Stanford Football Ready to Move Forward, Earn Redemption Against San Jose State

Time for Stanford football to regroup. Coming off of another tough loss to the Virginia Cavaliers, snapping a one-game win streak, the Stanford Cardinal (1-3, 1-1 ACC) will return home to The Farm and look to get back into the win column when San Jose State comes to town.

Dubbed the 'Bill Walsh Legacy Game,' the Cardinal fell in upset fashion to the Spartans last season, but will look to get redemption this time around as Stanford's football program looks to continue building for the future.

Each week, interim head coach Frank Reich meets with the media to speak on the current state of affairs of Stanford. And on Monday, Reich touched on a lot, from the mindset after the loss to Virginia to the health of the roster.

Here are the top takeaways from Reich's press conference.

Ben Gulbranson May Be Getting Hot

To start the season, Gulbranson struggled mightily, combining for three interceptions as the Cardinal quickly fell to 0-2, losing to Hawaii and BYU. A faltering offense was the common theme, with Gulbranson unable to lead the team down the field late in the games.

But these last two weeks, Gulbranson has turned a corner, throwing three touchdowns over the last two games and no interceptions. Looking to have found a rhythm, the question now becomes whether or not he can keep this up for the rest of the season.

Quarterback play has been a problem for Stanford the last couple of seasons, but if Gulbranson can string together more consistent performances—especially when the Cardinal start facing some of those nationally ranked teams—then Stanford could end up being better off than anyone expected.

San Jose State's Defense Could Pose a Good Challenge

San Jose State may not be a Power Four program, but that does not mean that they don't have talent. Aside from a 38-7 blowout loss to No. 7 ranked Texas, the Spartans have been very competitive in their games, with their defense creating problems for the opposition.

Returning a handful of guys from the team that beat Stanford last season, the Cardinal are prepared for what is coming and expect the offense to be challenged.

"They've got a bunch of returning starters," Reich said. "Five or six returning starters. Their linebackers are really good, aggressive players. Number one, number four, guys that kind of pop out on the film.

"Up front, they're all really active and physical players on their defensive line. And then the secondary, just have good, solid players. You see them, they've got good schemes. They play it well. Their defensive coordinator, coach [Derrick] Odum is a very, very accomplished defensive coordinator, very successful defensive coordinator, has an impressive resume.

"They put a lot of good stuff on tape. It's well conceived, well executed and well coached."

Losing 34-31 last season in a game that they expected to win, the Cardinal are not taking anything for granted this year, and know that if they want to be competitive this season and build for the future, they need to win games against teams like the Spartans.

Pass Rush Was a Major, Major Problem Against Virginia

Going into the game, Stanford knew that Virginia's offense had talent, with quarterback Chandler Morris proving to be someone to watch for.

But the Cardinal struggled way more than they thought they would against Morris, with the defensive line having a hard time putting pressure on him, allowing Morris to put up big numbers, including 380 pass yards, four passing touchdowns with five rushes for 19 yards and a rushing touchdown.

"It wasn't our best game," Reich said. "The quarterback, everytime we did get pressure, Chandler, he was incredibly nifty and got out of it every time. I was going back over their offensive tape again this morning, for a couple of different reasons.

"And just some of the plays he made, on the move to get away from things, were really impressive. So I'm confident in our rush, in our pressure packages. I think on the whole, our defense had done a good job, coach [Andy] Thompson has done a good job. Not our best effort against Virginia, but we got to get back on track."

Stanford will face only elite quarterbacks from here on out and if the program wants to pull off some big wins, particularly against those teams with top tier quarterbacks such as Miami, SMU and Florida State. Putting pressure on them and mitigating the damage that they cause is the only way that the Cardinal will stand a chance the rest of the way.

Andrew Luck Has Been Very Helpful with Quarterback Development

When Stanford hired former quarterback Andrew Luck to be the football program's general manager last November, he was expected to be very active in all parts of the team, from recruiting, to alumni relations and everything in between.

But Luck has also taken on somewhat of a coaching role as well, playing a pivotal role in helping develop the quarterbacks while roaming the sidelines during games.

"He's been involved," Reich said. "He's out at practice, not everyday, but most days when he can be. He'll hop into quarterback drills and help with quarterback drills every now and then. And I know he meets with Ben on a weekly basis.

"That was something he and I talked about at the beginning of the year, and I think that's great. That way, it gives coach Luck a chance to develop a relationship with him and some of the other quarterbacks that he has an opportunity to meet with and talk to.

"But in particular with Ben, I think it's been helpful and it's a way for him to kind of keep his hands on the quarterback development side of things as well."

A very successful quarterback both in college and the NFL, having Luck around is vital for the quarterbacks, who can take full advantage of having the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft to learn from.

Could Stanford Get Healthier in Coming Weeks?

Injuries are a part of the game, and while the Cardinal have had injury issues to start the season, it is very possible that the program will get players back in the coming weeks. And while Reich did not announce who is in or out for this week, he did not definitively rule anybody out—a potentially good sign of what is to come.

"A few little nicks and bangs here and there," Reich said. "We'll see, I just had a meeting here a little bit ago with Jacob to kind of talk through it and we're still not ready to, per normal at this time of the week, to say who's in and who's out, but I don't think there's anybody off the top of my head that I'd be willing to say is definitely out at this point.

"You guys know me, if somebody is definitely out, I usually don't mind saying that. But we'll just have to see how the week progresses."

The best ability is availability, and if Stanford is able to get some guys back, that could be a major advantage when it comes to having depth for those tough games still left on the schedule.