On Saturday at 5:00 PM PST/8:00 PM EST on ESPNU, Stanford football will take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, Tennessee. Stanford comes in at 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 while Vanderbilt comes in at 1-1 overall, yet to play an SEC game. This will be the first meeting between the two schools and the first game Stanford has played against an SEC team since 1978 (Stanford 25 Georgia 22).
Last time out: Stanford defeated USC 42-28 last week at the Coliseum in Los Angeles as 17 point underdogs. Stanford sophomore quarterback Tanner McKee went 16-23 for 234 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions in his first career start.
RECAP: Stanford tramples Trojans at Coliseum
Key Stanford notes: Tanner McKee will be making his second career start at quarterback and will look to build on the stellar performance he had last week at USC. This will be Stanford’s third straight game away from home to start the season. Their home opener will be Saturday, September 25 against UCLA.
Stanford is not likely to have defensive end/tight end Tucker Fisk in this game. In his most recent remarks to the media, Stanford head coach David Shaw made it pretty clear he doesn’t expect Fisk to play. Stanford will also be without cornerback Ethan Bonner. Stanford is hoping Bonner might be ready to go against UCLA, but no guarantees.
Two Stanford players picked up Pac-12 Weekly Awards after last week’s win over USC: Tanner McKee was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week while cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. Stanford also got 10 points in the AP Top 25 Poll and 3 points in the Coaches Poll after last week’s win.
On Vanderbilt: The Commodores got their clocks cleaned 23-3 against East Tennessee State in their first game of the season back on September 4th. The game was at home and was just an all-around embarrassment. I don’t care how good an FCS team is, if you are an SEC team, even a bad SEC team, you beat any FCS team that comes into your stadium.
To Vanderbilt’s credit, they bounced back in Week 2 with a gritty 24-21 win at Colorado State. Like Stanford, they looked much better in their second game than they did in their first. However, they didn’t beat as quality of an opponent. USC came in ranked #14 in the country before Stanford dominated them. As for Colorado State, they lost their opening game to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits 42-23, who like East Tennessee State compete in the FCS level. The game against Stanford will be a real test to see if Vanderbilt really made a jump from week one to week two.
Vanderbilt is led by sophomore quarterback Ken Seals, who like McKee is a young quarterback looking to prove his worth at the FBS level. Seals started nine games for Vanderbilt last year, so he is more experienced than McKee. For his career, Seals has a 63.8% completion percentage, 14 touchdown passes, and 12 interceptions in 11 games. Junior running back Re’Mahn Davis has rushed for 135 yards in two games on 32 attempts while fifth-year wide receiver Chris Pierce, Jr. has 8 receptions for a team-high 129 yards and 1 touchdown.
On defense, Vanderbilt has some size and length, something Stanford talked a lot about. However, they don’t have very many or any guys who are serious playmakers on that side of the ball. So, the potential for Stanford’s offense to have a big day is definitely there.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first key is definitely ball security. Stanford didn’t turn the ball over last week at USC and that’s something they can definitely look to carry into this week. If Tanner McKee in particular plays a clean game, Stanford will be in a good position.
Secondly, Stanford needs to set the tone early. Stanford comes in favored to win, so it is incumbent on them to control the game from the opening kickoff. If Stanford can be the first team to strike, get some stops early, and establish themselves from the very beginning of the game, they’ll be fine. Where there’ll be trouble is if Vanderbilt finds success early and starts to believe they can win.
Finally Stanford needs to prevent the big plays on defense. If Stanford can prevent Vanderbilt from getting large chunks of yards in one sitting, that’ll be huge. Vanderbilt will look to make some big time plays to energize their fans and get off to a good start of their own. If Stanford is eliminating those plays and even better, if Stanford is the team that’s making the big plays, that’ll go a long way towards getting the win.
Prediction: I got Stanford winning this one rather confidently: 35-17. Stanford is the better team and last week’s win at USC showed us they have the pieces to blow teams out. Maybe this one will be closer than I think, but I’m feeling a decisive win for the Cardinal.
