the SEC, ACC and Big Ten, but the Pac-12’s nonconference schedules are some of the most difficult in the nation. Michigan State, Michigan, Texas and Texas A&M are just a few of the Power 5 opponents lined up for the Pac-12 this year.

To top it off, after nine conference games, the Pac-12 division winners must play in the conference championship game, unlike the Big 12, which does play nine conference games but does not have a conference championship game.

“This is why I have confidence standing up in the front of the room like this saying no one has a tougher schedule and the Pac-12 champion has the toughest road,” Scott added.

During the course of last season, eight different Pac-12 teams were ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll at some point. While the conference has always seemed to have an elite program at the top — USC in the early-to-mid 2000s, Oregon since the late 2000s and Stanford since 2010 — the increased depth is relatively new.

“Five years ago, we didn’t have the same depth but we weren’t even close to getting the recognition or respect,” Scott said. “[Now] I’m really proud of the depth that we’ve got. To me that’s been the defining characteristic of our conference the last few years and it’s the mark of an elite conference.”

Despite the conference’s improvement, Shaw remains confident in Stanford’s chances at competing for the title.

“When we’re efficient in the red zone, when we’re efficient on third down and our quarterback’s efficient and we run the ball efficiently, we can beat anybody in the nation,” he said.

Fall camp begins on August 10 for the Cardinal, with the season opener looming not far off in the distance on September 5 in Evanston, Illinois against Northwestern.

Contact Michael Peterson at mrpeters ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The Cardinal, which have long since been eliminated from playoff contention, will have an opportunity to end things on a high note against a Washington State team that sits at ninth place in the conference due to its weak offense, which sits in the bottom two of the conference in batting average, home runs and RBIs.

Tommy Edman has been the only player to start every game of the year for the Cardinal, as the team has been plagued with multiple injuries. (HARRISON TRUONG/The Stanford Daily)

“They really haven’t quit,” said head coach Mark Marquess. “They really work hard in practice even though it’s been very frustrating.”

Stanford will bring a rather bare-bones team to Pullman, as sophomore Alex Dunlap, who has caught and played outfield for the vast majority of the season, will likely not see action this weekend due to an illness, and junior Jonny Locher is still recovering from cutting his hand open during the Oregon State series.

This means that junior Austin Barr will likely catch to close out the year, and freshman catcher Bryce Carter could be forced into action as the team’s fourth outfielder if Locher’s hand doesn’t heal quickly enough.

What is set, though, is Stanford’s starting rotation: Brett Hanewich, Marc Brakeman and Chris Castellanos have been more than serviceable in their recent starts, and Stanford will likely have to lean on them to take the team deep into games. The trio’s performances are particularly crucial going into the weekend, as the team has experienced a drop-off in both hitting and defense as of late.

The offense has been wildly inconsistent, leaving 13 runners on base in Friday’s game against Oregon State before notching only 4 hits in Saturday’s game and being limited to 3 runs in Sunday’s Senior Day home finale. This offensive trouble came on the heels of a weekend series at USC in which the team only managed to score 3 runs through three games.

The defense, which has traditionally been one of Stanford’s strong suits, has also suffered from an uncharacteristically inconsistent season, with Stanford currently sitting at third-to-last in the Pac-12 in fielding percentage. Things really came to a head in Sunday’s matchup, when three Cardinal errors in one inning led to Oregon State blowing the game open.

The struggles of both the offense and the defense can likely be attributed to the significant youth of the team this season as a result of both injuries and heavy attrition from last year’s graduating class and MLB Draft class.

Stanford has been starting freshmen — Beau Branton and Matt Winaker — at both of its corner infield positions over the last several weeks, and combining that inexperience with the defensive inconsistency of shortstop Drew Jackson this season has led to a rather porous Stanford infield.

The pitching also hasn’t been immune this year — after Cal Quantrill and John Hochstatter went down for the season with injuries, Stanford had to dig into its crop of freshmen and sophomores to fill those starting roles. While Hanewich, Castellanos and freshmen Andrew Summerville eventually filled those roles, Stanford lost several key conference games down the stretch while it tried to stop the bleeding, which ultimately put it in too deep of a hole to make a legitimate run at another postseason.

