For a succinct explanation of a season gone wrong, let’s turn to Stanford’s depth chart at quarterback for this week:
You know what they say, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none, and if you have three quarterbacks, then you have Stanford. All three players have made a start this season, though it seems the Justin Lamson experiment began and ended with his poor showing in a 31-7 loss to Virginia Tech earlier this month.
Brown saw the bulk of the reps in Stanford’s 40-10 loss to SMU two weeks back and earned the start against Wake Forest but was replaced early in that one by Daniels, who was decent and, one would have to think, in line for the start on Saturday.
But Stanford is apparently going into each week with an open quarterback competition, in a desperate attempt to find any sort of spark for its wheezing offense.
The Cardinal’s problems are myriad, but they all start here. Stanford’s QBs have thrown more picks (12) than touchdown passes (11); the offense ranks 125th in passer rating and 130th in yards per pass attempt (5.6).
Looking at this team’s offensive radar is like rubbernecking a car accident.
This one you pass on the highway and cringe, thinking for sure someone got sent to the hospital. Somebody get the jaws of life over here!
The Cardinal are young at the skill positions and have had to shuffle its offensive line a bunch, and neither of those circumstances are helpful. Stanford is also banged up at running back, with starter Micah Ford (277 yards on 4.3 per carry) listed as day-to-day.
Ashton Daniels leads the team in rushing, so he at least brings versatility to the QB spot, not that it’s helped terribly much in general.
Defenses still have to account for the very talented Elic Ayomanor, though he hasn’t been immune to the consequences of poor quarterback play—he has 484 yards receiving through eight games, putting him well off the pace of last year’s 1,000-yard effort. He leads the team in receptions (more than five per game) and TD catches (four).
Stanford’s defense does some good things here and there, at least against the run—its stuff rate has been excellent, though it has been prone to giving up explosive plays. But Stanford’s pass defense, on the other hand, has been atrocious. FBS opponents are averaging 280 yards through the air on 9.0 per attempt, with 19 touchdown passes against five interceptions. Only two teams have surrendered more touchdown passes than Stanford this fall.
This is an excellent opportunity for CJ Bailey to keep building on his progress, and if he does, it’s difficult to see Stanford keeping up on the scoreboard, given the variety of ways in which that offense is broken.