To call this Stanford football season an emotional roller coaster ride would be a bit of an understatement.
Despite the missed opportunities in frustrating losses to Utah and USC, the complete domination of Oregon and archrival Cal and the ever-changing bowl projections, Stanford head coach David Shaw noted that his players have navigated the unpredictable waters of the college football word by detaching themselves from the hysteria.
“People think I’m not telling the truth, but the post-Oregon and post-USC mentality was exactly the same,” Shaw said. “I know it sounds like coach-speak to a certain degree, but if that’s not what you do then you fall into being a tree in the wind … going back and forth. And that doesn’t ever go well for football teams.”
This steady, even-keeled mentality has also led the Cardinal to avoid looking at this Saturday’s matchup with Notre Dame as a revenge game. The Cardinal lost last year’s contest in South Bend, Ind., in overtime, following several controversial calls by the officials.
“I think last year’s game doesn’t really have any carryover to this season,” said fifth-year senior linebacker Trent Murphy. “It’s a new team and a new year. You’re playing a different group of guys … I don’t think [revenge] will be too helpful for us.”
Murphy also addressed the specifics of how the Card avoids getting caught up in the fluctuating emotions and constant media frenzy throughout the season.
“One of our team goals is to go 1-0 one week at a time,” Murphy said. “We’re pretty good at taking it one week at a time and not getting caught up in the highs and lows … It’s challenging to not get emotionally invested, but the biggest thing is focusing on the things that we can control, which is usually our attitudes and effort on the practice field.”
While the focus for this week is undoubtedly on Notre Dame, Shaw did acknowledge that he addressed next week’s Pac-12 Championship Game against Arizona State in a team meeting. If the Sun Devils defeat the Arizona Wildcats this Saturday, they will host the matchup, which will determine the Pac-12 representative in the Rose Bowl. Although the Cardinal would certainly prefer to play the championship game in Stanford Stadium, Murphy, a native of Mesa, Ariz., says he would not mind playing close to home.
“I think, generally, I play better on the road with a little adversity in a hostile environment,” Murphy said. “We definitely want to play the game at home, but I’ve always said I wanted to play in [Sun Devil Stadium] because it’s kind of my home town … and I’ve never played there so I wouldn’t be upset if that’s what happened.”
While Tuesday’s press luncheon focused heavily on strictly football-related matters, Shaw also opened with an off-field statistic that he was very proud of.
“Getting the news that we back-to-back years got the Academic Achievement Award, I’m very excited about that,” Shaw said. “Also, it’s the second year in a row we announced a 100-percent graduation rate. A big part of our mission here is playing great football and graduating our players with great degrees, and it’s nice to know those two things are still going hand in hand.”
Later that day, 10 Stanford players were named to the Pac-12 all-academic team with junior wide receiver Jordan Pratt, junior fullback Patrick Skov, senior punter Ben Rhyne, junior strong safety Jordan Richards and senior defensive end Henry Anderson qualifying for the first team.
Contact Vihan Lakshman at vihan ‘at’ Stanford.edu.