Although this weekend will end a tough season for Stanford, the Cardinal will head to Pullman knowing that there’s still a silver lining: Next year, after the team loses key contributors in Jackson and Zach Hoffpauir, the team’s underclassmen will be all the better for having been forced into action this season, and next year should be looking up for Stanford baseball.

The team will open the weekend at 4 p.m. on Friday, followed by Saturday and Sunday games at 1 p.m. and noon.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Stanford pulled out a close 9-8 win today against the Trojans in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, clinching a spot in Sunday’s championship game against UCLA.

Junior diver Maggie Steffens (above right) scored 4 goals in Stanford’s 9-8 victory over USC in the NCAA semifinals. The team will face UCLA in the championship game as it looks to win its fourth NCAA tournament in five years. (ROGER CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

Junior Maggie Steffens was clearly the difference maker in the matchup, and despite being double-teamed managed to notch 4 goals, 1 assist, and 4 steals on the day.

“That’s a great thing about water polo. No matter how many people are on you or however much pressure you’re receiving you got a whole team behind you, and that’s the spirit of Stanford,” said Steffens. “No matter what adversity comes our way we’ve got a team to back each other up.”

Senior Ashley Grossman and freshman Jordan Rainey also contributed two goals apiece.

The game marked the third time this season that the Cardinal came out victorious against the Trojans, the other two times being in the regular season and in the MPSF tournament. In typical fashion between two such high-level teams, the score mostly stayed within one or two goals: oftentimes Stanford would extend the lead and then USC would respond to keep the score close.

“[We] lost momentum a couple of times and I thought our team responded beautifully. And that’s what you have to do in the semifinals,” said head coach John Tanner.

“Our resilience on defense was really what pushed us through,” said Grossman. “Field blocks all over the place, every single girl in the pool played good 1-on-1 defense, a lot of good communication in there. I think our defense led to our offense, and that’s what made us successful.”

Stanford got off to an early 1-0 lead after a goal by Steffens. While USC responded with a goal of their own not even 30 seconds later, Grossman put the Cardinal back up by one before the teams traded goals to end the quarter.

The Trojans tied up the game at 3 early in the second quarter, before a powerplay goal from Rainey regained the lead for Stanford. Another powerplay goal, this time from Steffens, put the Cardinal up by two, before USC responded with another goal with less than 90 seconds to play in the half to make it a one point game at halftime.

Steffens scored her third goal of the game to open the second half, marking the beginning of a 3-1 Stanford run over the ensuing two and a half minutes, which gave the Cardinal its largest lead of the day, 8-5. While the Trojans scored two unanswered goals to pull within one, the latter of which was off of a penalty shot, Steffens converted on a penalty shot of her own less than 30 second later.

The last few minutes of the game featured some shutdown defense from the Cardinal, as Steffens and senior Kiley Neushul had some impressive field blocks that kept the ball away from the Stanford goal. Although USC scored with 42 seconds to play after an exclusion on Grossman, bringing the score within one, Stanford held back the Trojans to win the game.

Goalie Gabby Stone ended the game with 9 saves on 27 USC shots and only allowed 8 goals from an incredibly talented USC offense.

Tomorrow’s matchup will likely be even tougher for the Cardinal, who, despite beating the Bruins twice this season (10-6 in early February and 8-7 in April), lost to the team 7-6 in overtime in late February– one of its only two losses of the season.

“I think we need to play the game we’ve always played. Use everyone in the pool, play to our strengths, have fun, take some deep breaths,” said Grossman.

“We call it ‘Celebration Sunday’ and I think that’s something I’m really embracing as a senior,” she added.

Stanford takes on UCLA Sunday afternoon at 5:30pm as it seeks to win its second national championship in a row. The game will be held at Avery Aquatic Center.

