Wednesday Jul 30

Call for 'mighty men' at the Farm

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - I had put the ultimate question to Stanford head football coach Jim Harbaugh at Monday's Bay Area College Football Luncheon at the Hotel Nikko. The Cardinal, 4-8 in Harbaugh's first year, was picked to finish ninth in the Pac-10 football media poll. I didn't get to vote for the first time in five years, but we'll leave that bit of business until later in the column.

Right now, we have more important business at hand. After all, Stanford has Pac-10 foe Oregon State at home on Aug. 28, less than a month away. That's the earliest start to a season for a Stanford team since it lost 10-7 to Texas A&M in the Pigskin Classic on Aug. 26, 1992.

"If you had to pick a win-loss for your team this year, would you have any predictions?" I asked Harbaugh, who is rarely without a worthy comeback.

"Yeah, I'll give you a prediction," Harbaugh said. "The team that wins this conference is going to be a strong team of mighty men. Because that's what it takes to win in the Pac-10. The Pac-10 conference is the highest level of amateur football in the world. It's going to be won by football teams that are strong. Strong in September, strong in October, strong in November. There are mighty men out there."

That's our Harbaugh, never afraid to speak his mind, which is why writers enjoy listening to him spout off. Thirty-eight writers went out on a limb and voted for defending national champion USC to win the conference. One brave scribe picked Cal, even though the Bears haven't been to the Rose Bowl since '59. The Bears were picked fourth in the media poll.

Judging off what happened a year ago, it is impossible to figure out what the Cardinal will do this year. Two of its wins were against heavily favored USC and favored Cal in The Big Game.

"Those wins helped set the foundation," Harbaugh said. "But, that's water under the bridge. This is a new team with new leaders. We're halfway there. We want to get to a bowl game this year. We're setting our sights a little higher. I see something special in this team. I'm feeling something special."

This is the third season that football is being played in Stanford's beautiful stadium. Thus far, the most magical moment at home came last Dec. 1 when Stanford defeated Cal 20-13. Sixteen starters return off last year's Stanford team. They need to keep that special feeling, to steal a couple of words from Harbaugh. And Harbaugh knows that he needs to fill that stadium with moments such as last year's Big Game.

"I love the stadium," Harbaugh said. "We really have everything we need. When you look at what the administration at Stanford gives this football team. That stadium is a phenomenal stadium. They didn't build that stadium for us to go out and be mediocre. There are some expectations that come with that stadium. That's something we have to live up to. It's a challenge for us. John Arrillaga didn't build that stadium for us to be an average team."

Stanford is 20-48 the past six seasons, an average of eight losses per year. That has to be part of the reason the Cardinal was picked to finish ninth in the Pac-10 this year.

"We're on the outside looking in," Harbaugh said. "We have to get over that wall. That wall is there. We're on the outside and we got to get up over it. It will take us playing as a team and lifting each other over that wall."

Harbaugh brought three players - running back Anthony Kimble, mighty man offensive lineman Alex Fletcher and wide receiver Richard Sherman - to Monday's press luncheon. Stanford was picked to finish last in the Pac-10 a year ago, ninth in 2006. There just isn't any respect for this Stanford team. Reminder, I didn't get to vote this year.

"It is what it is," said Kimble about the No. 9 handle for his club. "It definitely motivates us that people think so lowly of us. We have to do something different. We haven't been winning games, so what do you expect. We're returning a lot of guys in key positions. Our talent level is up there with anyone in the Pac-10."

"We know what we know in our locker room," Fletcher said. "We know what we know in our weight room. We have a big chip on our shoulder. We know we have a good team. You can't underestimate the victory against Cal. Guys are working harder than ever. The Cal game was a program-changing win, like the USC game was."

Sherman had 73 catches the past two seasons and returns as one of the best receivers in the conference.

"It's not going to affect anything," said Sherman about the ninth-place prediction. "It really means nothing. They picked 'SC by 41 points over us last year. You want to just play each game hard, one game at a time."

Stanford will find out a lot about itself at the end of August. Will the Beaver cut down the Tree? Or will the Tree swat the Beaver with a branch, sending him back to Corvallis?

Stanford has five home games this season, the final home game against USC on Nov. 15. The game with the Trojans is sandwiched between road games at Oregon and Cal, a treacherous trio of games for the Cardinal if there ever was one. Stanford needs to be at least 6-3 by then to have any chance of making a bowl game for the first time since 2001.

It's a little late, but I'm ready to cast my vote and go out on a limb. I predict Stanford will finish in the middle of the pack. That should be good enough for Stanford football to lose some of that stigma of not being mighty men.



E-mail John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.