Stanford Football's Season on the Brink Ahead of San Jose State Matchup

Stanford football is in a big hole to begin the 2025 season. Dropping two straight games to Hawaii and BYU before upsetting Boston College in their home opener, the Cardinal started the season at 1-2 and had a massive momentum boost going into last weekend, where the chance to get back to .500 was within reach at Virginia.

But unfortunately, the Cardinal stumbled greatly in last weekend's road loss to Virginia, falling 48-20 and returning home in a worse spot than when they left.

With a game against San Jose State next on the docket, beating the Spartans is not just a priority now, it is extremely vital if Stanford wants to try and save its season. In fact, losing to San Jose State would essentially end what could have been a very promising season.

After the Cardinal play San Jose State, the rest of their schedule will consist of conference games, with many of the opponents that they face coming up either ranked in the top-25 or teams that are on the rise.

From weeks 7-9, the Cardinal will endure a gauntlet stretch, with games against SMU, Florida State and Miami—the latter two are teams that are serious contenders to be in the College Football Playoff. It is very likely that the Cardinal will struggle against those teams given where they are at in their rebuild.

San Jose State, who beat Stanford last season in former head coach Troy Taylor's final game in charge, is a much different team this season, especially with the departure of school legend, Nick Nash.

Despite the Cardinal facing a lot of uncertainty, San Jose State is the type of team that they need to beat if they want to go into games against Power Four opponents with any sort of momentum.

But if Stanford falls in this one, finding another game on the schedule and having confidence that Stanford will compete in is a bit tricky.

Aside from contests against Florida State and Miami, who are both ranked top 10 in the AP Poll, California and Notre Dame are two programs that could give Stanford quite a bit of trouble this season, with Notre Dame obliterating Stanford 49-7 last season and coming off of a national championship game appearance.

Cal, despite losing in upset fashion to San Diego State, has shown flashes of promise this season-- with their true freshman quarterback in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele proving himself to be a rising superstar early on.

The only other games on Stanford's schedule that could maybe go either way are contest against Pittsburgh and North Carolina. Pittsburgh, coming off of a 7-6 campaign last year, are 2-1 so far this season with an overtime loss to West Virginia, but have looked good overall, with sophomore quarterback Eli Holstein looking like a potential star.

North Carolina, led by legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick, have struggled at times this season, but given the talent on the roster, they are the type of team that could go on a run. By the time Stanford rolls into town, they could have gotten things together.

Stanford beating San Jose State will do a couple of things. First, it will give the Cardinal some momentum and confidence back as they prepare for the heart of their schedule—a portion that will be the ultimate test of grit and resilience and will truly show what type of team they are.

It will also give the Cardinal another win right before they play teams that they are unlikely to beat, potentially giving them one more win before they go through a major rough patch.

The future of Stanford football looks bright given everything that the school has invested into the program, but if Stanford fans and everyone in between want confidence that they can win consistently in the future, it starts with beating teams like San Jose State.