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Junior Zach Hoffpauir (above) has been tearing up conference play with a .362 average, three homers and 14 RBI’s. (RAHIM ULLAH/The Stanford Daily)

Only nine conference games remain in the regular season, which places heavy emphasis on this weekend’s series for the Trojans. If USC plans on making a run at Pac-12 leader UCLA in the closing stretch, then the Trojans must pick up a series win over the Cardinal. Although Stanford is no longer competing for a postseason berth, a strong close to the season would bode well for this young squad.

Both teams are coming off tough extra-inning losses and will look to bounce back in the upcoming games. Stanford is coming off a 1-0, 10-inning loss Tuesday night to Santa Clara — a game that featured dominant pitching but lackluster hitting. Similarly, USC has faced extra inning struggles as of late, having dropped its last two games in 10-inning contests. On Tuesday night, the No. 15 Trojans were in position to secure a win over UC Irvine, but a costly error in the ninth inning brought in the tying run. A 3-run home run by Irvine in the following inning would eventually put USC to rest, resulting in 8-5 Trojan defeat.

The Stanford offense hopes to return to form this weekend, having been shutout Tuesday night for the fourth time this season. Junior Zach Hoffpauir has been tearing up conference play with a .362 average, three homers and 14 RBI’s, and he hopes to continue his success at the plate this weekend. The Cardinal will also need continued production from Tommy Edman, who leads the team with 39 runs this season, as well as Drew Jackson, who has provided a steady presence atop the Cardinal lineup since returning from injury.

Stanford pitching will have its hands full this weekend against a potent USC offense, which features three hitters batting over .300 on the season. Leadoff man Bobby Stahel leads the Trojans with a .393 average and a .545 slugging percentage, and he forms a dynamic duo with first baseman AJ Ramirez, who has recorded seven home runs for the season.

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m Friday night. The game will be aired live on the Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Michael Woo at mtwoo ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Goals are hard to come by against Stanford. Even in the team’s only loss this season, the UCLA Bruins managed to net only 7, while the most the Cardinal have allowed overall is 9 in their overtime win against No. 3 USC.

The Cardinal defense is a perfect representation of the team’s greatest strength: teamwork.

“Defense is all about the team in water polo,” said sophomore Cassidy Papa. “Technically, there are positions and whatnot, but each person is responsible for more than just the player they are guarding.”

This style of defense is well-suited to the Cardinal, who are characteristically selfless on both sides of the tank.

Yet good team defense starts at the individual level.

“Every person has to focus on their fundamentals in one-on-one defense, like shot-blocking,” explained sophomore Sophia Monaghan.

The logic here is pretty clear: If the other team isn’t shooting, it isn’t scoring. But an important facet of defensive water polo is that it never ends. Because water polo is a fluid sport and doesn’t have the stop-and-go offensive and defensive possessions like football, the team always has to be playing defense.

“Even on offense, you need to be thinking about what’s going to happen next,” said sophomore Jamie Neushul.

This anticipatory ability doesn’t happen overnight, however. The team devotes massive amounts of time to their mechanical and situational defense. Practices usually feature both full-strength and man-down defensive drills. Though most teams would view five-on-six situations as a disadvantage, Stanford embraces them.

“We love being down a man,” Neushul said. “We get very excited about trying to figure out how to solve problems and the most efficient way to do so.”

The importance of strong defense only increases coming into MPSF post-season play. The MPSF is without a doubt the strongest conference in college water polo, with the national championship title not leaving the conference in over a decade. While Stanford has easily handled most of its opponents, No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 USC are always tough competitors and threaten to derail the Cardinal’s hopes of a repeat championship.

Defending against the top teams in the country is no small task. UCLA had three straight 20-point annihilations earlier this season, and USC has shattered scoreboards with four games recording 30 or more points (including three straight in the span of two days). This awesome offensive capability will be gunning for the Card in the MPSF tournament, but it’s nothing Stanford hasn’t seen before.

“Playing teams repeatedly doesn’t change our defense,” Papa asserted. This is a hallmark of Stanford water polo: Play how you play, no matter who you’re playing.

However, Monaghan acknowledged that playing such strong teams repeatedly allows the Cardinal defense to get to know their shooters and adapt.

