On Saturday at 5:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Bay Area and KNBR 1050 radio, Stanford football will take on Colgate at Stanford Stadium. It will be the first game of the season for both teams.
On Colgate: The Raiders play in the Patriot League at the FCS level. They’re coming off a 5-6 overall season in which they lost 51-0 to Boston College in their season opener last year.
Throughout the week, the main scouting report that Stanford has been willing to share on Colgate is that they like to switch things up and that they have a lot of different “personalities” to use Stanford offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard’s verbiage. Stanford will need to be ready for a variety of looks and be ready for the Raiders to try to throw out some surprising stuff.
The top player on this Raiders team is sophomore quarterback Michael Brescia. At 6’3”, 220 pounds, he is great at using his legs, which is definitely his strength. He threw 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions last year, so his passing was nothing to write home about. On the ground though, he was fantastic: 634 yards on 114 attempts for a 5.0 average and 9 touchdowns. While he likely has no NFL future as a quarterback, Brescia could work his way into being a late round pick as a running back or maybe tight end. Guys like him sometimes find a way to make it to the next level.
The top wide receiver is senior Garrett Oakey, who had 35 receptions last season for 601 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s looking to have a big season for the Raiders and hoping to find the end zone today.
The top returning tackler on the Raiders defense is senior linebacker Tyler Flick, who had 65 tackles (34 solo) last season. Flick is going to look to have a big day and do all he can to slow down Stanford’s rushing attack.
Branson Bragg out for Stanford: On Friday, Stanford announced that senior right guard Branson Bragg will be out and is questionable for next week’s tilt against USC.
Stanford OG Branson Bragg to miss Saturday’s opener against Colgate
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Brescia. He’s going to look to make plays with his legs and if he goes wild, Colgate could hang around for at least a little bit. For a team that struggled to stop the run, facing a quarterback of Brescia’s quality is actually good for Stanford. It’ll be a good early test of how much they’ve progressed in this department.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is diversify their offensive attack as much as possible. The more guys they can get involved the better. If Tanner McKee is connecting with a variety of receivers while E.J. Smith and Casey Filkins are both having strong days, Stanford should get out to an early lead and cruise from there.
Finally, aside from avoiding what would be a catastrophic loss, Stanford just needs to make sure they stay healthy. A big key to making this happen is for Stanford to pounce on Colgate early and build up a huge lead in the first half and then from there, relax a bit and just coast from there. If Colgate gets out to a good start and surprises Stanford early, forcing guys to play longer than expected, that won’t be good as that’ll up the odds of a key player getting injured.
Prediction: I got Stanford winning big as does everybody. I think the real question is by how much and whether or not they secure a shutout. I’m going to say Brescia finds the end zone once to put Colgate on the board, but aside from that, Stanford’s defense will do its job. 52-7 is how I see this one playing out.
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