For the first two weeks of this season, I haven’t done a Q&A session with an opposing team’s blogger, mostly because this always tends to be an issue with the non-Power 5 portion of the nonconference schedule. SB Nation doesn’t sponsor blogs for most G5 teams and none of the FCS, so there’s no easy place to go for somebody who knows anything about East Tennessee State or Colorado State (SB Nation does have a Mountain West blog, but I didn’t really see anybody writing about Colorado State there.)
That was about to change this week with Stanford, a Pac-12 team, but uh Stanford blog Rule of Tree hasn’t posted anything since June. It appears that thanks to the California law that regulated gig work has led to SB Nation being limited in its capacity to cover California-based teams, as the former writers there are now covering other teams. (This is the case for all four of California’s Pac-12 teams, by the way, and not just a Stanford thing.)
Not to be deterred, I reached out to Jack Blanchat, who was the editor at Rule of Tree prior to March 2020 (when the law passed.) He was happy to answer my questions about the Cardinal. VandyImport, please be nice in the comments.
1. Stanford had a run of seven Top 25 finishes from 2010-17, but hasn’t achieved those heights in the last three years. What’s changed, and can David Shaw get his mojo back? Do you buy the annual rumors that he’s going to jump to the NFL?
Put simply, Stanford had a Heisman Trophy finalist on their team almost every year from 2009-2017. (Toby Gerhart, Andrew Luck, Christian McCaffrey, Bryce Love). Since 2017, they haven’t. Stanford has had a great string of recruiting talent over the last decade, and the big changes to early signing day and the transfer portal seem to have hurt Stanford on the recruiting trail between 2017 & 2018 too. It’s been a little bit harder to compete in recruiting since those changes have gone through. It seems like Stanford has made some changes to try and address that, but their recruiting playbook for years was dependent on making a late offer before signing day and swaying a kid with a Stanford offer in the last few weeks before signing day.
As for Shaw and his future, I don’t think he’d made the jump to the NFL any time soon - he’s been at Stanford for 10 years now, is the school’s all-time wins leader, and says he’s committed to Stanford as his long term home. He did the NFL grind on his way up the coaching ranks, and nothing he says makes me think he misses the NFL that much.
2. The Cardinal looked awful offensively in the season opener against Kansas State... and then they went and hung 42 on USC, getting Clay Helton fired in the process. What changed, and which do you expect to be the “real” Cardinal offense going forward?
In game one against Kansas State, Stanford rotated quarterbacks every two series, and it clearly did not work. I assume McKee, a redshirt freshman with very limited game experience, will experience some ups and downs this season, but he showcased a skillset and a confidence that makes me think he’ll elevate Stanford’s offense significantly this season. I think we’re much more likely to Stanford run a capable offense with McKee under center, because what he showed last week against USC was seriously impressive, and he doesn’t appear to make many freshman-level mistakes.
3. Who are the stars on Stanford’s defense, and are there any weaknesses that Vanderbilt might be able to take advantage of?
Kyu Blu Kelly is Stanford’s top corner, and David Shaw has called him the best corner in the Pac-12. He had an outstanding game last week, holding USC superstar WR Drake London in check for most of the game. D-lineman Thomas Booker is also a stud, and was Stanford’s most productive player on defense a year ago. He also blocked an Extra Point to give Stanford the win over Cal a year ago. As for weaknesses, Stanford’s d-line is not very deep, and K-State and USC averaged 6.5 and 5.6 yards per carry, respectively. Running the ball downhill appears to be the place where teams can take advantage so far.
4. We’re coming off a game at Colorado State that kicked off at 8 PM local time in Fort Collins and lasted until nearly midnight. Seriously... how do you people out west do it?
Legalize it, man! Only half-joking. I do love living on the West Coast because the early games kick off at 9 am and you can stay up until midnight to watch the end of the Hawaii game.
5. Finally, predict the score of the game.
It seems like Stanford found something last week with Tanner McKee as the starter that’s going to be sustainable, even if they’re not hitting on all cylinders like they did against USC. I think Stanford wins, 31-14.