When Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw and the rest of the fresh-faced staff came to Stanford in 2007, they were inheriting a team that was just 1-11 the season before. The Cardinal were that team. The one where you go down the schedule in the preseason and ink in a victory.
A decade later, they have won three of the past four Pac-12 titles and are a perennial top-25 team. This, however, is a down season for Stanford. Barring a meltdown in Seattle, the Cardinal won’t repeat as conference champs and there won’t be a Rose Bowl appearance at the end.