Even a win vs. Notre Dame couldn’t save this season

Stanford had four returning first- or second-team all-conference players this year — quarterback K.J. Costello, cornerback Paulson Adebo, left tackle Walker Little and kicker Jet Toner. None of them will play when the season ends Saturday against No. 15 Notre Dame (1 p.m., FOX).

Was it just bad injury luck that caused Stanford (4-7, 3-6 Pac-12) to see its run of 10 straight eightwin seasons come to an end? Or is David Shaw’s first losing season not a hiccup but the start of a worrying trend? Here’s a closer look at what went wrong:

INJURY WOES >> Little’s seasonending injury in the opener was a sign of things to come. By the halfway point of the season, Stanford was down to six healthy linemen — four of which were true freshmen.

Costello, the most efficient passer in the conference last season, also had to leave the opener at halftime with an injury — one of at least three that he suffered during the year, which caused him to miss more than half of Stanford’s games. Backup Davis Mills has also been in and out of the lineup, forcing third-stringer Jack West to make an ill-fated start against UCLA.

The defense wasn’t immune either. Paulson Adebo, who led the nation and set a program record with 28 passes defended last season as a redshirt freshman, and senior safety Malik Antoine both couldn’t finish the year, and the linebacker corps has been particularly hard-hit.

Even special teams was dangerous. Jet Toner suffered a season-ending injury while covering his first kickoff on Oct. 17, and Connor Wedington, the team’s leading receiver, was injured returning the opening kickoff last Saturday and missed the rest of the Big Game.

As a result, eight true freshmen have started a game for the Cardinal this season, tied for thirdmost in the country.

LOSS OF IDENTITY >> That said, Stanford still has more talent than most four-win teams. So what happened?

For starters, the Cardinal lost its identity as a power football team. It’s ranked 123rd out of 130 teams in rushing yards per game, a far cry from when Bryce Love, Christian McCaffrey, Tyler Gaffney and Toby Gerhart terrorized defenses.

It’s no coincidence that by far the best game by a Stanford running back this season — Cameron Scarlett’s 151-yard effort in a 2313 win over Washington — also came in the Cardinal’s best result of the season. The only other 100yard game by a Stanford runner came when Scarlett posted 102 yards against Arizona as Stanford put up a season-high 41 points.

More common have been the totals like 61 rushing yards against Cal and 55 rushing yards against UCLA, two of the three visiting teams to win at Stanford Stadium this season (the Bruins were 1-5 when they broke an 11game losing streak to Stanford, while Cal broke a nine-game losing streak in the Big Game).

It’s also no coincidence that

when Mills set a program record with 504 passing yards against Washington State, the Cardinal lost 4722. Without a run game to keep possessions down and high-powered offenses like Washington State off the field, the Stanford defense is at a severe disadvantage. DEFENSIVE BREAKDOWNS >> With the offense struggling, the defense hasn’t been able to step up. The Cardinal gave up 45 points in back-to-back weeks at Southern Cal (in the firstever start for freshman Kedon Slovis) and Central Florida. Mobile quarterbacks at UCLA, Arizona and Cal encountered minimal

resistance. And Anthony Gordon of Washington State recorded 520 passing yards and five TDs.

After Stanford went up 13-6 early in the fourth quarter at Colorado, the Buffaloes broke a five-game losing streak by putting together two drives that combined took 12 ½ minutes and totaled 27 plays and 130 yards, reversing the role that Stanford had put teams in so many times this decade. And in the most devastating loss of them all for Stanford, the Bears had one of the worst offenses in the country but went on touchdown drives of 75 and 83 yards in its final two possessions to take back the Axe.

Breakdowns on the back end were an issue early in the season, and getting

consistent pressure on opposing QBs had been more of a factor lately.

Stanford coach David Shaw noted one “unfortunate positive” of having the program-record 10year bowl streak come to an end is that it gives the coaches more time to make in-home recruiting visits and attend high school playoff games in December. He also noted that the absences of bowl practices won’t be as big a loss as it usually is for underclassmen considering so many of them got game experience this season.

The Cardinal need any edge it can get for next year. The last time Stanford followed a winning season with a losing one (2002), it took seven years to get back to a bowl game.