“If they score a bunch of goals, then we know for next time to make sure they don’t get this opportunity again [and make them] shoot from somewhere they’re less familiar or comfortable with or use a different shooter altogether,” Monaghan said.

Despite all the focus on playing solid, tactical defense, defense can be a highly emotional part of the game.

“Defensive stops can completely change the momentum of the game,” Papa said.

“If we shut down a great team and give ourselves an offensive opportunity, that can do a lot for momentum,” Monaghan added.

Both the mental and physical components of defense will certainly play key roles as Stanford goes head to head with some of the top names in the country this weekend during the MPSF tournament and in the NCAA tournament. The Cardinal will take on the winner of the Cal versus ASU matchup in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The game will take place Saturday, April 25 at 2:30 p.m. in Tempe, Arizona.

Contact Carlie Tenenbaum at carliet ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Junior Lauren Kim shot a 4-under 67 in the final round of the Pac-12 Women’s Championships at Boulder Country Club in Boulder, Colorado. Kim finished seventh overall in the tournament with a score of 211, taking home all-conference honors and leading the team.

Stanford was the defending conference champion going into the tournament, and the team began the competition looking to regain this title. The Cardinal came into the clubhouse in second on the first day after collectively hitting +2 in their opening round at the par-71 Boulder Country Club in Boulder, Colorado. Stackhouse and sophomore Casey Danielson both led the team at 1-under par, with Kim following at +1 and freshman Shannon Aubert landing at +3.

The Cardinal failed to duplicate this consistency in their subsequent rounds, however. Kim was the only Stanford player to match her first-round total on the second day as Stanford fell from second to seventh overall. Stackhouse and others struggled a little on the obstruction-heavy Boulder course, with Stackhouse’s day perhaps best encapsulated by one shot in which she hit the pin from almost 100 yards out but then was unable to earn better than a bogey on the hole.

WOAH. @GoStanford‘s Mariah Stackhouse nails the flagstick from the fairway. #skillllllls http://t.co/wl7m04bhuh https://t.co/dhs8cV1ppT

— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) April 22, 2015

The Cardinal managed to recover a little on the final day, but it was clearly a strong day for the entire field as Stanford failed to move up the rankings despite a match-best round from Kim and a solid +2 from sophomore Quirine Eijkenboom.

Kim ended as Stanford’s top individual performer with a score of -2, enough to earn her an overall seventh-place finish in the tournament. Stackhouse and Danielson tied with each other and Cal’s Lucia Gutierrez for 25th overall at +8.

The immense depth of the Pac-12 was thoroughly demonstrated over the course of the week, with many top teams struggling amidst the incredibly impressive field. The course record was set twice within 20 minutes on Wednesday, indicative of the impressive ability that many participants showed throughout the event.

USC, the No. 1/2 women’s golf program in the country, hit just two strokes better than Stanford and ended the weekend in sixth, a tough finish for a team which had all its participants ranked amongst the top 60 in the nation. No. 3/3 UCLA and No. 7/1 Washington faired only slightly better on the weekend, coming in fourth and third respectively as No. 6/6 Arizona captured the title and No. 28/27 Oregon took second behind the remarkable performance of individual overall winner Caroline Inglis.

Conference Pac-12 honors were announced following the conclusion of the tournament. Kim and Stackhouse both broke onto the first team, joining a host of top golfers from some of these top-level programs.

Kim’s inclusion marked her first on the All-Pac-12 First Team after earning all-conference second-team honors last season. Stackhouse, meanwhile, has been a staple of the all-conference first team since she broke Tiger Woods’ Stanford Golf Course record during her freshman season.

The Cardinal’s fate for the remainder of the season now lies out of their hands. Stanford will have to wait until April 27 to hear if the team’s season will continue in one of the NCAA Regional Tournaments.

Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.

It was a hard-fought battle when Stanford traveled to Berkeley back in February. The Cardinal pulled out a narrow 4-3 victory when Maciek Romanowicz came back from one set down to defeat J.T. Nishimura on the No. 4 court. California will undoubtedly be looking for redemption.

