Stanford football did not play a game this weekend as they had a bye. That said, I still wanted to provide five questions on the Cardinal at this point of the season. They are 2-7 overall with three games left. Let’s dive in!
#1. When will Elijah Brown play his final game? Stanford true freshman quarterback Elijah Brown can play in one more game and still preserve his redshirt. He’s been dealing with a hand injury and appears to have struggled as a result. It will be interesting to see when Stanford plays him again as they are indeed looking to preserve his redshirt.
My guess is they’ll look to play him at Cal, but maybe they won’t want to toss him out in a hostile atmosphere, making the San Jose State game also possible. The only game I would be surprised to see him make an appearance in is Louisville. He’s got a chance to make an impact in this final stretch, but Stanford better be mindful of when they decide to have him play.
#2. Will two weeks preparation for Louisville make any difference? Louisville is coming to The Farm on Saturday, November 16th as the 25th ranked team in the country. On paper, Stanford will likely get throttled given how well Louisville has been playing. Not to mention the fact that Louisville will be getting two weeks to prepare for them. Of course, Stanford will be getting two weeks to prepare as well. It will be interesting to see if that extra week of preparation and healing up will make any difference for Stanford.
#3. Can Stanford avoid starting slow? Building off my second question, a big thing that will tell us whether or not the extra week helped Stanford is how they start against Louisville. Ideally, you’d at least see a good game plan out of the chute and a Stanford team locked in. As for the final two games at Cal and at San Jose State, Stanford has an opportunity to win both games, but only if they don’t get down early. If you want to see growth from Stanford in these final three games, not being down double digits at halftime would be a great place to start.
#4. How much will the rivalry games fire up Stanford? Stanford has two rivalry games to close out the season after their upcoming home game against Louisville: At Cal on November 23rd and at San Jose State on November 30th.
The game at Cal will in particular have a lot of emotion around it given they’ll be playing for the Stanford Axe. No matter what other people try to tell you, Big Game is the most important game for Stanford every year. Winning the Axe matters. A lot.
As for the San Jose State game, there’s a rivalry and history with this one as well, but I think there’s more of a sense of not wanting the embarrassment of losing to San Jose State given that Stanford on paper is the far superior athletic program.
With both games, there’s an opportunity for Stanford to come out extra fired up. The question is will their energy match the energy that Cal and San Jose State are certain to bring. If not, Stanford very well may end the season 2-10.
#5. Will Elic Ayomanor have any magical moments? If Stanford is to win a couple of games down the stretch of the season, it’s likely going to involve wide receiver Elic Ayomanor making some big plays. He’s the best player on the Cardinal offense and was a major reason why they won the game that they did up in Syracuse. On the season, he has 46 receptions for 592 yards and five touchdowns.
At times, it’s been hard for Ayomanor to get going because teams know what’s coming. Stanford has to find ways to make sure he gets plenty of opportunities to get going without telegraphing too much to opposing defenses. If he can have some big performances, that more than anything will give them the opportunity to pick up a win or two in this final three game stretch.
Bonus thought: One final thought I do have is I think Stanford needs to really lean in on the ground game as much as possible. Ashton Daniels has been a fantastic running quarterback, rushing for 481 yards and two touchdowns while freshmen running backs Chris Davis Jr., Micah Ford, and Cole Tabb have all looked promising. Quarterback Justin Lamson has been strong in the red zone, too with his five rushing touchdowns.
If Stanford can just take care of the ball, they can be a solid running team. I feel like at times, Stanford gets a little too pass happy when they should be looking to stick to the ground game a bit more. During these final three games, I would love to see Stanford lean a bit more into the run game. It could also be the key to unleashing Ayomanor.
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