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A Half Full Look at the 2024 Stanford Football Schedule

Because I'm doing my best to look at the bright side of college football's new reality, I'll present this schedule overview without sadness, sarcasm, or cynicism. Just the facts as they're laid out before us.

The Atlantic Coast Conference -- that's Stanford's new football conference now, for those who aren't aware -- announced its schedule rotation through the year 2030. (That's rather optimistic considering Clemson and Florida State are already house shopping in the SEC, but no cynicism, remember?)

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.)

USC 41, Stanford 28

Two weeks ago we were invited to a family function that coincided with the kickoff of Saturday evening's game between Stanford and USC. It was something that couldn't be missed, so I set the DVR, put my phone on airplane mode, and hoped for the best. We were going to a UCLA house, so I figured there was a decent chance the game wouldn't be on, so there was a decent chance I wouldn't make a fool of myself by huddling in front of a screen while everyone else made eye contact and spoke to each other like normal human beings. I could hope.

Blogging with the Enemy: USC Trojans

In the twelve years that I've been writing about Stanford football in this space, no series has been as consistently consequential as the yearly matchups with the USC Trojans. In fact, if we push back a few years and start with 2007, you can easily make the argument that four of the most important games in Stanford history have been victories over the Trojans. First there was the Greatest Upset Ever in 2007, then there was the "What's Your Deal?" game in 2009 that announced to the world that Stanford football was more than just a flash in the pan, next we had the epic triple overtime win in 2011, and finally the 2015 Pac-12 Championship game.

The Trojans have been a measuring stick for the Cardinal throughout the Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw eras, and just as the Stanford wins have been triumphant, the losses have been catastrophic. At no point in the last fifteen years has either fanbase ever left the stadium feeling good about a moral victory. One side's narrow win is the other's heartbreaking defeat; one's joyous romp is the other's embarrassment. This isn't an official rivalry so no trophy is exchanged, but the loser always leaves blood on the field.

For proof we only need turn the calendar back to last year at this time when a fragile Stanford team came into the Los Angeles Coliseum and stunned the Trojans -- and the rest of the college football world -- with a decisive 42-28 victory. And the Trojans bled. Head coach Clay Helton was fired just a few days later.

Stanford 42, USC 28

LOS ANGELES (GMC) -- The pandemic has been hard. I don't want to trivialize the deep emotional losses suffered by millions around the world who mourn the deaths of loved ones, nor the immeasurable economic impact that will likely be felt for years to come, but there is a spectrum of loss that even the most fortunate among us have felt.

High school seniors missed their proms, young couples postponed weddings, new grandparents waited months to hold their grandchildren. All of us have experienced losses like that, inconveniences that mean the world in the correct context, small things we feel guilty about missing in comparison to all the big things.

One of the things on my spectrum of loss has been Stanford football. Sure, the games were on television last year, but as I watched Stanford's improbable comeback win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl last December just 24 miles from my house, all I could think about was this: I should've been there.

Even so, after enduring the debacle against Kansas State the Saturday before, I was hesitant about this week's game. Did I really want to drive out to the Coliseum for a 7:30 game? Did I want to sit in a sea of delirious Trojan fans for four hours and get home after midnight? And most importantly -- could I stand to watch the Cardinal get crushed by USC?

But as game day got closer, I began to feel the pull. David Shaw named Tanner McKee as the starting quarterback, and my optimism spiked. The oddsmakers might have installed the Trojans as 17-point favorites, but that only meant one thing to me -- I knew that if I stayed home and ended up watching a Stanford upset from the ignominy of my couch, I would be furious with myself. So I bought two tickets, dug my Stanford shoes out from under the bed (I have Stanford shoes!), and my son and I headed out.

Blogging with the Enemy: USC Trojans

Today's game between Stanford and USC promises to be unlike any in the recent history of this rivalry. A week ago it looked to be a battle of two of the top quarterbacks in the conference, but with injuries to Stanford's K.J. Costello and USC's J.T. Daniels, the game will be a back-up battle between Davis Mills and Kedon Slovis. Mills was once the highest-rated quarterback recruit in America, and Slovis has earned rave reviews from his offensive coordinator, but question marks still abound. 

Will the Stanford offense be even more conservative as Mills makes his first career start? Will USC's new air raid offense come to fruition with a true freshman at the controls? If those are the issues that determine the outcome, Stanford has a huge advantage. Reports from summer training camp indicated that the oft-injured Mills was in the best shape and health of his Stanford career, and while he didn't throw the ball in the second half as often as Costello had in the first half, it's notable that the offense looked fairly similar. I expect that Mills will play well.

