Five Questions About Stanford Football Heading into 2024 Season

Dylan Grausz | Aug 23, 2024

Sep 23, 2023; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (13) runs the ball for a touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the third quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports / John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

In one week, the Stanford Cardinal football team will step foot into Stanford Stadium on a gameday to kick off the season when TCU comes to town. As training camp winds down and everything starts to become finalized ahead of opening week, here are five questions that still remain as the regular season approaches.

Can they get off to a hot start?

The Cardinal will face a daunting schedule of conference opponents this season, going up against teams like Clemson, Syracuse, Louisville, NC State and Virginia Tech. However, the first two games are against a TCU team coming off of a 5-7 season and facing a lot of changes going into this year, and an FCS team in Cal Poly. Being able to win both of these games could give the Cardinal a boost as they begin conference play.

A 2-0 start could be beneficial in more ways than one. Not only giving them a confidence boost before taking a trip to the East Coast to play in their first ACC game, but it would also give them the opportunity to establish their strengths early, and play to those as they get into the meat of their season.

Early season football can be tough to assess on the surface, but if the Cardinal can attack those two teams then it will leave them in a much better spot as they prepare for the challenge that lies ahead.

How will travel impact the early conference games?

With a new conference comes new territory, and with a majority of their opponents spread out across the country, travel will be a challenge that head coach Trent Taylor and staff will have to plan accordingly for. While at a level like the NFL, cross country travel is nothing abnormal, for college, especially for a high academic school like Stanford, it will be an area that everyone in the program will have to adjust to.

The first two games will be at home, but after that, Stanford will have to make two consecutive East Coast trips when it travels to Syracuse in week three and South Carolina to face Clemson in week four. With both of those being big conference games right off the bat and the players needing to make sure to attend classes during the week, the challenge of having to go back and forth while still balancing football and classes is something that will be an adjustment early on.

Part of getting used to a new conference is getting used to the travel situation, and while it remains to be seen how Stanford will fare early on, being able to get acclimated to it as early as possible will go a long way in helping the team make some major noise in the ACC.

Will having a year under Taylor make a difference in debut season in ACC?

While Stanford finished 3-9 last year, a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that it had a new head coach for the first time since 2011. For many of the players, and for almost all of the core guys, it was the first year under a new system which in turn, caused some growing pains.

But this year is different. Entering camp this year, a new sense of confidence has filled the air as the program entered year two of the Taylor era, with depth not only seeming to be less of an issue but the knowledge of the system being much improved from last year. 

A lot of players from last year will be returning this season, with last year’s key starters such as Ashton Daniels, Elic Ayomanor, Tristan Sinclair and Gaethan Bernadel highlighting those names and with those guys having had a year to learn and grow under Taylor, they will be ready to come out this season and really show what they are capable of.

Who will be the big playmakers on the offense?

Ayomanor established himself as the clear-cut number one option for the offense, finishing last season with 1,013 yards on 62 catches, including a record-breaking game against Colorado where he broke Stanford’s record for receiving yards in a game when he had 294. Outside of him, it still remains to be seen who else will be able to step up when called upon.

Tiger Bachmeier returns and figures to be the team’s number two receiver after finishing in second behind Ayomanor in receiving last year, and now in his second season of college football, the question is how much better will he be having that first year under his belt.

Running back is a spot that while Sedrick Irvin figures to be the main guy. It will be his first season taking on such a big role after seeing limited time behind E.J. Smith and Casey Filkins last year. A talented back with good size, he has all the tools to be dominant, but only time will tell how high his ceiling really is.

Finding another key playmaker to pair with Ayomanor is something that the Cardinal are intently figuring out, and if camp has been any indication, there will be plenty of candidates who are worthy enough to rise to the occasion.

Is the defense ready to be the backbone of the team?

Outside of the linebacking duo of Sinclair and Bernadel, the defense struggled to find a rhythm, only managing to record 11 total turnovers and only getting to the quarterback 23 times, with the highest sack total being David Bailey’s five.

But after adding some pieces through both the transfer portal and high school recruiting, the defense appears to be bolstered with more star-power being added to pair with the core players. In comes guys like Jay Green from Washington who can play both safety and corner, and his proven track record as a member of Washington’s National Championship Game team adds another key ball hawk to go with one of last year’s top defensive backs in Collin Wright, Zahran Manley and Scotty Edwards.

Green is just one example of the type of talent that the Cardinal sought out this offseason to address areas of concern, building a defense that has a lot more parts to it than it did last year, which could mean a unit that brings consistency and reliability to the Power Four conference.