by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal opens its home season against the University of Central Florida Knights Saturday evening at Stanford Stadium. Game time will be a 7:30 pm and the game will be televised on Fox Sports 1.

The Cardinal will be looking to rebound from a huge loss at Northwestern last week. The Cardinal offense struggled and could manage just six points. The Cardinal produced just 240 yards of offense and just 85 yards rushing. Veteran quarterback Kevin Hogan needs to do a better job of getting the ball downfield to his receivers, Michael Rector, and Rollins Stallworth. Running back Christian McCaffrey and fullback Daniel Marx need to be more productive. Veteran receiver Devon Cajuste should be ready for Saturday’s contest. The Cardinal defense will be missing starting tackle Harrison Phillips. Phillips tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. The Cardinal linebackers Blake Martinez and Peter Kalambayi played well last week, and the defensive line consisting of Brennan Scarlett, Aziz Shittu, and Thomas Solomon is strong and, hopefully, the will fill the void left by the loss of Harrison. The cornerbacks are Alijah Holder and veteran Ronnie Harris. Kodi Whitfield is at free safety, and Dallas Lloyd holds the string safety position.

The University of Central Florida Knights was upset by Florida International University last week in their opener. The Knights are coached by George O’Leary. O’Leary coached Georgia Tech from 1994 to 2001. He also was an assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings, Syracuse University, and the San Diego Chargers. O’Leary was the head coach at Notre Dame briefly in 2001. O’Leary utilizes a pro style offense and a basic 4-3 defense.

The Knights feel that their pass protection is adequate, but they need to improve the running game if they are to defeat the Cardinal. Running backs, Dontravious Wilson and Will Stanback combined for just 45 yards rushing on 30 attempts in the loss to FIU. Justin Holman is the quarterback, and the wide receivers are Jordan Akins and Tre’Quan Smith.

Saturday’s game will be the first meeting ever between the two teams. Stanford will be looking to get its offense going The Cardinal still has a strong defense. Cardinal coach David Shaw does not want to start the season 0-2. UCF wants to show that they can compete with the big boys and are primed for an upset. Their offensive line is young and inexperienced and may have trouble with the Cardinal defense. Should be an interesting game.