Cal Football: 5 Questions For a Stanford Beat Writer Leading to the Big Game
It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when Stanford was a powerhouse program in the Pac-12, bullying opponents with its power run game and its physical defense.
What happened to David Shaw's program?
Stanford is 3-7, matching Cal's disappointing record going into Saturday's 125th Big Game. This is the third season in the past four that the Cardinal will finish with a losing record, after eight consecutive years playing in a bowl games -- three times in the Rose Bowl.
Their run game doesn't scare anyone and their defense has struggled to stop opposing backs.
We tracked down Kevin Borba, publisher of the All Cardinal website in the SI network to find out what's happened to Stanford and posed these 5 Questions to him:
1. What will happen involving David Shaw after the season? Will he finally replace some of his assistants after having such great coaching staff stability of years? Do you think he might he resign? Any chance Stanford actually fires its winningest coach?
Borba suggested that Shaw is guilty of being too loyal to his assistants. “I think it’s really cool that he wants to be loyal to the people who have helped him get this far,” Borba says in the video at the to top of this story, “but it’s obviously not working now.”
Borba suggests “it would be in the best interests for Stanford to move on and get a new coach,” but later says he believes Shaw might salvage the situation by finally replacing his offensive and defensive coordinators to give the team a fresh start.
Borba wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Shaw walks away, ending things on his own terms.
In other words, this could go in a lot of directions.
“It’s a tough situation for the program,” Borba says.
2. Stanford has had a lot of injuries, but what factors beyond that have led to what has happened this season?
Borba points out that Cardinal has lost its top four running backs to injury and now is playing a former safety at the position.
But he also points to the change made in the offense, moving away from the power running attack to the slow mesh system utilized by Wake Forest. It generated a 200-plus yard rushing game against USC early in the season, but Borba says it doesn’t really fit with the team’s personnel.
“It puts a lot of pressure on an offensive line that can’t hold up that long,” he says. “Tanner McKee poses little to no threat to run so that’s an interesting move to go with an offense that hints the quarterback can run.
“And it forces him to throw into a lot of tight windows, so that doesn’t help.”
Borba also notes that this roster of Stanford players has very little experience winning, and that is holding them back.
3. It appears the Cardinal has almost run out of running backs. Tell us about sophomore Mitch Leigber, who played safety last season and has become the starting running back the past two games. Who is next behind him?
“He kind of got thrown into this job just by being the guy who played running back in high school,” Borba says, noting that the team’s top four backs are shelved by injury.
And who else is there? Well, third-string quarterback Ashton Daniels has run the ball some but there aren’t any other options right now.
“Defenses are just not frightened by the run at all,” Borba says. “Mitch is doing a solid job for someone who is a reserve safety and kind of is learning the playbook as he goes. There really is no threat in the run game, which is tough.”
4. Tanner McKee continues to be regarded as a strong NFL quarterback prospect. How has he performed this season and how much has he been impacted by injuries elsewhere on offense?
“He has what NFL scouts are looking for in terms of the prototypical build. He’s more mobile than people give him credit for and he has a big arm,” Borba says. “But he’s missing his top pass-catcher (injured Michael Wilson), he’s missing all of his running backs, his line hasn’t been as good as they would hope.”
Borba believes the scheme hasn’t helped, forcing McKee to throw a high percentage of contested passes. He has completed below 50 percent of his attempts in two of the past three games.
“I think he has NFL potential,” Borba says. “I don’t think this year’s really shown that as well as he would have helped.”
Most mock drafts, Borba says, have McKee dropping to the second or third round. It hasn’t been all his fault, but scouts would like to see him help carry the Cardinal to more success.
“It just hasn’t happened.”
5. Cal has its own problems, obviously. What are the keys Saturday for Stanford if it hopes to win the Big Game?
“There’s one thing they need to do,” Borba says. “They need to slow down Jaydn Ott. He kind of seems like the spark that gets Cal going.”
Cal’s offensive line has not allowed Ott to do much the past month, but at his best he ran for 274 yards in a big win over Arizona.
“If (Stanford) can’t stop the run,” Borba says, “they won’t win.”
Cover photo of Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee by Rob Gray, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
