Currently ranked No. 18, the Stanford Cardinal find themselves with a 3-1 record one month into the season. Many expected such a record, although not many assumed the loss would come against Northwestern instead of USC. It serves to highlight yet another chaotic season in the Pac-12, filled with last week’s dismantling of Oregon and Arizona State’s troubling start. With much more football left to be played, what’s a crucial matchup for Stanford to look out for? Who has the potential to upset the Cardinal, and who will give them a run for their money? We asked Daily sportswriters Andrew Mather, Sanjay Srinivas and Sandip Srinivas to share their thoughts.
Andrew: It feels a little weird saying this, but it looks to me like the Big Game may be the pivotal matchup in the Pac-12 North this year. After Oregon’s blowout home loss at the hands of Utah, Stanford and Cal are the early front-runners to win this side of the conference. It seems increasingly plausible that the Bears will be less of the last team standing between Stanford and the Pac-12 Championship game and more of a credible division contender in and of themselves.
Obviously, a lot has to happen in the meantime for such a scenario to work out. While Cal has gotten off to a rocking start behind quarterback Jared Goff and running back Khalfani Muhammad, its difficult Pac-12 schedule could bring some of the current expectations of the team back to earth. Similarly, Stanford has to clear talented Arizona and UCLA teams over the next 15 days to preserve its early conference play momentum, and there’s still plenty of time for Oregon, Washington or even Washington State or Oregon State to rally and make a credible challenge for the title.
Still, it appears unlikely to me that this game will be as meaningless this year as it was last, nor does it seem apparent that victory for either side is a forgone conclusion. Ultimately, both these changes are long overdue and will be more than welcome. Something about competitive rivalry games brings out the best in football players, sports writers and college football fans around the nation. Therefore, if either Stanford or Cal can survive a pitched Big Game and go on to win the Pac-12, you better believe it would make a splash and, indeed, turn some heads on the playoff selection committee.
Sanjay: At this point in the season, it’s unclear whether Stanford can put together a set of promising pieces and mount a serious run for the College Football Playoff. However, the Cardinal will certainly be contenders in a weakened Pac-12 North, giving them a very good shot at winning the conference.
The Cardinal need not look all the way to Eugene to find another hopeful to win the North; newly-ranked No. 24 Cal seems to have taken just enough of a step forward on offense to put itself into contention. The Big Game has gotten a little smaller over the last five years, but the Bears’ visit to Stanford Stadium in November could have real implications for the conference title.
Despite a strong start to the season, this season’s Cal team is a relatively unknown commodity. Though the Bears’ defense was able to hold up against Texas and Washington, it may very well fall apart during a brutal four-game stretch in which Cal faces Utah, UCLA, USC and Oregon. Even if the defense prevents Cal from being a Pac-12 North contender, Jared Goff and the Bears’ electric offense could be enough to deal Stanford a late-season loss.
Sandip: While there’s no doubting the significance of the Big Game this year, Stanford has an equally important matchup looming with No. 7 UCLA. Before the start of the season, this was quite obviously a game for everyone in the Pac-12 to keep an eye on. However, given the events that have unfolded in the past month, the significance of this game has immensely increased.
Only three teams in the Pac-12 remain undefeated: Cal, UCLA and Utah. That number will go down to two (one if Arizona State upsets UCLA) as Cal and Utah face off this weekend. While there are many things that can happen between now and Oct. 15, the most likely scenario is that a 4-1 Stanford team takes on 5-0 UCLA with Stanford’s legitimacy as a playoff team on the line. Given that the Cardinal won’t be playing the Utes in the regular season this year, the UCLA game is Stanford’s most important against the South and, depending on how the Notre Dame and Cal games turn out, perhaps its most important of the year.
Also, the game itself has all the makings of a classic shootout: Josh Rosen facing off against Kevin Hogan, Christian McCaffrey and Barry Sanders facing the Pac-12’s worst run defense and perhaps the return of ESPN’s College Gameday to the Stanford campus.
Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu, Sanjay Srinivas at sanjay_srinivas ‘at’ stanford.edu and Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu.