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Through Scrimmage #3, the Cardinal sits at 0-3, tied for last with Oregon and Cal in the Pac-12 North. AD Jeff Coleman is quick to point out that you can't judge a team just on its scrimmages, but he is hoping for some improvement in the last one against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Offensively, QB William Oconnor has shown very well in scrimmages. He's put up a 60% completion rating, with 631 yards, 5 touchdowns, and only 3 interceptions with only one sack allowed. His rating sits at 95.60. Francis Sanchez has been very ineffective in limited time; he will see more time in Scrimmage 4. .

As the Stanford primary running option, RB Ivan Thibodaux has put up 188 yards, but 0 touchdowns. Earnest Moore, the heir apparent, has has only managed 34 yards on the ground.

Receiving-wise, Timothy Lofton has 185 yards and a touchdown. Not far behind is Mark Loyd (141 yds) and Thibodaux out of the backfield (92 yds, 1 TD).

Dennis Bruce is 3-for-3 in field goals (with one from 43 yards), and is 7-for-7 in extra points.

Overall, the offensive focus is surprising pass-oriented; the QB play has been superior, even though the RB and line were the ones drafted early. Thibodaux has been a pass-catcher out of the backfield, so his value is dual-edged currently.

Defensively, SS Kenneth Melton and DT Ralph Maya lead the charge with 19 tackles each, while FS Christopher McFadden and DT Steven Moffitt also have double-digit tackles 12 and 11 respectively).

QB pressures have been primarily brought by Maya (2 sacks, 8 hurries), Moffitt (2 sack, 6 hurries) and RDE Oswaldo Sechrist (2 sacks, 5 hurries). WLB Stephen Lynn, SLB Wayne Daniel, and LDE Keith Peeler also have a sack each.

The defense has been relatively good at not allowing catches. Out of 105 throws at defenders, 43 catches were allowed (41%), while 17 throws were knocked down.

Aside from the blowout loss to Florida State, Stanford has performed well enough to win in both a defensive struggle and an offensive shootout. The cast of starters is beginning to get narrowed down, and as that happens, the overall talent level should rise.

Well... We were hoping to write about a win at some point in this season.

Any single win. At any point.

Didn't happen.

The post-season review... In this case, the carnage-fest... Will still be written at some point. Probably after enough has been drunk to say what we want to nicely.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We will remind the Cardinal community that the Sentinel is in no way affiliated with the official Stanford Cardinal athletic community and is a student-run, student-written publication. Any issues with the reporting or content therein should be taken up with the Vice Dean of the Communications Department.

The Cardinal Recruit Class for 2018

FS Joe Castle - 6' 0", 209 - Rated 44/98, 5-Star Recruit
RT Armando Peters - 6' 4", 331 - Rated 42/86 - 4-Star Recruit
TE George Berry - 6' 4", 259 - Rated 31/79 - 3.5-Star Recruit
FB Richard Pope - 6' 0", 254 - Rated 23/64 - 2-Star Recruit
QB Max Pounds - 6' 2", 214 - Rated 33/64 - 2-Star Recruit
RDE Scott Stoll - 6' 4", 272 - Rated 21/58 - 1-Star Recruit
MLB Paul Murawski - 5' 11", 254 - Rated 18/48 - 1-Star Recruit

Through the summer practices and scrimmage season, the Cardinal went 0-2, getting outscored 79-26.

Stud recruit Joe Castle went completely belly-up, coming in with a major lack of work ethic. He dropped to a 4-star recruit in many circles. However, Armando Peters put in major work throughout the camp, and is pushed his stock up to a 5-star pick-up for Stanford. Richard Pope also showed some hidden talent and pushed his grade up to a solid 3-star.

A lot of movement has happened with walk-ons and transfers, but things have largely fleshed out. With that, here is the (current) final Stanford roster, starters noted with (*):

#13 Francis Sanchez QB
#14 William Oconnor QB (*)
#36 Ernest Moore RB
#27 Ivan Thibodaux RB (*)
#35 Richard Pope FB
#34 Hector Freeman FB (*)
#88 George Berry TE
#83 Timothy Martinez TE (*)
#89 John Pucci WR (*)
#85 Leon Lewis WR
#32 Patrick Gonzales WR
#82 Mark Loyd WR (*)
#86 Timothy Lofton WR (*)
#17 Jonathan Webb WR (*)
#61 James Watt LT
#75 Robert Haddock LT (*)
#72 Emery McClain LG
#52 Danilo McLane LG (*)
#50 Lloyd Phipps C (*)
#56 Larry Cantor C
#87 Jordan Minnick C
#51 John Park RG
#79 Kelley Ross RG (*)
#77 Armando Peters RT
#67 Frances Stancil RT (*)
#9 Roy Moore P (*)
#8 James Moyers K (*)
#63 Felipe Howard LDE
#95 Keith Peeler LDE (*)
#70 Leonel Babcock DT
#71 Steven Moffitt DT (*)
#94 Raul Newell DT (*)
#53 John Hill RDE (*)
#91 Ricky Sansone RDE
#99 Wayne Daniel SLB (*)
#97 Cornelius Haydel SLB
#96 Gerald Jones MLB
#90 Paul Johnson MLB (*)
#55 Thomas Knapp WLB
#59 Steven Brough WLB (*)
#44 Eric Malloy CB
#48 Terrance Miller CB (*)
#39 Brent Coleman CB (*)
#42 Kenneth Beck SS
#46 Jeffrey McMahon SS (*)
#22 Joe Castle FS
#45 Christopher McFadden FS (*)

Game 1 is at home against the Oregon Ducks. Stanford comes in as a 5-point underdog, but word around the NCAA is that Stanford may pick up their first win in over a year in this one.

The wait is over.

The Cardinal has won a game!

It literally took 95% of the game, but Stanford eked out a win against the Oregon Ducks. More details later...