Stanford couldn’t afford to take it easy on its bye week. Not with the Cardinal riding a four-game losing streak and a nationally-televised primetime game coming up Friday against Colorado, which is coming off a 24-21 win over Arizona State on Saturday.
“This was the opportunity to get better, not to just slack off or party,” sophomore defensive lineman Jaxson Moi said this week. “We have a big game coming up this weekend. I think we have an advantage with our rest, and them on the short week. So just really locking in and realizing that we have a great opportunity to win some football games.”
Colorado (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) has undergone a stunning turnaround under first-year coach Deion Sanders, who inherited a team that went 1-11 last season. Progress has been slower for Stanford (1-4, 0-3), which went 3-9 last season and saw most of its top players transfer out.
The open week was a chance for the players to heal and the coaching staff to make recruiting trips over the weekend, but practices stayed at the same level of intensity as Stanford tried to turn their season around.
“We didn’t really take any days off,” senior running back Casey Filkins said. “Practice was physical. We were getting after each other.”
Cardinal coach Troy Taylor won his debut at Hawaii, but Stanford has since lost to Sacramento State and Arizona at home by a combined eight points, while getting blown out by eighth-ranked Oregon and No. 10 USC.
“Guys aren’t getting down on ourselves,” Filkins said. “We know we’re super close to being where we want to be. And I think we’re all encouraged by that fact.
“Obviously, we’ve lost some close games and that’s really hard, but we have to leave those in the past and I think we have a great opportunity starting with this week to start this back half of the season off on the right foot.”
Colorado has allowed 5.2 sacks per game, which ranks 129th out of 130 FBS teams. But can Stanford take advantage?
After recording six sacks against Hawaii, the Cardinal had just two during its four-game losing streak. It posted a combined one quarterback hurry and no sacks against USC, Oregon, and Sacramento State, which all have mobile QBs similar to Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
“Watching the film, there’s a lot of opportunities for us to get home (against Colorado),” Moi said. “I think it’s been an emphasis for us this week, but also just realizing that just by stepping on the field, those sacks aren’t going to be given to you. So really just dialing in on your technique throughout the week and just bringing it on game day.”
Moi said the defensive line needs to be more decisive and “violent” in order to generate more pressure.
“I’m trying to dance too much at the line,” Moi said. “(I need to go) just straight upfield and be physical.”
Linebacker Tristan Sinclair and cornerback Zahran Manley are the only Cardinal to play a game at Folsom Field, which is 5,345 feet above sea level (about 65 feet higher than where the Denver Broncos play). Stanford lost 19-16 at Colorado in 2019 on a field goal as time expired.
“This is our first time going out there, so I think the biggest thing for us is just trusting our training,” Filkins said. “We put in months worth of conditioning work and strength work to get ready for games like this.”
Taylor coached at Colorado State in 2022 and at Northern Colorado in 2021 when he was at Sacramento State, and also spent one year as a graduate assistant at Colorado. While he said the altitude didn’t appear to affect his Sacramento State teams, which won 41-10 at Colorado State and 27-24 at Northern Colorado, he would be cognizant on Friday of utilizing his depth and checking to see if anyone looks tired.
“Our guys are in great shape,” Taylor said. “We’re going to try to get them breaks as much as possible. And we’ll adjust throughout the game.”