The Cardinal (Yes the color, not the bird... also their mascot is a tree. It doesn’t make sense but whatever they’re all smarter than me) have been a perennial Pac-12 contender in the Harbaugh and Shaw era, so last season felt like a down year for the boys from Palo Alto. A down year for them, of course, still ends up with a double digit win total and a bowl game victory in El Paso. Aside from back to back blowout loses against the Washington schools it was a typical Stanford year with a bunch of wins that look closer on the scoreboard than they did on the field.