Go Mighty Card

Stanford 46, Colorado 43 (2OT)

To fully understand what happened in Boulder, Colorado, on Friday night, you must have experienced the first half, a half of football that felt all too familiar for Stanford fans.

Things didn't go well for the Cardinal. The offense was struggling. Coach Troy Taylor's quarterback carousel continued, with Justin Lamson getting the start but doing nothing to inspire much hope -- or gain much yardage. All three of Lamson's passes on the opening possession fell incomplete, leading to a punt, and though he did complete a pass on the next drive (those would be his total passing stats for the night), the Cardinal punted again after seven plays. If the offense couldn't get going against Colorado's porous defense, it seemed, it might never get going.

USC 56, Stanford 10

To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to go to the game last Saturday night. I wasn't sure that I wanted to try to find tickets, fight through L.A. traffic, find parking, and then sit in a Coliseum full of delirious Trojan fans for what I expected to be a three-hour beating. 

But when a friend offered two seats on the forty-yard line along with a parking pass and an invitation to their tailgate party, I couldn't say no. After all, this 101st matchup between these two teams just might end up being the last. Regardless of the outlook, I had to be there. (It should be noted that not everyone shared my nostalgia; I invited three devoted Stanford fans and then two dedicated college football fans to accompany me, but all declined. My son agreed to go as my last resort.)

Stanford 37, Hawai'i 24

I'll have to admit that after spending eight months desperately looking forward to the 2023 version of Stanford Football, I felt surprisingly disconnected as I sat down to watch the Cardinal take on Hawai'i in their season opener last Friday night.