The Stanford Offense in 2015

The 2015 Stanford offense will be better than last year. The defense was championship caliber, but the offense held the team back and was the primary cause for the losses to USC (13-10), Notre Dame (17-14), and Utah (20-17). Stanford could easily have won all three of those games if the offense had been better, but things got much better over the final three games as the Cardinal scored 114 combined points against Cal, UCLA, and Maryland.

The UCLA game was particularly impressive as quarterback Kevin Hogan played one of the best games of his career in leading the Cardinal to a decisive road victory over a heavily favored UCLA team that needed only a win over Stanford to clinch the Pac-12 South and an appearance in the conference championship game.

The Cardinal carried the momentum into the Foster Farms Bowl where they thrashed the overmatched Maryland Terrapins, 45-21, and laid the groundwork for 2015.

The offense returns nine starters from 2014, but it should be noted that one of the two departures, wide receiver Ty Montgomery, suffered an injury in the first quarter of the Cal game, meaning the Cardinal enjoyed its greatest offensive success without him.

Also leaving is All-Pac-12 left tackle Andrus Peat, but his replacement, Kyle Murphy, a starter at right tackle last season, has already drawn rave reviews from the coaching staff.

The most important development, however, has been the growth of Kevin Hogan. Just last week I asked David Shaw what he was most excited about as he looked towards the fall, and he answered without hesitation: “The quarterback.” He went on to explain that Hogan finally seems completely comfortable, and he even thought that those early season struggles last year have helped by providing motivation to improve.

With the continued improvement of sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey, the steady play of wide receivers Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector, and the best group of tight ends in America (Austin Hooper, Eric Cotton, Greg Taboada, and Dalton Schultz), Hogan will have a wealth of weapons at his disposal.

The offense should be the best it’s been since the glory days of Andrew Luck.

 

The Stanford Defense in 2015

Given the fact that the defense had to carry a mediocre offense for much of the 2014 season, a strong argument can be made that the 2014 Stanford defense was the best in school history. Safety Jordan Richards (2nd round), cornerback Alex Carter (3rd), defensive end Henry Anderson (3rd), and tackle David Parry (5th round) were all selected in the 2015 NFL draft, and linebackers AJ Tarpley & James Vaughters signed free agent contracts the day after the draft, so the 2014 unit was packed with NFL talent.

The problem, of course, is that all that talent has to be replaced. Considering all the losses, it isn’t likely that the 2015 defense will be as good as we’ve seen the past two years. The good news, though, is that Coach Shaw and his staff have tons of young defensive talent just waiting to get out onto the field. There may be some struggles early on, but I expect the talent to come forward and continue the tradition of strong Stanford defense.

 

Buy or Sell?

I like the Cardinal in 2015. The offense could be explosive, which will certainly help a defense that’s still unproven. Also, the schedule sets up nicely for Stanford as most of their biggest games (Arizona, UCLA, Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame) are all at home.

The goal for this team should be nine wins, but if they can find a way to beat Oregon for a tenth win and a spot in the conference championship game, the Cardinal just might be on the short list of teams vying for a playoff spot.

---

Hank Waddles of Go Mighty Card provided the information for our Stanford Football 2015 Spring recap. For more Cardinal  football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Hank on Twitter @GoMightyCard.

---