• Stanford begins the 2022 season on Saturday with a 5 p.m. PT kickoff against Colgate at Stanford Stadium. The Cardinal and Raiders have never played. Stanford is 9-2 in home openers under David Shaw and 8-3 in season openers.
• The Cardinal last played an FCS opponent in 2018 when it welcomed UC Davis to The Farm. Stanford’s last non-Power Five opponent was a week three matchup at #17 UCF in 2019. Stanford has played 25 straight Power Five opponents and 38 straight games against either Power Five or ranked opponents, dating back to the 2018 matchup with UC Davis (Sept. 15, 2018).
• Since 2010, Stanford Football has been one of the best programs nationally. In that span, the Cardinal ranks:
13th nationally with 105 wins (105-46 overall) and 2nd in the Pac-12 behind Oregon. No other Pac-12 program ranks in the Top 25.
Tied for 14th with 50 NFL Draft picks, 2nd most in the Pac-12 behind USC.
7th in wins over Top 25 opponents with 31 (31-24 in that span), the best in the Pac-12.
Tied for 8th nationally with 10 consensus All-Americans, most in the Pac-12.
1st nationally with 15 Academic All-Americans, five more than any other program and 10 more than any Pac-12 school in that span.
Including the 2009 season, Stanford’s five Top-Two finishers in the Heisman Trophy voting is second nationally to Alabama’s six in that span.
The Cardinal has appeared in four Pac-12 Championship Games since 2011 and would have appeared in five under the newly instituted Pac-12 Championship Game format.
• Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw ‘94 owns a career record of 93-45 (.674) overall and a mark of 64-32 (.667) against Pac-12 foes.
• Shaw’s 93 wins are the most in school history, as he surpassed the legendary Pop Warner (71 wins) during the 2017 season.
• Shaw owns a 29-23 (.558) record against AP Top 25 programs. Of Shaw’s 29 wins against ranked foes, 17 of them have come against Top-15 opponents and 11 of those have been against teams ranked in the Top 10. Last year’s win over No. 3 Oregon marked Shaw’s fifth Top-5 win and fourth Top-3 victory.
• Stanford has defeated multiple Top-15 opponents in five of Shaw’s 11 seasons. In addition to the 2021 season, Stanford has defeated multiple Top-15 teams in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017 under Shaw.
• Stanford has defeated a Top-20 opponent on the road in eight of Shaw’s 11 seasons.
• Shaw is one of seven active coaches in the country who is the winningest head coach at his current school. He is joined by North Carolina’s Mack Brown, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Oklahoms State’s Mike Gundy, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo and Utah’s Kyle Wiitingham.
• Shaw is the only four-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year in conference history (dating back to 1975).
• Shaw’s 93 wins are currently tied for 10th-most in Pac-12 history and his 64 conference wins are tied for sixth-most in Pac-12 history.
• Stanford is one of 11 programs scheduled to face at least five teams ranked in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 this season. Stanford and Texas Tech are the only two to play four ranked inside the Top 15.
• The Cardinal is scheduled to play three Top-15 opponents on the road (No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 7 Utah and No. 11 Oregon) and plays No. 14 USC and No. 25 BYU at home.
• David Shaw believes in staff stability and proves it in his actions. Stanford was one of just five FBS programs with no staff changes this offseason. The others: BYU, Iowa State, NC State and Wyoming.
• Shaw enters his 16th straight season at Stanford, and 12th as head coach. Defensive coordinator Lance Anderson has been at Stanford all 16 years with Shaw and enters his ninth season leading the Cardinal defense. Offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard has also been on The Farm all 16 years with Shaw, first as a player, followed by as a coach, and enters his fifth season leading Stanford’s offense.
• Stanford is one of three schools in the FBS (also Navy and Utah) to have six assistant coaches who have been on staff for at least seven years. In addition to Anderson and Pritchard, Special teams coordinator Pete Alamar enters his 11th at Stanford, DB coach Duane Akina his ninth, DL coach Diron Reynolds his seventh straight (eighth overall) and TE coach Morgan Turner his 13th straight season on The Farm.