Stanford Football Looking Forward to Challenge of Boston College's Offense

Another battle awaits as Stanford football is set to return home to The Farm. Coming off of a 27-3 loss to BYU, the Stanford Cardinal (0-2, 0-0 ACC) will play their first game at Stanford Stadium in 2025, with Boston College coming to town.

In what will be another big test for the program, the Cardinal are hungry to get into the win column and get the first victory of the Frank Reich/Andrew Luck Era.

Speaking to the media on Monday, interim head coach Frank Reich spoke on a variety of subjects leading up to Saturday's contest. Here are the top takeaways from Reich's weekly press conference.

Defense has been major area of growth

When Reich was hired, a major point of emphasis was growth and taking steps forward, setting up a future full of success. And even though the Cardinal are still winless to start the new season, there still have been many areas that the team has improved on since the start of camp, particularly on defense.

Despite losing 27-3 to BYU, the Cardinal's defensive performance was still very strong, something that Reich thinks gave the team a lot of confidence heading into the Boston College game.

"We took a good step and gained some confidence on defense," Reich said. "[We] know we're going into a hostile environment against a good offense, and we could go out there and have a pretty good outing. So I think that confidence is important for the team. That's what we need on offense right now.

"We need to go out there and play winning football, and do it in all three phases, but in particular, we need to be effective and be able to play winning football on offense, to get some confidence, and that's what we're searching for right now offensively," Reich added. "I do think we took a good step on defense, but it's gonna be a big challenge on defense this week."

Boston College is a very good offensive team but if Stanford's defense plays how it did against BYU, then it could very well be a much closer game than people would otherwise expect.

No commitment towards a starting QB for this week

At the start of the season, the Cardinal named sixth-year transfer Ben Gulbranson as the starting quarterback, beating out guys like Elijah Brown and Dylan Rizk in the process.

But since winning the job, Gulbranson has struggled mightily, throwing zero touchdowns and an interception against Hawaii with two interceptions and a lost fumble against BYU, and has been a major reason why Stanford's offense faltered in both losses.

While Gulbranson is still the starting quarterback as of now, Reich sounded non-committal when it came to Gulbranson being under center this week against Boston College.

"We don't make those announcements and decisions early in the week, at any position, and don't read anything into that," Reich said. "We're not going to make a habit of, making any announcements on any position, on who's playing and who's not playing, early in the week. So that's just kind of standard operating procedure."

Stanford is in a hole, but there is still time to right the ship and get back on track this season. And if Gulbranson's performances do not improve and the offense continues to struggle, it would not be surprising to see Reich and his staff make a quarterback change at some point during the season, especially if Gulbranson starts against Boston College and struggles once again.

Boston College's quarterback will present a tough challenge for Stanford's defense

Boston College is 1-1 to begin the season, beating Fordham 66-10 in Week 1 before losing in double overtime to Michigan State 42-40 in Week 2. But in both of those games, quarterback Dylan Lonergan dazzled, throwing a combined eight touchdowns with no interceptions between both contests.

Knowing just how hot of a start he has gotten off to, the top priority for the Cardinal will be for the defense to be come prepared to contain the threat of Lonergan.

"He has a lot of confidence right now," Reich said on Lonergan. "Coach O'Brien's done a great job at building his confidence. It looks like he's in full swing and has command over their offense. I think it's going to be a great challenge for our defense. I'm excited to see our defense play this offense, this team, this quarterback.

"We have to find ways to put pressure on him, we have to be in tight coverage and not give him easy stuff. But they do a good job at a lot of short, intermediate stuff, but then, [Lonergan] has the arm to get the ball down the field, has the speed to get the ball down the field on the outside. So, it'll be a good challenge," Reich added.

Lonergan will be the first experienced Power Four quarterback that the Cardinal will face all season, and if the defense can put together another solid performance against a strong offense like Boston College, it will be a huge momentum booster for the rest of the campaign.

Stanford's offensive line will be down a key component

In Week 0, Stanford's offensive line was spectacular, helping the run game put on a show, with running back Micah Ford putting together a 26 carry for 113 yard and one touchdown performance.

But in Week 2, the offensive line struggled to contain BYU's defense, causing Stanford's offense to only put three points on the board. Heading into the Boston College game, Stanford will have to adjust even more, with starting right guard Simione Pale slated to miss the game with a lower body injury.

"I don't mind saying this, he will not be available this week," Reich said on Pale's availability. "We're continuing to evaluate what is going to be his timeline getting back, that's still TBD. We have to kind of let the swelling go down and see whether it will be surgical or non-surgical for him."

Injuries are unfortunately a major part of the game, but it is how a team responds and adjusts to them that separates programs from all the rest. Stanford's depth will be tested this week and if the offensive line can play well even without one of its best blockers, then it will be a big testament to the potential of the program.

According to the depth chart released by Stanford, it will be senior Fisher Anderson getting the start at right guard in place of Pale. Anderson is 6-foot-7, 315 pounds and hails from Franklin, TN.