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2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Printable Version

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2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Papa John - 05-06-2026

ESPN recently released a ranking of offseasons for all 68 Power 4 (plus Notre Dame) teams, by conference. Here are the ACC rankings:
1. Miami (no. 2 overall)
2. SMU
3. Cal
4. Louisville
5. Va Tech
6. Virginia
7. Pitt
8. Georgia Tech
9. Florida State
10. NC State
11. Clemson
12. Duke
13. Wake Forest
14. Syracuse
15. North Carolina
16. Boston College
17. Stanford

For overall rankings, ESPN only provided a top 10. Miami was the only ACC team in that group. Stanford nonconference opponent Notre Dame is no. 9 overall.

Note that this is not exactly a prediction of how teams will finish, but more a reflection of how the offseason has gone to this point. The criteria were:
Amongst the comments about Stanford:

Quote:What went wrong: Luck worked quickly to land Pritchard in November, but Stanford was slow with its coordinator moves, particularly Richard, who wasn't hired until late February. The Cardinal underwent a nearly complete overhaul on offense, led by the graduations of leading pass catchers Williams and Roush and the portal departures of running back Cole Tabb (Cincinnati) and offensive guard Emeka Ugorji, who started eight games as a true freshman last fall before transferring to Florida.

Quote:What went right: Michigan transfer Davis Warren, a nine-game starter for the Wolverines in 2024, brings needed experience to the Cardinal quarterbacks room. He'll benefit from the return of leading rusher Micah Ford and the arrival of Brown, a Yale transfer who hauled in 71 passes for 1,085 yards and 11 touchdowns last fall. Stanford also dipped into the Ivy League ranks to replace Ugorji with Kilstrom, a Harvard transfer. All-ACC linebacker Matt Rose marked a critical piece of retention for Pritchard & Co.


RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - SkiBum80 - 05-06-2026

Nothing like starting at the bottom. There's only one possible direction to move.
Although there is that stubborn inertia to overcome to gain any movement at all.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Card10Fan - 05-06-2026

Cal #3. Puke.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - old spanish trail - 05-06-2026

(05-06-2026, 12:50 PM)Card10Fan Wrote:  Cal #3. Puke.

Their new coach is a super recruiter.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Spiny_Norman - 05-06-2026

(05-06-2026, 02:07 PM)old spanish trail Wrote:  
(05-06-2026, 12:50 PM)Card10Fan Wrote:  Cal #3. Puke.

Their new coach is a super recruiter.

Cal already has 10 commitments for the class of 2027, including (by my count) at least 5 players who were also offered by Stanford. Stanford only has 3 commitments so far which is 17th out of the 18 ACC schools.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Papa John - 06-03-2026

ESPN posted a preview of the ACC + Notre Dame football.

Not too much said about Stanford, and what *is* said is not flattering. For example...

Quote:In the post-COVID 2020s, this has comfortably been the worst power conference program in existence.

Change the word "comfortably" to "tragically" and I would agree.

It took the awesome Jim Harbaugh three years to produce a winning record at Stanford, so I'm willing to give Tavita Pritchard at least that long.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Goose - 06-03-2026

(06-03-2026, 04:02 PM)Papa John Wrote:  It took the awesome Jim Harbaugh three years to produce a winning record at Stanford, so I'm willing to give Tavita Pritchard at least that long.
I think Tavita deserves more than that. JH had some good players already at Stanford, including a guy named Toby Gerhart. JH of course got more good recruits later in his tenure, but he had a pretty good start. He even had a proven QB,  T.C. Ostrander in his first year. That unfortunately didn't persist, but it did let Tavita QB the "Greatest Upset Ever". Tavita has, as far as we know, nothing like Gerhart in his inherited roster.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Farm93 - 06-03-2026

(06-03-2026, 04:55 PM)Goose Wrote:  
(06-03-2026, 04:02 PM)Papa John Wrote:  It took the awesome Jim Harbaugh three years to produce a winning record at Stanford, so I'm willing to give Tavita Pritchard at least that long.
I think Tavita deserves more than that. JH had some good players already at Stanford, including a guy named Toby Gerhart. JH of course got more good recruits later in his tenure, but he had a pretty good start. He even had a proven QB,  T.C. Ostrander in his first year. That unfortunately didn't persist, but it did let Tavita QB the "Greatest Upset Ever". Tavita has, as far as we know, nothing like Gerhart in his inherited roster.

