With San Jose State backing out of its commitment to battle the Stanford Cardinal due to economics, scheduling has become a subject of conversation. Just over a week ago or so, ESPN’s Ted Miller did an intriguing article about the best fantasy non-conference games for Pac-10 teams.
I can’t say that Mr. Miller’s selection of Stanford vs Harvard would do much for me. I already sat through a Stanford thrashing of Cornell 56-6 back in 1991. But it did get me to think, what would be the best fantasy matchups for Stanford to schedule in the upcoming years? Here is my top 10 list:
1. Michigan: A rematch of the 1972 Rose Bowl that Stanford won 13-12. Great marketing tie-in to the past, not to mention a game in the Big House would be fun.
2. Oklahoma: Anyone else remember John Elway and the Cardinal going into Norman, Oklahoma and whipping up on the Sooners 31-14? How much fun would it be to do the same to a Bob Stoops led team?
3. Tulane: Okay, for football reasons it might not be real attractive, but a road trip to New Orleans? Count me in!
4. Hawaii: See Tulane except rather than a weekend in the Big Easy, how about a week on the beach, with some football mixed in. Forget the home and home on this series, Stanford can travel.
5. LSU: Washington gets to play them this year. Putting a competitive Stanford football team against one of the best of the SEC would be fun to watch.
6. TEXAS: Played a home and home against them nearly a decade ago. Lost to Texas 69-17 in 1999, but then rallied for a trip to the Rose Bowl. In 2000, Chris Lewis hit DeRonnie Pitts for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 1:12 left to win 27-24. Longhorn games always bring excitement.
7. MIAMI OR FLORIDA ST: Got to pick someone in the ACC and it seems that one of the most storied franchises in the conference would make for a nice matchup.
8. UNLV: Again, a weekend trip to Las Vegas, need I say more?
9. TEXAS TECH: I like Mike Leach. I like their style of play. I think it could make for some great games.
10. ALABAMA: Back to the SEC. Nick Saben has the program rolling again. A big time matchup against a storied program like that is never a bad thing.
So there is my top 10. Who did I miss?
Top ten fantasy Stanford football games
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Comments
These are all interesting games - I'd toss in Boise State as an entertaining match-up from a fan perspective, but it is high-risk from a Stanford football program perspective (see how Oklahoma, and various Pac-10 teams have fared vs. Boise recently.)
I definitely considered Boise. They do play a fun brand of football. In fact, I look forward to that opener this year of Oregon vs BSU.
You and your pal Harbaugh still smarting over being dissed by those poor buggers down in San Jose, huh? How bout Stanford vs. the Fighting Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz, or the Fighting Fairy Shrimp of UC Merced, or the intramural squad from some other sub-prime UC school?
One last thought on this – if the SJSU schedule were a little less “frequent,” we’d get to see a more variety year in and year out on the Stanford schedule. I think it is great that the Pac-10 plays a full conference schedule (thereby having a real champion each season), but when you do this, plus add the standing series with Notre Dame and SJSU, there is only one open slot each year to play different teams (Wake this year, Navy, TCU, BC & BYU prior). Dropping SJSU every other year would add little more variety to the schedule and playing more games out of the Pacific Time zone (in key national recruiting regions) would be a wise strategic step for the program.
I agree. Mixing up the teams Stanford play would be much more interesting. The Notre Dame is a must keep for many reason. But more interesting teams other than San Jose will help in recruiting but also in interest. Sac State is a nice fill in for last minute emergencies but not the permanent type game that will help Stanford long term.
Stanford Michigan match up would be interesting. For one they played in the first Rose Bowl where Stanford got drubbed by 49 points. 2 They beat a Bo Schembechler team in a wild game in 1972. Thirdly I was at the 1974 game in Ann Arbor. I wore my Stanford letterman's jacket Rose Bowl rings, Rose bowl watch, sat on the the Michigan side with my U of M buddies and watched Stanford get clobbered. Rumor has it that Bo played film of the 72 game for 24 hours straight to fire up the team.
a forth game would the Farm a chance to even the score.
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