The Stanford Cardinal suffered a big upset against USC after pulling off a stunning win against Oregon and while the BCS hopes for the team are dashed for a moment, they still could slip into the top part of the Pac-12 conference and that means they will have to win against California on Saturday at Stanford Stadium in a game that will be on Fox Sports 1 starting up at 4:00 pm and streaming online.
Stanford still has one of the most balanced teams in the nation and the defense is allowing just 20 points per game, while the offense is going for over 30 and while Kevin Hogan was outgunned last week by USC in a low scoring game, this week he will be going up against a terrible Bears team that has not even had a win in the conference all season. Cal has won just one game all year and after Stanford plays the Bears they will face off against Notre Dame in the regular season finale and that game will be big for both sides and depending on how the top part of the North division shakes out with Oregon and Oregon State, Stanford could sneak into the Pac-12 championship game and that would be huge after being upset by the Trojans, who are making their way up in the South division.
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Stanford played a brutal stretch this season against three ranked teams in a row, but they were able to win them all against UCLA, ORegon State and then the big one against number three Pregon and it's the unranked teams in the conference that bit them and both of those games were on the road for David Shaw and company. The team lost on the road against Utah and then in Los Angeles against the Trojans and now the team has two home games in a row after alternating on the schedule for literally every game this season, as they played at home against the Ducks and on the road against USC and now Stanford Stadium will host their team for the final Pac-12 game of the season before the team has a traditional rivalry game with Notre Dame.
The team is ranked 105th in the nation in passing offense on yards per game and that is no surprise, as they are ranked in the top 30 in rushing with over 300 yards per game and their best offensive players this season have been Tyler Gaffney and Ty Montgomery and now those two players will be the leaders for the final two games. Gaffney has 1201 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and while the team hasn't been explosive on offense for most of the year, the defense has been very stout and they have allowed 20 points or less in the past four games and against a Cal team that hasn't won a game in the conference all season, this should be an easy matchup for Stanford as they try to keep their BCS hopes alive.