Elite rosters these days cost $40+ million annually and an admissions office that more or less lets everyone in the second they agree to their compensation numbers.
Then add in another $10 million for the head coach another ~$10 million for the quality coaches.
   
Unless Tavita has a series of blank checks from a local billionaire, Stanford roster comparisons to those of ancient times will not match up.

If Tavita can get Stanford into the 6 to 8 win range consistently over the next several years he will be doing a very good job.

Stanford's real revenue streams (ticket sales, football specific donations, tv revenue, real NIL deals) are never going to compete with the best in the FBS, so Tavita's success likely will be tightly correlated with his ability to convince Stanford's wealthiest alums to fill the rather sizable revenue gap with generous donations each and every year.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - 82lsju - 06-03-2026

(06-03-2026, 05:53 PM)Farm93 Wrote:  
(06-03-2026, 04:55 PM)Goose Wrote:  
(06-03-2026, 04:02 PM)Papa John Wrote:  It took the awesome Jim Harbaugh three years to produce a winning record at Stanford, so I'm willing to give Tavita Pritchard at least that long.
I think Tavita deserves more than that. JH had some good players already at Stanford, including a guy named Toby Gerhart. JH of course got more good recruits later in his tenure, but he had a pretty good start. He even had a proven QB,  T.C. Ostrander in his first year. That unfortunately didn't persist, but it did let Tavita QB the "Greatest Upset Ever". Tavita has, as far as we know, nothing like Gerhart in his inherited roster.

Elite rosters these days cost $40+ million annually and an admissions office that more or less lets everyone in the second they agree to their compensation numbers.
Then add in another $10 million for the head coach another ~$10 million for the quality coaches.
   
Unless Tavita has a series of blank checks from a local billionaire, Stanford roster comparisons to those of ancient times will not match up.

If Tavita can get Stanford into the 6 to 8 win range consistently over the next several years he will be doing a very good job.

Stanford's real revenue streams (ticket sales, football specific donations, tv revenue, real NIL deals) are never going to compete with the best in the FBS, so Tavita's success likely will be tightly correlated with his ability to convince Stanford's wealthiest alums to fill the rather sizable revenue gap with generous donations each and every year.

isn't the GM in charge of fundraising?

and when do we even start getting a full share of ACC TV money, as I recall it was after seven years in the ACC by which time I don't expect the ACC as it is today to exist...

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Farm93 - 06-04-2026

ACC TV revenue is not going to be enough to address the gap.

The SEC and BigTen teams get quite a bit more in tv revenue than ACC squads, and the best in those conferences seem to have alums willing to donate big money.    And then they also have a competitive advantage for money and recruits that Stanford can't touch....large loyal fanbases.

Once upon a time schools were limited to offering a full ride to their school.    Logically, an academic experience that was uniquely valuable provided a rather important competitive advantage.   Those were the ancient days are long, long gone.   Now schools can offer multi-million dollar contracts that have dramatically altered the 4 year choice vs 40 year decision equation.   2008 feels closer to when dinosaurs roomed the planet than the current era.

RE: 2026 Stanford Football Offseason - Papa John - 06-04-2026

Thanks, Farm93. I didn't mean to imply that I was expecting Coach Pritchard to reach Coach Harbaugh's level of accomplishments! I agree that consistently winning 6-8 games would be a great success in today's environment. The Sun Bowl sure sounds good right now...