Senior John Morrissey (above) and senior Robert Stineman are the No.22 pairing. (MIKE KHIER/The Stanford Daily)

Stanford has already clinched at least a share of the Pac-12 title, but a win on Saturday would give the Cardinal their first outright title since 2003. After a rocky start to the season, this team has managed to put itself into perfect position heading into the Pac-12 tournament and NCAAs, thanks to its recent winning streak.

The Cardinal have won 10 straight matches and don’t look like slowing down. After defeating USC and UCLA – who had been ranked No. 5 and No. 15, respectively — in the span of two days, the team’s confidence has remained high.

Cal has had different fortunes recently, losing to both USC and UCLA this weekend during the southern Californian schools’ trip up to the Bay Area. Momentum is clearly with Stanford, but Berkeley has proven to be a difficult team to face.

With the No. 22 doubles pairing in the country, seniors John Morrissey and Robert Stineman, Stanford always has a good chance of clinching the doubles point. Last time around, Berkeley grabbed the doubles point, which heaped pressure onto the singles matches. The early matches could prove decisive.

No. 60 Morrissey and No. 31 Tom Fawcett will play big roles in the singles matches as they have all year. Against USC, both players managed huge upset wins over the No. 19 and No. 6 players in the nation, respectively. If these two can play the way they did against USC, then Stanford has a good chance of coming away from the weekend with a title.

Stanford and Berkeley have had completely different seasons. Stanford started poorly, dropping in the rankings with some key losses. Since then they have been on a winning streak and have shot back up in the rankings. Meanwhile, California started well and was ranked as high as 13 before recent results have seen them drop to No. 28.

The stage is setting for a memorable senior night against Cal. The match starts at 2 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Center, and Stanford has the chance to end the day on top of the Pac-12.

Contact Jack Seaton at jrseaton ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Stanford regained its No. 1 ranking on Wednesday after it defeated the Bruins 8-7 on Saturday afternoon. The team previously held that top spot at the beginning of the season but fell to the No. 2 ranking when it lost to UCLA the second time the two squads faced off.

While senior Kiley Neushul and sophomore Jamie Neushul stepped up in a big way for the Cardinal with 2 goals apiece against UCLA, six players notched 2 or more goals the following day against Bakersfield. Neushul, fellow senior Ashley Grossman and junior Maggie Steffens scored 4 each, the latter two notching 3 apiece in the first quarter alone, to lead Stanford to its 15-point win. The Cardinal’s defense shined once more, allowing only 5 goals, while junior goalie Gabby Stone also had 8 saves.

Freshman Jordan Raney (above) earned MPSF honors as Newcomer of the Week after she contributed 4 goals over Stanford’s last two games, including a hat trick against Bakersfield. (ROGER CHEN/The Stanford Daily)

Yet Cal will certainly be a tougher opponent than the Runners, and despite its huge win over UCLA, Stanford recognizes that it must not dwell on this victory and instead must prepare for the match against a talented Cal squad.

“Our mentality is always to focus on what’s next,” said Jamie Neushul. “Cal is a great team that takes full focus in preparing for, so we try to move on as quickly as possible and get ready for this specific team.”

Cal, ranked No. 4 in the country, has only lost games against Stanford, UCLA and USC, the top three teams in the nation. When Cal faced USC earlier in April, the team only lost by one despite falling to the Trojans by six in the teams’ first matchup. Thus, the Bears could have something up their sleeves in the teams’ second showdown: After all, the first time these two teams played, Stanford trailed 4-2 at halftime but notched 5 goals in the third quarter alone, eventually going on to win 7-6.

“Cal is a very tough opponent with great shooters who will capitalize on small defensive mistakes,” said Jamie Neushul. “That game was close due to the competitive atmosphere, but I think also due to great offense, energy and attack mentality on Cal’s part.”

