People who follow Stanford football closely know that the twilight years of the David Shaw era were rough. After making eight straight bowl games under Shaw including four BCS bowls with a 2-1 record in the Rose Bowl, the program started to fall apart. The last two seasons (the only ones I covered during the era) being the most dismal as the team went 3-9 overall back-to-back seasons.
While Shaw had an amazing run at Stanford, it was clear that a change was needed and that change came after last season’s final game against BYU. After telling his players first, Shaw arrived late to his post-game press conference, announcing that he was no longer going to be the head coach at Stanford.
After conducting a nation-wide coaching search that included a cameo from Jason Garrett, who to my sourcing was never actually offered the position, Stanford found their man in Troy Taylor. Taylor formally accepted the position one day after his season at Sacramento State came to an end in the FCS playoffs.
Taylor had his work cut out for him when he arrived at Stanford: A large chunk of players had exited via the graduate transfer portal, there were questions about Stanford’s ability to bring in players through the portal, and Lifetime Cardinal LLC was just getting off the ground, which serves as a vehicle for Stanford’s NIL support system.
Rather than letting those concerns scare him off, Taylor embraced the challenges with humility and above all else has instilled a phenomenal belief in his players that on any given Saturday, no matter the odds, they can win. The fruits of that instillment came to life in their victory at Colorado, in which they came back from 29-0 down to pull off the greatest comeback in program history.
“We put in so much hard work during the offseason and the season, and it’s finally paid off,” Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels said after the victory at Colorado. “We’ve had a few chances in the past couple of games but haven’t finished yet. And we did tonight, and now we know what we can do and are capable of, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Even more impressively, that belief is even evident after bitter losses. Following a frustrating home loss to Sacramento State in which they were favored to win, Taylor’s players still exuded that same belief in their coach and the direction he was taking the program.
“Coach Taylor, he's a winner,” Stanford linebacker Tristan Sinclair said. “He's done it everywhere he's been. He did it at a high school. He was at Utah and then Sac State, turned that program around. They were 1-11 and then they went undefeated that next year, whatever it was.
“We believe in him, unwavering belief in him. It's hard -- winning college football games is really hard. I think it takes time. I believe in him fully.”
Like clockwork, different players express the same optimism in Taylor and in turn the same belief that they can win the next game. Even if the previous week didn’t go so well.
A great example of this is the way Stanford bounced back from a 42-7 shellacking at the hands of No. 25 UCLA. With No. 5 Washington coming to town next, Stanford could have folded up like a cheap tent against the Huskies. Instead, they dug deep and ended up losing 42-33 with a chance to go ahead in the final three minutes and change of the game. Were it not for a failed fourth down conversion that was a brilliantly drawn up trick play, Stanford might have pulled off the uspet.
“There is a fight to these guys and a consistency in their demeanor and how they approach the game,” Taylor said after the heartbreaking loss to the Huskies. “When I look at this game afterwards I'm really proud of that. Now, we want to win the game and make a couple more plays. We didn't do that. But I do feel like we're improving and showing incredible resiliency.”
“I mean, there are ups and downs, a lot of ups and downs,” Stanford freshman wide receiver Tiger Bachmeier added. “We came off a really good week of practice from the loss last week. Came back and had one of the best weeks of practices we've had.
“Just goes to show how we were in the beginning of the season and the grit we have. We're going to keep coming back and putting together practices, and it showed today. We came out firing and then just missed by a little bit.”
With this kind of mindset, nobody can count Stanford out on any given week. And what’s scary is to think what this is all going to look like once Taylor restocks his roster with some of the talent that he has coming in next year.
But for now, all that Stanford fans can see is what’s happening on the field this year and while the record itself isn’t pretty, the journey of this season has been far brighter than what their 2-6 record would indicate. Unlike last season, which showed players worn down more and more with each loss, the same belief and toughness remains consistent. There’s been no leveling off.
“You know, just getting right back -- there is one thing about our team, is we work every single day,” Stanford quarterback Justin Lamson said before their bye week. “Whether it's a win or loss we're going to come in. Whether it's a lift, a meeting, we're going to be dialed in. We are just going to go about our game plan, trust the coaches. They been putting us in good positions. It's on us. We're going to be just fine.”
With four games left, two of which are against ranked opponents, Stanford knows they’re going to have to scrap and claw to win any of those remaining games. But knowing Taylor and the belief he has instilled in his players, that’s not going to faze them. They’re going to keep coming with that same positive belief in their coach and in each other. Taking things game-by-game and approaching every week like it’s a season in and of itself.
“We're going to go and watch the film tomorrow and we'll get the same exact talk whether we win or lose. It's about coming back and hammering on all the things we need to get better at, to every finite detail,” Bachmeier affirmed. “It's going to be the same as after Colorado game, UCLA game, and this game. You can see that progression coming from it. Somewhere, something has to click for us, you know.”
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