As for Slovis, things will be more difficult. Stanford defenses under coordinator Lance Anderson have typically feasted on inexperienced quarterbacks, and after the unit's strong showing last week against Northwestern, I expect to see more of the same against the Trojans. 

Look for one touchdown from Mills, another from the Stanford defense, and lots of confusion from Kedon Slovis. I see a Stanford victory, 17-9.

For some thoughts from the USC point of view, I reached out to Saman Djabbari from the USC podcast, Traveler Hates Thursdays. (I appeared on their podcast this week; give it a listen if you're so inclined.)

Stanford 17, USC 3

Aside from the obvious -- turning the program around ten years ago -- the most significant and lasting impact Jim Harbaugh has had on Stanford football can still be felt whenever the Cardinal faces the USC Trojans. The matchup hardly mattered before Harbaugh arrived, but it didn't take long for that to change. USC was a national power a decade ago, but instead of bowing down to Pete Carroll and the Trojans, Harbaugh recognized the benefits of targeting the top team in the conference.

Soon after he was hired and long before he coached his first game, Harbaugh went against coaching protocol and said that he knew Carroll was on his way back the NFL, a rather transparent attempt to impact USC's recruiting. At Pac-10 Media Day a few months later, Harbaugh continued poking the bear by saying, "There is no question in my mind that USC is the best team in the country and may be the best team in the history of college football." That hyperbole added another layer to what happened that fall, when Stanford arrived at the Coliseum as 41-point underdogs to the top-ranked Trojans and emerged with a 24-23 win that was then the greatest upset in NCAA history.

All of that served as prologue to the 2009 game and what would be the peak of the animosity between the two head coaches when Harbaugh famously decided to go for a two-point conversion with the Cardinal up 48-21. Although he told reporters after the game that he just wanted to keep some momentum going, we learned the truth a few years later when it was revealed he had told people on the sideline that "I wanna put 50 on these motherfuckers."

Blogging with the Enemy: USC Trojans

And here we are. In many ways, it seems like the college football season doesn't begin until Stanford plays USC, and so it is this season. Sure, last week's game was important, and it's always nice to get that first win and the confidence that comes with it, but San Diego State simply is not USC

I've made the point here before -- several times, in fact -- that the USC game, coming early in the season as it almost always does, can often serve as a barometer for where the Cardinal is and what the rest of the fall might hold. To add one analogy on top of another (pro tip: do NOT do this; people don't like it) it's like when you used to have a midterm in the third week of the quarter. You never liked it, but it told you what you needed to know. There were no secrets after that.

After tonight, there will surely be no secrets. Here are the questions currently on the table.

1. Is Bryce Love still good?
2. Can K.J. Costello perform like last week on a consistent basis?
3. Can the defense keep its head above water against a high-powered offense?

Let's take them one at a time. The first question is just ridiculous, so I'm going to ignore that one. Let's move on to Costello. At this point, I think Costello is only going to get better. Last week was a breakout performance against some overmatched defensive backs, but I still think we're going to see a lot of that over the next two seasons. The USC corners promise to be more physical, which is really the only way a team can hope to defend J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, but the overall depth of the receiving corps, along with tight ends Kaden Smith and Colby Parkinson, is something that defenses will continue to struggle to handle. Also, even though center Jessie Burkett isn't expected to play, we should still see some improvements on the offensive line. In general, I'm not concerned at all about the Stanford offense. It's good.

Blogging with the Enemy: USC Trojans

Here we are again, back in the Pac-12 Championship Game and back against a familiar opponent, the USC Trojans. The Cardinal is undefeated in three appearances in this title game, surviving a last-second field goal to squeak past UCLA in 2012, crushing Arizona State in 2013, and riding Christian McCaffrey to big win over USC in 2015.

 

All of those outcomes were expected, but Friday night's game against USC should be a tightly contested game with a likely Fiesta Bowl berth on the line. As unlikely as Stanford's appearance here might be -- this is a team that lost to San Diego State, should've lost to Oregon State, and stumbled in the snow at Washington State -- I don't think there's any doubt that as the conference season came to a close, the Cardinal and the Trojans were the two best teams in the Pac-12.

USC 42, Stanford 24

LOS ANGELES (GMC) -- You've seen this game before, so often that the formula has become expected. Two teams appear to be evenly matched as they trade scores in the early going, but even before the half is over, one team begins to assert itself. In the second half, that team begins to pull away by running the ball relentlessly, passing for key first downs when necessary, dominating time of possession, making adjustments on defense, and eventually turning a close game into a decisive victory.

That's the formula Stanford has used for years, but on Saturday night at the Coliseum it was the USC Trojans who followed that script and came away with a convincing 42-24 win over the Cardinal.