We continue our ambitious offseason series, counting down the top
40 moments of the Harbaugh/Shaw era.
No matter how you slice it, Stanford football
has arrived. Though we’ve since assumed all the trappings of a
football powerhouse – the three straight runner-up finishes in
Heisman voting, the two straight BCS bowl berths and top-10
finishes, the top-ten 2012 recruiting class, or the eminent
graduation of top pro prospect of the last decade – it wasn’t
that long ago that Stanford football was an afterthought.
On December 19, 2006, new athletic director Bob Bowlsby hired Jim
Harbaugh, a former star quarterback, but
an unproven coach who had never worked at the FBS level. The
rest, as they say, was history.
We are pleased present Stanford football’s 40 most memorable
moments, trends, games and personalities from the magical
five-plus years that followed that December 2006 announcement.
11. ESPN College Gameday Comes to Stanford
The Oval provides an iconic backdrop
The 2011 Stanford-Oregon game was the biggest Saturday in program
history. There was no way I was going to miss it. I flew back to the
Bay Area all the way from graduate school in Boston. I even dragged
along two friends from the East Coast to give them a taste of the
Bay Area and Pac-12 football. This is one that I had circled on my
calendar for well over a year.
Back in 2010, when ESPN's College Gameday first set up shop at a
road Stanford game, it was a cool occurrence. But it wasn't
mind-blowing, simply because it wasn't on the Farm. Autzen Stadium?
They're used to that kind of hype. College Gameday at the Coliseum a
year later? Nothing new for USC, either.
On November 12, though, Stanford hosted the extravaganza. The
location (The Oval) was iconic. The Spanish-style arches of the
hallowed campus awoke before sunrise to play host to the week's
epicenter of college football. The occasion was unprecedented. The
4:30 a.m. wake-up the morning after a cross-country flight and
Friday night San Francisco bar hopping was mandatory. Between the
Gameday wake-up call, a morning at the Old Pro, afternoon
tailgating, and the electric evening atmosphere at Stanford Stadium,
the Farm had finally hosted an epic full day of college football.
Stanford creativity mixed well with customary College Gameday fan
signs. One showed a pixelated Oregon Trail graphic reading "You have
died of Andrew Luck." I guess that it's better way to die that way
than of dysentery. Mixed in between signs written in binary code and
mathematical symbols that even I (a Stanford graduate) couldn't
understand, there was also this gem: "Cliff Harris Can't Smoke This
Tree."
When it was all said and done, Lee Corso donned the
Stanford tree costume, picking the Cardinal to win. That
didn't happen, of course, but nonetheless, College Gameday's first visit to the Farm was a
smashing success.
Previous
50-41. More
memorable moments - Loukas, Luck, and a phantom clipping
call
40. Fake out
- Luck stuns UW with a naked bootleg in 2010
39. Polls and
bowls - Stanford climbs into college football’s beauty
contests
38. Steamrolled
- Card run for 446 yards in 2011 beatdown of UW
37. Opening
act - 2009 win over Ducks launches a November to remember
36. Going
bowling - Loss to Sooners doesn't ruin first bowl game since
2001
35. "Shut up
and play football" - Cal jaws pregame, falls behind 45-0 in
2010
34. Look ma,
no legs - Luck throws a 52- yard dart while in free fall
33. Sit down
- Burfict's head leads to go-ahead TD, Wilkerson's ices W at ASU
32. Injury bug
- Despite multiple injuries, 2011 Card manage to rally
31. Whale
watching - Stanford starts recruiting at an elite level
30. Suck for
Luck - The media machine anoints the next football savior
29. Outta my
way - Luck bounces off Cattouse for a 50-yard run
28. 0 for 3
- Card post three shutouts in 2010 campaign
27. Laying the
wood - Luck lays out Wright
26. Concussed
- Owusu is knocked out of four games
25. Jumping
ahead - A 21-3 lead vanishes in Autzen in 2010
24. So close,
yet so far - Luck’s worst game costs Card 2009 Big Game
23. Run, Toby,
run - Gerhart takes over against the Irish
22. Xs and
Os… and Ys and Zs - Stanford toys with defensive
coordinators
21. “The
perfect football player” - Marecic makes purists weep
20. Rumor Mill
- Report: Harbaugh to take every NFL job
19. "What's
Your Deal?" - Stanford hands USC worst home beatdown ever
18. Continuity
Unknown to Mankind - Shaw named Harbaugh's successor
17. Whitaker
Beats USC - Cardinal hand the Trojans another soul-crusher
16. We've Got
the Axe - Stanford wins first Big Game in six years
15. Return of
the Red Zone - Cardinal students populate the stadium in
force
14. Blown Away
- Stanford takes VT to the woodshed in Orange Bowl
13. Streaking
- Stanford wins 10 straight games by 25+ points
12. Dance With Girl Who Brung Ya
- Stanford settles for field goal attempt, blows Fiesta Bowl
David Lombardi, a TV and radio
(95.7 The Game SF) personality in the Bay Area, is a Stanford and Pac-12
Conference enthusiast. He has broadcast the Cardinal on KZSU for
several years. You can check out several of his Stanford calls and
other writing at www.davidlombardisports.com.
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