Stanford’s got it Down Under control
As Stanford prepares to open its football season in Australia, the details are extremely important. Good example: Don’t forget the goalposts.
They play football Down Under, by the name of Australian Rules, and it’s the world’s most rugged brand, played without pads or helmets. But they’re still adapting to the American style, and when the Cal Bears traveled to Sydney for their season opener last year, they were informed that their practice field had no goalposts. The equipment staff assembled portable sets, put them on a freighter and hoped for the best (they arrived well ahead of time).
This was the type of challenge assigned to Matt Doyle, Stanford’s senior associate athletic director and director of football operations, for the upcoming game, to be played Aug. 26. He scouted the Cal-Hawaii game in Sydney last August, then returned to Australia in February to make sure everything will be in place when Stanford plays Rice (noon kickoff on Sunday, Aug. 27, Australia time, which translates to 7 p.m. Saturday night, on ESPN).
“It really became a full-time job,” Doyle said
before Stanford’s Wednesday practice. “I told Coach (David Shaw) I’d almost be bored if I didn’t have to worry about this project.”
Asked about the potential of unexpected developments, Shaw said, “There were a million. Which bus company to use, where they’ll pick us up and drop us off, getting the right hotel, and just little things like bringing those extra (electrical) sockets and adapters. It’s a football game on foreign soil — and we are really excited about it.”
The idea is to prepare for this game in the first-class manner to which the Cardinal players are accustomed. “We can’t just throw the team and coaches out there and leave them out to dry,” Doyle said. “We secured a hotel that can give us separate rooms for coaches, receivers, linebackers, secondary, the whole shot. We’re packing exercise bikes, all the practice equipment and 13 projectors and screens for meetings. And, yes, we’re packing goalposts underneath the plane for our practices.”
Cal played its game in Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, a gorgeous facility but about an hour out of town. Stanford will play in Allianz Stadium, a natural-grass venue used mostly for rugby matches with about half the capacity (at 45,000) as the Olympic facility. “It’s much closer to town, which we like, because we want to stay connected with Sydney’s immediate community the whole time,” said Doyle.
The team and staff will arrive Monday, with nearly a full week to prepare. “We’ll set aside the first couple of days to let the guys completely relax and unwind from jet lag,” Shaw said. “We’ve got plans to go to the beach (a beautiful coastal walk between Bronte and Bondi beaches) and the zoo, bunch of other stuff. Make sure they experience the culture and the hospitality. Around day three we’ll buckle down to work.”
With little else of consequence on the college football schedule that weekend, Stanford and Rice will have the spotlight to themselves. “We’re treating it like a bowl game, bringing our entire roster,” said Shaw. “It’s pretty cool to be the only team playing.” The Cardinal’s second game is against USC (wow, that’s early for such a titanic matchup), “but we’ve got a bye week in between, which will get us back on West Coast time. This is just a great opportunity, something we couldn’t pass up.
“We’ve talked about being ambassadors for the United States, leaving an impression with everyone we meet down there,” Shaw said. “Some of our guys have never been out of the country.”
That list includes running back Bryce Love. “I’ve always said this (Palo Alto) is the farthest I’ve ever been away from home, being from North Carolina,” Love said. “Now I’m going across the ocean for what should be a really cool experience.”
Stanford was ranked 15th in the country in Sports Illustrated’s preseason poll. Television viewers will get their first look at quarterback Keller Chryst, coming off knee surgery and “a full go” to compete without restrictions, in his words. Love inherits the running back responsibilities of the departed Christian McCaffrey, and that’s a heavy load, but he’s faster than McCaffrey and proven to be explosive against high-caliber competition. Practice sessions have revealed at least five tight ends with game-day potential, and the defense features defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, linebacker Joey Alfieri and cornerbacks Quenton Meeks and Alijah Holder.
The notorious Stanford band won’t be making the trip, for financial reasons, but there’s encouraging news on that front, as well. The band was originally suspended in December for the academic year, following an investigation that revealed violations of university policy, including hazing, sexual harassment and alcohol abuse. After a series of meetings, with promises made to clean up the group’s off-field act, the ban was lifted, allowing the band to perform and travel without restrictions.
I can say without the slightest guilt that, as a Cal man, I love watching the Stanford band and missed the gaudy spectacle during last year’s Big Game in Berkeley. It’s good to have them back. Nothing expressed their appeal better than this line delivered by band members in a letter to university officials during the crisis:
“The funkless still need funk, and who else will bring it?”