The Blue Board

I think they will be more of a hard nose running type team this year untill they can find a new QB with some games under his belt. But they will still be a good team and will make a bowl games.

This discussion has made fools of many.....rather, it has revealed many fools. When a superstar departs the program can be predicted based on the reproduce-ability of their scheme. For instance, Urban Meyer and Gus Malzhan's schemes were guided by the most perfect player-scheme fits we may ever see. It was not reproducible.

Bama ensures success because their scheme is so simple. It's based on winning in the trenches which they can due to recruiting ability and base, a power run game, and simple route trees that are generally open due to the run game.

Same with Stanford. It's one of the 5 most reproducible schemes in America I'd say. They need a good decision maker with a strong arm and that's it. They will pound the rock like few others and hit open people in play action. Plus their recent success has really ramped up defensive recruiting.

They have done a great job in recruiting and developing their players.

Development is the key (duh..), and getting kids to fit within their scheme. I think the Cardinals are legitimate and will remain a Top 25 caliber program without Luck

One of the reasons their power running game works so well is that Oregon has forced most Pac teams to adapt to a smaller quicker defense. Luck was so good that he forced safeties and linebackers to respect his arm and play soft on the run. He also could break from the pocket and run for yardage. If you did play an 8 man front he could kill you with his short passing game. Stanford's TEs were exceptional.

I think the loss of Harbaugh will factor in more than the loss of Luck. His mentality was still there last season. It will fade as the players he coached graduate.

Harbaugh is an obvious monster in the profession right now but the guy they got came with sky high recommendations. That OL class they just signed warrants a triple take. You just keep staring at it expecting it to change lol

I think they just play a winning brand of football. I think this is somewhat of a down year, 8 or 9 wins, but they are still going to be very dangerous in the conference for even the big boys.

They have taken advantage of a few things in the state of California as well with the state's economy dragging UCLA and Cal down a bit and making it difficult to compete with the money that USC and Stanford have available being private schools.

This past recruiting class was very impressive in the trenches and that should keep them where they want to be. Even with Luck gone, they are going to have a steady stream of good QB talent for the foreseable future, IMO. They just need to be able to get a couple of those big time playmakes that tend to go to Oregon and USC to come there and they will be just as complete.

Have to agree here. They have done a solid job bringing in donor dollars and seat licensing is around the corner. Cal's problem is, well, Jeff Teford and he's got an extension through 2015.

Stanford will continue to be a contender. They have done a very good job recruiting against Kiffin and USC. Small side note, it is the Stanford Cardinal, singular. Yes, the color Cardinal officially represents their athletic teams.

I could see oregon decline before Stanford..they just play tough, smart, disciplined football.

Also, the type of player Stanford attracts would never consider oregon, lol. USC is a push...if Cal had a stronger coach, they would definitely be in the mix.

Stanford will be good this year with their whole front 7 returning on D and hopefully Skov. If Skov didn't blow out his knee last year they might've made the title game.

Losing him really hurt them against Oregon.

Cal, UCLA and Washington join Stanford and USC as top fundraising universities, if UCLA and Cals alums had the chance to funnel some of that money into sports - football specifically, they would do better than the a majority of the universities across the country.

Bet that TV money goes into academics in those public schools....

Could swear I read somewhere that Skov may not be ready to play this year.

As long as they run the ball effectively and play good defense they will be a threat for the NC, for a good 7-10 years. Shaw is surprisingly doing a very good job there. That last recruiting class was insane.