Stanford Cardinal: First Look

First and foremost, let's all hope that Stanford's starting QB T.C. Ostrander is healthy and well. The senior signal-caller will not play vs. USC after suffering a seizure Sunday afternoon at a downtown Palo Alto restaurant where he was watching his former teammate Trent Edwards quarterback the Buffalo Bills. He was taken to Stanford Hospital, underwent some tests, and was then discharged later that day. Coach Jim Harbaugh said Ostrander, who undergo futher testing next Monday, "will not suit up this weekend as a precautionary matter." This is clearly the right decision, anything dealing with the brain should not be taken lightly. USC Sports Talk would like to wish Ostrander a full and speedy recovery.

The Cardinal have a player dealing with a scary medical situation, but they still have a game to play this Saturday. Stanford comes in to this game at (0-3) in the Pac-10 and (1-3) overall, and Saturday's visit to the Coliseum will be Stanford's first road game of the season. That doesn't bode well, for a team struggling as much as the Cardinal, to play the #1 team in the country in your road opener. They opened up the season with a 45-17 loss to fucla, and then after a bye, got their lone win in a 37-0 rout of San Jose State. Then, they lost back to back games against Oregon (55-31)and Arizona State (41-3). All three of those losses came against teams who were ranked in the Top 25 at the time, and who are all still currently in the polls. The USA Today Coaches Poll has Oregon at #13, Arizona State #19, and fucla at #25. As Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins would say, "It's Division I Football," not the University of San Diego, where Harbaugh began his head coaching career 3 seasons ago.

It's certainly been a rough 1st year for Coach Harbaugh, who may be better known for his mouth than his wins at this point in his career. Harbaugh stirred some off-season controvery when he lashed out at his alma-mater, the University of Michigan, for devaluing academics and encouraging student-athletes not to choose majors that may be too rigorous. There was also the matter involving USC, spefically Coach Pete Carroll. Harbaugh claimed that Carroll has only one more year at USC, according to a source inside Carroll's coaching staff. Maybe Harbaugh should be more worried about watching film on last year's game in Palo Alto that ended in a 42-0 rout by the Trojans.

On the home front, Carroll just needs to make sure his guys do not overlook the Cardinal. The 35 game home winning streak is by no means in jeopardy, USC is a 38 point favorite, but the Trojans continue to deal with injuries. Center Kris O'Dowd and right guard Chilo Rachal will both be out for a while with knee injuries, while CB's Shareece Wright and Cary Harris could both be out this weekend. WR Travon Patterson is out for the season, and maybe even C.J. Gable too, according to Scott Wolf. Still no word on Brian Cushing, who is still out, but Thomas Williams has been outstanding in his absence. Carroll has a lot on his table right now, but Stanford might be what the doctor ordered. It will be interesting to see how the two coaches greet each other on the field.

Look out for Stanford's offensive and defensive previews coming in the next couple of days...

Fight On! Beat the Farm!!