To succeed in the Big Splash and complete MPSF regular season play undefeated, the Cardinal must continue to play strong defense in both 6-on-6 and 5-on-6 situations. Stanford held UCLA to 1-for-5 on man-up opportunities, something it will have to replicate against Cal. In addition, not only did Stanford hold Bakersfield to 5 goals on Sunday, but the team is also allowing only 4.67 goals on average per game this season. In particular, the Cardinal will have their eye on Dora Antal, who leads the Golden Bears with 55 goals in 21 games.

“We really need to fine-tune individual skills on defense,” said Jamie Neushul. “Defense is the true name of the game, and we need to make sure everyone is sharp and on the same page but also making extra effort to fill their respective defensive roles.”

Offensively, Stanford has many weapons to lead the way: In fact, eight players — led by the elder Neushul, Grossman and Steffens — have scored 20 or more goals this season for the Cardinal. Against Cal earlier this season, Neushul and Steffens led the team with 2 goals apiece; yet to build up a more comfortable lead against the Golden Bears, more players will have to contribute, and quickly, to ensure that Stanford does not once more see a halftime deficit.

Stanford women’s water polo will face the Golden Bears at Berkeley on Thursday, April 16 at 5 p.m.

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The article was written during a season that would eventually end in a first-round exit in the NCAA tournament and a prior season that had also ended in a first-round loss. I don’t bring up this piece for the sake of saying “I was right” — anyone who has heard me predict sports games would know that I’m living proof of the adage that a broken clock is right twice a day.

Rather, I think that in this day of wanting to find the negatives in a team’s performance, writers sometimes forget to do something I think is really important — congratulate a team on a successful season. Therefore, this column is my way of tipping my hat to the men’s tennis team on achieving success that very few saw coming.

Let’s first take a step back. Those familiar with the team might know that it has been nothing short of dominant in its illustrious history. After all, men’s tennis is the most decorated program in the history of Stanford athletics, with 17 national titles to its name and a multitude of players that have gone on to ascend the professional tennis rankings in both singles and doubles.

All of this legacy may be why so many were frustrated with how the past several seasons had gone. I’m sure it doesn’t help that during the last 15 seasons — which is the time since the team’s last national title  —we’ve seen the rise of rivals UCLA and USC. The Trojans have won five of the last six national championships, and UCLA won a title in 2005 and was just a point away from a title two seasons ago. On top of this, many of the losses these past few seasons against UCLA and USC have not been competitive.

With this context, we arrive at this past weekend, where Stanford beat No. 15 UCLA and No. 5 USC to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season championship. Pretty remarkable, right? While it looks like I had optimism in the program in my piece last year, I can’t take credit for predicting that the team would win the Pac-12 just a season after losing 7-0 and 4-0 to USC and UCLA, respectively. As such, this column is my shout-out to the team, and hopefully a brief discussion as to a few reasons how the team has resurged to the top of the nation’s best tennis conference.

Firstly, the team plays extraordinary doubles. Over the past few decades at Stanford, fans have grown accustomed to seeing outstanding doubles lineups. These have included players like the Bryan brothers, who played at the top doubles spot on the same team as current head coach Paul Goldstein. The “doubles point,” which is awarded to the team that wins at least two out of the three doubles courts in a match, can often sway the momentum of matches, especially since doubles is played before singles.

In both of the matches this past weekend, Stanford secured the doubles point, meaning it only needed three of the six singles courts to clinch victory. In fact, throughout the entire season, Stanford has only lost the doubles point in three matches, which is incredibly impressive for a team that only has one doubles team ranked in the latest ITA rankings.

Featured at the top of the doubles lineup are seniors John Morrissey and Robert Stineman, whose ranking of the No. 36 doubles team in the nation is sure to go up following this weekend’s heroics. Rounding out the lineup are the teams of freshman Tom Fawcett and junior Maciek Romanowicz, and junior Nolan Paige and freshman David Wilczynski. All six of these players deserve a tremendous amount of credit for Stanford’s success this season.

Secondly, first-year head coach Paul Goldstein has done an outstanding job of helping this turnaround to happen more quickly than I thought possible. Given USC’s national championship just a season ago and the fact that both USC and UCLA returned key contributors from teams over the past few seasons, I fully expected that it might take a few years until Stanford was able to beat those powerhouses again. After all, less than a month and a half ago, Stanford was beaten decisively by both of those teams, which makes this past weekend all the more special.

