This week’s opponent for the Clemson Football team is the Stanford Cardinal, at 7PM on ESPN in Death Valley. Clemson is currently a 17.5 point favorite in the matchup. The two teams have played only once in their respective histories. A 27-21 Clemson victory in the 1986 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. This will be Stanford’s first ever visit to Clemson in a rather intriguing match-up.
Stanford comes into Death Valley at 2-1 after beating Syracuse a week ago on the road, 26-24.
Here is your preview of Clemson’s Week 4 Opponent, the Stanford Cardinal.
Stanford Cardinal (2-1)
Head Coach: Troy Taylor (2nd Season at Stanford)
Location: Death Valley, Clemson, SC
Time: 7PM
Wins against: Cal Poly, Syracuse
Losses against: TCU
Offense
Offensive Coordinator – Head Coach Troy Taylor
In his second year in Palo Alto, Taylor is the head coach and offensive coordinator. He has a highly athletic quarterback in Ashton Daniels, albeit slightly inaccurate. From what I saw against Syracuse, it is a run-heavy offense, but don’t sleep on the receivers. Elick Ayomanor and Ismael Cisse eat catches in their sleep, and account for 3 touchdowns combined, all coming against the Orange.
Coach Taylor’s official title is: Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football • Andrew Luck Director of Offense • Kevin M. Hogan Quarterbacks Coach
Taylor’s offense in the early part of the season averages 31.3 points per game; with 358 yards of total offense per game. 137.7 coming on the ground and 220.3 through the air. The Cardinal are currently plus-1 in the turnover battle with 5 takeaways and 4 giveaways.
Here is a look at the projected starters for the Cardinal on offense:
| Position | Name (#) | Year | Week 1 Statistics |
| Quarterback | Ashton Daniels (14) | Junior | 59-96, 61.4%; 562 yds, 4 TDs, 3 INTs; 39 rushes, 163 yds |
| Running Back | Sedrick Irvin (26) | Sophomore | 10 rush, 34 yds; 4 catches 92 yds |
| Running Back | Micah Ford (20) | Freshman | 21 rush, 61 yds; 7 catches, 46 yds |
| Wide Receiver | Elic Ayomanor (13) | RS Sophomore | 17 catches, 234 yds, TD |
| Wide Receiver | Tiger Bachmeier (24) | Sophomore | 3 catches, 18 yds |
| Wide Receiver | Ismael Cisse (84) | RS Freshman | 19 catches, 145 yds; 2 TDs |
| Tight End | Sam Roush (86) | Junior | 9 catches, 64 yds, TD |
| Left Tackle | Khalil House (58) | Freshman | |
| Left Guard | Jake Maikkula (69) | Junior | |
| Center | Levi Rogers (57) | RS Senior | |
| Right Guard | Simione Pale (55) | Sophomore | |
| Right Tackle | Luke Baklenko (78) | Sophomore |
Having watched last week’s game against Syracuse, Stanford’s identity was to run the football with not a lot of razzle-dazzle. It was more of a smash-mouth style of play and then when they got behind the chains, they would let their young signal caller use his feet to extend plays and find the capable hands of their receivers. Unlike NC State, where the entire offense was Bailey to Concepcion, Daniels does a nice job getting the ball into the hands of their most talented players, himself included. The offensive line gave Daniels a lot of time to throw at times, and that is when he did his best work. Clemson is going to have to get pressure on the inaccurate Daniels to cause problems.
Defense
Defensive Coordinator: Bobby April III
Coach April is in his second season in Palo Alto running the defense, after spending 5 years prior at Wisconsin. He runs a 3-4 defense with the linebackers playing outside of three defensive tackles.
April’s defense is currently giving up 30.7 points per game. They are giving up an average of 350.3 yards per game through 3 games this season. An impressive 51.7 yards coming on the ground but 298.7 through the air.
Here is a look at the projected starters along with their statistics from their early season slate for the Cardinal defense:
| Position | Name (#) | Year | Week 1 Statistics |
| Outside Linebacker | David Bailey (23) | Junior | 8 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 Sacks |
| Defensive Tackle | Tobin Phillips (4) | RS Senior | No stats |
| Defensive Tackle | Braden Marceau-Olayinka (75) | Sophomore | Tackle |
| Defensive Tackle | Anthony Franklin (94) | Senior | 3 tackles, TFL, Sack |
| Outside Linebacker | Wilfredo Aybar (14) | Senior | 4 tackles |
| Inside Linebacker | Tristan Sinclair (8) | Graduate | 19 tackles, 3 TFLs, Sack |
| Inside Linebacker | Gaethan Bernadel (0) | Senior | 20 tackles, 2 TFLs |
| Cornerback | Zahran Manley (4) | Graduate | 10 tackles |
| Safety | Scotty Edwards (21) | Junior | 16 tackles, 0.5 TFL |
| Safety | Mitch Leigber (32) | Senior | 13 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, INT |
| Cornerback | Collin Wright (6) | Junior | 10 tackles, 0.5 TFL, INT |
The Cardinal have 5 takeaways on the season with three of them being interceptions.
Special Teams
Here are look at the projected starers on Special Teams for the Cardinal.
| Position | Name (#) | Year | Week 1 Statistics |
| Kicker | Emmet Kenney (13) | Senior | 4-4 FG; long of 48 |
| Punter | Aidan Flintoft (37) | Sophomore | 8 punts, 43.4 avg |
| Kick Returner | Bryce Farrell (3) | RS Senior | 1 return, 11 yd avg. |
| Punt Returner | Tiger Bachmeier (24) | Sophomore | 6 returns, 18.3 avg. |
Summary
Clemson is a big favorite at home. After a thorough beating of NC State a week ago, the Tigers hope the offensive fire-power continues against a team that (through 3 games) does not give up a lot on the ground. Garrett Riley has shown a lot of creativity in the play calling the last two games, even so much as getting a smile from Dabo Swinney many times.
Stanford is a bit of an unknown for those of us with an east coast bias like myself. They beat, what we thought, was a good Syracuse team on the road in a really fun watch. They lost to a TCU team that is going through some bit of transition. They are athletic, but I believe NC State was much more athletic than Stanford. I do not expect any surprises this week and believe our Tigers should roll.
