Stanford Still Waiting

We're officially in December now, and the 11-1 Stanford Cardinal football team is still unclear on what Bowl game they'll be playing in later this month, or possibly even in early January.

There is a slight chance they end up in the National Championship game, which this year is the Rose Bowl, but are more likely destined for either the Fiesta or Orange Bowl. They had a great year, and we didn't get a chance to talk about them as much as I wanted to here during the season, but I just wanted to point out what a great thing they have going at the quarterback position in sophomore Andrew Luck. I mentioned Luck a few posts back when discussing the 49ers possible draft position, and if they do end up with a top-3 pick, they should definitely use it on the 6'4", 21 year-old (who appears headed for the Draft). During the regular season, Luck ended up with a QB rating of 115.4, with a 70% pass completion percentage going 245 of 349, and threw 28 TD's compared to just 7 interceptions. He played in all 12 of the Cardinal's games and was instrumental in all their victories. Some were concerned with the way he sort of tailed off a bit in November, but he ended huge Saturday with a 305 yard, 4 TD performance in the win over Oregon State. Outside of the Heisman hopeful Luck, the Cardinal were led by Sophomore RB Stepfan Taylor (210 carries, 1,023 yards, 15 rush TD's) and senior WR Doug Baldwin (56/824/9), who was Luck's favorite target by far.

The Cal Bears weren't as lucky this year, as they battled injury in in-effectiveness both to a diassapointing 5-7 years. They had some expectations this year with senior Kevin Reilly leading the charge and Justin Forsett 2.0 in Shane Vereen, but things never materialized, kind of like Reilly's whole career at QB with the Bears. All I can say is, finally he's gone! He was like Cal's version of Alex Smith and the Niners, just never worked out after so much expectation.