Stanford Football: The Cardinal are primed to exceed expectations in 2019

The Stanford Cardinal are being overlooked by many this season and are projected to win around six games. The Stanford football program is primed to exceed their projected win total.

The Stanford football program has long been one of the most consistently good programs in all of college football.

After all, the Cardinal have won eight or more games in each of the past 10 seasons. On top of that, only once during head coach David Shaw‘s eight-year tenure in Palo Alto has Stanford finished with fewer than nine victories.

Despite this, ESPN’s projections anticipate the Cardinal winning just six games this season. It’s understandable to expect regression as there are a number of question marks still surrounding the program.

Moreover, the team’s difficult non-conference schedule likely has a lot to do with these projections. Still, this does seem a bit far-fetched and Stanford could be in a good position to exceed those early preseason projections.

Stanford will return quarterback K.J. Costello who is coming off a breakout 2018 season in which the junior became the first Cardinal quarterback to pass for more than 3,000 yards since Andrew Luck did so back in 2011.

While Costello continues to be overlooked by the national audience, the senior has quietly emerged as a dark horse Heisman candidate for this upcoming season.

And on defense, the team will be anchored by one of the best defensive backs in the nation in Paulson Adebo. Adebo emerged as a true shutdown corner in his first year as a starter notching four interceptions and breaking up 20 passes — good for second in the FBS.

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However, the questions — at least on offense — start with the offensive line.

Stanford will return just one full-time starting offensive lineman from last season. But that one returning starter is none other than All-Pac-12 left tackle Walker Little — a possible future first-round NFL draft pick.

Little will look to anchor an offensive line that should look very different in 2019. Outside of Little, the Cardinal will return a healthy Foster Sarrell who missed pretty much all of last season with a knee injury.

Sarrell will likely open the year as the team’s starting right tackle giving the Cardinal a very promising pair of tackles. On top of that, Drew Dalman should help solidify the center position and help out the interior of the offensive line.

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And if the line could give the offense some time to operate, expect Costello to work well with his new top pass-catchers including Osiris St. Brown and Colby Parkinson.

The running name won’t have a 2017 Bryce Love-caliber player, but the backfield rotation of Cameron Scarlett, Trevor Speights, and Dorian Maddox should be more than an enough to get the job done.

Ultimately, Stanford will play its typical ground-and-pound, hard-nosed style of football.

They aren’t built to wow you with offensive firepower, although Costello and the speedy St. Brown could do plenty of that this year. And they aren’t built to win games with flashy defensive turnovers, but Adebo should force his fair share this year.

This Stanford football team may not be national title contenders, but they should be talented enough to compete for the Pac-12 North title. And if all goes according to plan, another nine-win season doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

The Cardinal will kick off the season in a little over a week when they take on the out-of-conference Northwestern Wildcats.

And if Stanford could have their way, they’ll be one-seventh of the way towards exceeding expectations.