The Stanford Cardinal are a savvy pick by many in the media as a sleeper for the BCS National Championship and after starting off the season with a 34-13 win over San Jose State, the team will travel East to play Army at 12 noon on the CBS Sports Network.
Stanford was one of the most consistent teams in the nation last season under head coach David Shaw and this will be the first test for the school, as Army is one of the top rushing units in the nation and will be feeding the rock to Larry Dixon. Stanford came into the season with one of the best defensive units against the run in the nation and they will be tested on Saturday after allowing just 13 points in their opening win last weekend. Stanford put up over 400 yards last weekend with Kevin Hogan running the offense and he will have to try and stay with the fast moving Army offense.
Check here for the Army and Stanford live stream.
Hogan has some new weapons to work with after the team won the Pac 12 and the Rose Bowl last season with Ty Montgomery and Tyler Gaffney stepping up against San Jose State and now the defense will get the chance for a real test. Shaw is looked at as one of the best young coaches in the nation and his defensive preparation has been noted by many in the sport, making the matchup against the Army rush offense very interesting.
Gaffney gives Stanford a solid rushing presence after losing star Stepfan Taylor to the NFL and he follows in a line of solid running backs that stretches back to Toby Gerhart when Jim Harbaugh was still coaching for the school. Gaffney had over 100 yards rushing in the opening win and the team has nearly 200 in the game and will try for a similar result against Army. The pass rush for the Cardinal was excellent against San Jose State and Army QB Angel Santiago will have to be on the lookout when he drops back, although he won't do that too often.
Santiago is second on the team in rushing and the Stanford defense knows how much the team likes to rush the ball. Dixon will be getting his hands on the ball plenty after gaining over 200 yards already this season and he is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry after breaking off some nice runs last week. The two teams have not played in over 30 years and having to play a ranked team has not been good for Army, considering they haven't won over one in an even longer period of time.
Stanford will play Arizona State and Washington State next before taking on ranked Washington and then they will have a tough road game against Utah before hosting UCLA. After playing Oregon State the team has its toughest stretch, playing Oregon, USC, California and Notre Dame to end the year.