Coach Goldstein has maximized the talent on the roster and deserves lot of credit for the aforementioned doubles pairings. Additionally, all three freshmen in last year’s recruiting class are featured in this season’s lineup, with David Hsu, Fawcett and Wilczysnki in the singles lineup and the latter two in the doubles lineup. The development of these freshmen in such a short time has to be indicative of good coaching, as well as the continual progress that returning players have made this season.

Thirdly and finally, while it is certainly important to give Coach Goldstein credit for this season, it is also important to acknowledge the role of former Coach John Whitlinger for his steps in building what we are now seeing from the team.

Coach Whitlinger, a former NCAA singles, doubles and team champion, retired at the end of last season following a 10-year tenure at the helm of the program. Before announcing his retirement a season ago, Coach Whitlinger recruited the nation’s top recruiting class of Fawcett, Hsu and Wilczynski. Moreover, throughout his time at Stanford, Coach Whitlinger coached Courts 4-6 during singles play, where nearly all of the upperclassmen have played while on the team. In my mind, his guidance of the program and his role in developing the players on the current roster cannot be overstated.

Going forward this season, the team can clinch sole possession of the conference regular season title with a win against Cal on April 18, and the new ITA rankings that will be released on Tuesday are sure to have Stanford much higher than its previous spot at No. 36.

Whether the team goes on to win the national championship or loses in the first round for the third consecutive year, there is no denying what the team has done this season. It has exceeded all expectations in spite of the skepticism that has surrounded the program for the past several seasons, and for that, I tip my hat to them.

Shawn Tuteja’s clock has been accurate at least twice in the past two months, as he also successfully selected UAB over Iowa State in the men’s basketball tournament. Ascertain when lightening will strike next at sstuteja ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Instead, senior John Morrissey let out a guttural roar and slumped down on to the court on which he had just won one the biggest matches of his career. Then he disappeared inside a huge swarm of his teammates, who were all celebrating a sweep of the SoCal schools that put Stanford (15-4, 6-0 Pac-12) firmly in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 crown and represented the culmination of a year’s maturation for this young and talented team.

No. 15 fell, No. 5 fell, and amidst the rubble, No. 36 Stanford stood proud.

Stanford beats No. 5 USC for first time in 10 tries. John Morrissey clinches 4-3 win. Cardinal has won 9 in a row. pic.twitter.com/NT0a8NAuay

— StanfordMTennis (@StanfordTennis) April 12, 2015

The victories were all the more special considering the toil needed to achieve them. Two 4-3 victories over higher-ranked teams (No. 15 UCLA and No. 5 USC), three matches in which the Stanford player came from a set down to snatch victory and four ranked players beaten. The sweat will have felt sweet on Sunday at Taube Stadium.

Welcoming UCLA on Saturday, Stanford started off impressively, taking the doubles point fairly quickly thanks to wins from senior pairing Morrissey and Robert Stineman, who beat the No. 7 pairing of the Bruins’ Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki, 6-4. Junior Nolan Paige and freshman David Wilczynski then secured the point with a 6-4 victory over Dennis Mrktchian and Austin Rapp.

As it would again against USC, the doubles point turned out to be crucial as it allowed Stanford simply to split the singles matches in order to secure victory. Stanford’s doubles play this year has been nothing short of spectacular, as they are currently unbeaten in conference doubles play, with their main teams of Morrissey/Stineman, Paige/Wilczynski and Fawcett/Romanowicz combining to go 12-0.

Every time UCLA would pose them a question, Stanford would come back with an appropriate answer. Mrktchian knocked off Wilczynski 6-4, 6-4 at the three-spot, but No. 100 Morrissey responded with a straight-set (7-6 (3), 6-3) victory over No. 119 Redlicki. Karue Sell took a hard fought three-set victory (6-1, 3-6, 6-3) from Stineman, but Stanford did not bow. Freshman David Hsu, whose youth belies the fact that he currently sports a 5-0 record in Pac-12 play, won 7-5, 7-5 over Rapp to leave the scales precariously balanced at 3-2 to Stanford.

