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Stanford Cardinal 2014 NCAA Football Gambling Odds & Predictions

2014-15 Football Previews – (Pac-12) – Cardinal

The Stanford Cardinal are the defending Pac-12 champions, and when looking at the north division of the conference, there’s really only one team standing in their way of making it back to the Pac-12 championship game in 2014.

Pac-12 Conference 2014-15 College Football Previews – Cardinal (Link)
Head Coach: David Shaw
2013 Record: 8-5
Stanford Gambling Odds to win BCS Championship: 40/1
Stanford Gambling Odds to win Pac-12 North Division: 3/1
Stanford Gambling Odds to win Pac-12 Conference: 6/1

Despite beating the Oregon Ducks last season, many see the team from Eugene as the favorite to win the Pac-12 title. Marcus Mariota has returned for his redshirt junior season, and as long as he’s healthy (as he wasn’t in the Ducks’ loss to the Cardinal last season), the team will be looked at as the team to beat in order to make it to the Pac-12 championship.

Team Strengths:

Despite Oregon being the favorites to come out of the north on top, Stanford has plenty of reason for optimism. Not only does this institution have back-to-back Pac-12 championships to claim as its own, but David Shaw, the team’s replacement to Jim Harbaugh, has won at least 11 games in each of the last three years.

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Let’s start at receiver. The go-to option will be Ty Montgomery, who collected 10 touchdowns last season, while Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector could be equally as dangerous, especially in deep-ball situations.

Speaking of the passing game, you can’t ignore Kevin Hogan’s ability to sling the pigskin. He threw for 20 touchdowns in 10 interceptions this past season, and on top of that, he rushed for an average of 4.2 yards per carry on 84 attempts, resulting in two scores on the ground.

Defensively, this team has been downright dominant as a run-stopping unit. That’s what shut down the Ducks last season, and that will once again be the anchor of a potential top-10 defense in the country.

Team Weaknesses:

There aren’t many weaknesses to point to when it comes to the Cardinal, which is why we’ll highlight more of a question mark than a true weakness.
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As strong as Stanford has been in the power running game the past few years, that may not be the case in 2014. There’s no one player who stands out as a great tailback on the current roster, which will likely mean no one individual will have more than 300 carries, as the top carrier has in this system two years in a row.

Instead, we’ll likely see a running back by committee. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as we’ve seen it work in plenty of other offenses (both at the collegiate level and in the NFL), but it simply leads to more question marks. Will one player step up above the rest? Will the committee mentality stunt the growth of a potentially great running back?

Stanford likely believes it will be okay, especially with the wide receivers looking as strong as they do. Keep an eye on this narrative, as it could be a crucial storyline as it pertains to how fluent the Cardinal defense can be in 2014.

2013-14 Stanford Football Prediction: 9-3

Stanford has endured key departures on both offense and defense this offseason. Youth will add to the question marks, but depth is not going to be a problem.

As previously mentioned, there’s really only one team that is going to challenge Stanford for a Pac-12 North Division title, and that’s the Oregon Ducks. Circle that game on your calendar, but don’t be shocked if Stanford drops an unexpected on at some point during the regular season.

Stanford 2014 Schedule

  • Sat, Aug 30 vs UC Davis
  • Sat, Sept 6 vs USC
  • Sat, Sept 13 vs Army
  • Sat, Sept 27 @ Washington
  • Sat, Oct 4 @ Notre Dame
  • Fri, Oct 10 vs Washington St
  • Sat, Oct 18 @ Arizona State
  • Sat, Oct 25 vs Oregon State
  • Sat, Nov 1 @ Oregon
  • Sat, Nov 15 vs Utah
  • Sat, Nov 22 @ California
  • Fri, Nov 28 @ UCLA

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Articles on CappersPicks.com are written by Q (the Head Honcho) at Cappers Picks or by our resident "in house" handicapper Razor Ray Monohan! Enjoy the free picks folks! "Pad that bankroll one day at a time!"