Dallas Philadelphia N.Y. Giants Washington 6 5 2 2

SOUTH DIVISION

W

y-New Orleans10 Carolina 5 Tampa Bay 4 Atlanta 3

NORTH DIVISION

W

Green Bay 8 Minnesota 8 Chicago 6 Detroit 3 y-clinched division

Thursday's games

Chicago 24, Detroit 20 Buffalo 26, Dallas 15

New Orleans 26, Atlanta 18

Sunday's games

Tampa Bay at Jacksonville, 10 a.m. Cleveland at Pittsburgh, 10 a.m. Green Bay at N.Y. Giants, 10 a.m. N.Y. Jets at Cincinnati, 10 a.m. Tennessee at Indianapolis, 10 a.m. Washington at Carolina, 10 a.m. San Francisco at Baltimore, 10 a.m. Philadelphia at Miami, 10 a.m. Rams at Arizona, 1:05 p.m. Chargers at Denver, 1:25 p.m. Oakland at Kansas City, 1:25 p.m. New England at Houston, 5:20 p.m.

Monday's games

Minnesota at Seattle, 5:15 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 5

Dallas at Chicago, 5:20 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 8

Washington at Green Bay, 10 a.m. Indianapolis at Tampa Bay, 10 a.m. San Francisco at New Orleans, 10 a.m. Carolina at Atlanta, 10 a.m.

Detroit at Minnesota, 10 a.m.

Denver at Houston, 10 a.m.

Baltimore at Buffalo, 10 a.m.

Miami at N.Y. Jets, 10 a.m.

Cincinnati at Cleveland, 10 a.m. Chargers at Jacksonville, 1:05 p.m. Pittsburgh at Arizona, 1:25 p.m. Tennessee at Oakland, 1:25 p.m. Kansas City at New England, 1:25 p.m. Seattle at Rams, 5:20 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 9

6 6 9 9 2 6 7 9 3 3 6 8 0 .500 0 .455 0 .182 0 .182 0 .833 0 .455 0 .364 0 .250 0 0 0 1 .727 .727 .500 .292 310 243 217 144 298 259 312 260 258 289 212 280

N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 5:15 p.m. 236 247 308 269 248 291 335 323 242 205 208 315

1. Duke (6-1) vs. Winthrop.

2. Louisville (7-0) beat Western Kentucky 71-54.

3. Michigan State (5-2) did not play.

4. Kansas (6-1) did not play.

5. Maryland (7-0) beat Harvard 80-73.

6. North Carolina (6-1) beat No. 11 Oregon 78-74.

7. Virginia (7-0) did not play.

8. Gonzaga (8-0) vs. Michigan.

9. Kentucky (5-1) vs. UAB.

10. Ohio State (6-0) vs. Morgan State.

11. Oregon (6-2) lost to No. 6 North Carolina 78-74.

12. Texas Tech (5-1) vs. Creighton.

13. Seton Hall (5-2) vs. Iowa State.

14. Arizona (7-0) vs. Pennsylvania.

15. Utah State (7-0) vs. Saint Mary's.

16. Memphis (6-1) did not play.

17. Tennessee (5-0) vs. Florida State.

20. VCU (6-0) vs. Purdue.

21. Colorado (5-0) did not play.

22. Villanova (4-2) did not play.

23. Washington (5-1) did not play.

24. Florida (5-2) vs. Marshall.

25. Xavier (6-1) did not play.

FAR WEST

S. Utah 126, West Coast Baptist 40 Santa Clara 87, SE Missouri 75 UC Riverside 69, SIU-Edwardsville 51

Leon Draisaitl, EDM 27 16 Connor McDavid, EDM 27 18 Brad Marchand, BOS 25 18 David Pastrnak, BOS 25 23 John Carlson, WAS 26 8 Nathan MacKinnon, COL24 15 Artemi Panarin, NYR 23 12 Jack Eichel, BUF 25 14 Patrick Kane, CHI 24 12 Elias Pettersson, VAN 26 11 Jon. Huberdeau, FLA 25 10 Auston Matthews, TOR 26 16 Aleksander Barkov, FLA25 7 Andrei Svechnikov, CAR25 11 Anze Kopitar, LA 25 10 4 tied with 26 pts.

Denver at Philadelphia at Milwaukee at Houston 32 29 25 16 28 20 20 17 19 20 21 14 23 17 17 48 47 43 39 36 35 32 31 31 31 31 30 30 28 27 4 (2051⁄2) at Sacramento Off (Off) Indiana 141⁄2 (2281⁄2) Charlotte 131⁄2 (2381⁄2) Atlanta