With a seven-game winning streak on the line, Paige valiantly fought back from a set down to beat Joseph di Giulio 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) and send a raucous Taube crowd into raptures. While Fawcett fell in a third-set tiebreaker to No. 4 McDonald, the talented frosh could take solace both in his performance and the team’s huge victory.

Senior John Morrissey’s three-set win over USC’s No. 19 Roberto Quiroz clinched Stanford’s 4-3 upset victory over the No. 5 Trojans on Saturday. (RAHIM ULLAH/The Stanford Daily)

That was not the end of the festivities, however. No. 5 USC came to town just in time for Cardinalpalooza on Saturday, and luckily for Stanford, they received a hostile welcome despite the food trucks and the balloons. Behind another loud crowd at Taube, Stanford came out strong and took the doubles point in comfortable fashion, sweeping it thanks to wins from Paige/Wilczynski and Fawcett/Romanowicz. At this point, the noise only intensified and the match took on a big-fight feel. An upset was in the air, but it would still require immense fortitude from the Stanford team in order to secure it.

In what was becoming an eerie funhouse mirror replica of the UCLA game, singles play opened with a setback as Paige fell 6-4, 6-4 to No. 75 Max de Vroome. It was at this point that momentum seemed to be tilting in the Trojans’ favor, given that Fawcett, Morrissey and Wilczynski had all lost their first sets. It fell on Hsu in the six-spot to stem the tide, which he did with aplomb. Behind a flurry of punishing forehands, he eked out a tighter-than-it-would-seem 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 86 Nick Crystal, giving Stanford the 2-1 lead.

After Jonny Wang took out Stineman in three sets (2-6, 6-2, 6-2), the match was perched finely on the precipice. Above the players, the Taube crowd seemed to be willing the ball between the lines, bodies and faces contorting with every point.

Courts 1, 2 and 3, all locked in their third sets, were all that stood between Stanford and the eventual jubilation they would have. Throughout his match, No. 41 Fawcett would exhort himself, repeatedly saying, “This is me!” or “My time!” as he battled his second top-10 player of the weekend, No. 6 Yannick Hanfmann. How right he was, as he battled back to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, after pressuring Hanfmann into a lot of unforced forehand errors and dominating their baseline exchanges.

The drama had only just begun. Despite a thrilling comeback and drawing upon his vast reserves of energy, Wilczynski fell short, losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to No. 123 Eric Johnson.

So it all fell to Morrissey. With both teams looking on from the adjacent court, no more than 20 feet away, the native Dubliner and his opponent, No. 19 Roberto Quiroz, were locked in a titanic clash. In a sea of constant noise — ask Taube’s patrons how often Romanowicz yells, “You got this, JMo” — Morrissey fed off the crowd’s energy, charging to the net and across the baseline, making Quiroz work for every single point.

“I started playing more aggressive tennis and really went after my serve,” said Morrissey. “I just wanted to keep the points short, stay and aggressive and do more with the serve and volley. This was a great match and the whole weekend was just phenomenal.”

That aggressive tennis paid off as Stanford, and Morrissey’s pitbull-like determination ended with Quiroz pushing a forehand long and wide, giving Morrissey a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory that sealed a frankly incredible weekend of tennis.

Taube collectively let out an exhale that turned immediately into elated cheering and Morrissey was left to be absorbed inside the giant dogpile that enveloped Court 2. The win put Stanford in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12, but arguably more importantly, it acted as a confirmation that this Stanford team, with its potent mix of freshmen and seniors, has been maturing and growing all year. A nine-game win streak is testament to that fact. The analysis will come later for the team, though. For now, they can celebrate a magical weekend sweep.

Stanford will look to continue their stellar play in a non-conference match-up against USF before attempting to secure the conference title against Cal this Saturday at Taube.

Contact Dylan Fugel at dfugel ‘at’ stanford.edu.