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Countdown to the Showdown, Part VI

Catching Up With Sione Fua

Even with all the love given to Toby Gerhart, Andrew Luck, and the Stanford offense over the past few years, people who have been paying attention will tell you that the biggest reason the Cardinal has risen to the top of the football world lies on the other side of the ball.

The Stanford defense famously switched to a 3-4 scheme in 2010, and the anchor of that unit was nose tackle Sione Fua, a staunch run stopper in the middle of the defensive line. Following the season Fua was selected in the third round by the Carolina Panthers, and has contributed in his rookie season.

There may be a Panther on the side of his helmet now, but Fua certainly bleeds Cardinal red. As proof of this, he was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about Stanford, Oregon, and the NFL. Enjoy.

Countdown to the Showdown, Part V

An Insider's Perspective from Kyle Bonagura

As detailed here on Wednesday, the rise of Stanford Football has led to a natural rise in the number of people covering the team. One of the best is Kyle Bonagura, who covers the Cardinal for CBSSports.com. He's a demon on Twitter, and if you're not already following him, do so now -- he goes from 0 to 140 characters in light speed. For this interview, though, he was a bit more expansive. So check, check, check it out y'all...

Countdown to the Showdown, Part IV

Previewing the Oregon Defense

Stanford fans who fear defeat on Saturday evening are likely focused on the dangers presented by the Oregon offense. It should be noted, however, that the Ducks also play defense.

Stanford's only loss last season came to Oregon in a game the Cardinal controlled through the first thirty minutes. After halftime, however, the Oregon defense took control and shut out Andrew Luck and the powerful Stanford offense over the final two quarters.

In Wednesday's preview of the Oregon offense I mentioned that the Ducks' quick-strike offense is last in the entire nation. The flip side of that, of course, is that their defense is on the field longer than any unit in the land. Fatigue would seem to be an obvious concern, but they combat this by rotating at least two players deep at every position. Saturday's game may well be determined by how fresh the defense is in the fourth quarter, a time when Stanford's offensive line is used to steamrolling exhausted opponents.

For a deeper look at all this, I reached out to Dale Newton from the excellent Oregon football blog, The Duck Stops Here. I'm betting this is the best preview of the Duck defense that you'll be able to find. Read it now, thank me (and Dale) later.

Countdown to the Showdown, Part III

The World-Wide Leader

I started this blog last fall for two reasons. One, I found myself sending five-hundred-word emails every week to friends who were too polite to tell me to stop; and two, there was no place on the internet to read about Stanford football.

Ted Miller was doing great work for ESPN's Pac-10 football blog, but even he was having trouble finding material about the Cardinal. His Lunchtime Links would regularly feature links to several different sources reporting on the other nine teams in the conference, but there was rarely anything about Stanford, and when there were, he was always linking to the same mainstream media sites: the Stanford Daily, the San Jose Mercury News, and sometimes the San Francisco Chronicle. It was clear that someone out there should be writing about the Cardinal, and I couldn't think of any good reason why that someone shouldn't be me.

Countdown to the Showdown, Part II

The Oregon Offense: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

We might as well get right to it. Oregon's blitzkreig offense is downright scary. They scored 34 points last week against Washington, and that was the first time they'd been held under forty points since they're season-opening loss to LSU.

The Oregon offense is unlike any other offense in the country. They rank tenth in the nation at 489.4 yards per game, and more than half of that (283.8 yards per game) comes on the ground, good for fourth in the country. 

You'd think a run-heavy offense like that would be focused on grinding out long, time-consuming drives, but that's not Oregon's style. Right now they rank dead last out of 120 FBS teams in time of possession with an average of only 24:17 per game. (By way of comparison, Stanford ranks 11th at 33:17.) The Ducks don't believe in holding the ball, they believe in scoring, and they've done that well. They average almost forty-five points per game, good for sixth best in the nation.

Countdown to the Showdown, Part I

In preparation for this week's Game of the Century, this one featuring your Stanford Cardinal and the Oregon Ducks, I've reached out to a variety of experts who will give us their own perspective on the game. There should be something for everyone.

Leading off the series we have Scott Ostler, sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Though he claims not to be a college football expert, neither am I, so that gives us one thing in common. He's been named Sportswriter of the Year thirteen times; we don't have that in common.