<!SMITH> July 29, 1997
Cardinal Football Aims for a Three-Peat
THE CARDINAL: Stanford concluded the 1996 campaign by winning its final five games, including a 38-0 shutout over Michigan State in the Sun Bowl ... The Cardinal advanced to its 18th bowl game in school history by finishing in third place in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 5-3 record ... Stanford's fourth bowl apearance in the last six years ties the Cardinal with two other schools (Washington, USC) for the most bowl games in the Pac-10 since 1991 ... The five-game winning streak is the longest on the Farm since the '91 club ended the year with seven consecutive wins ... The Cardinal's current string of four bowl games in six years is the best in school history.
WELCOME BACK: Stanford freshmen report to campus on August 11 and begin practice Tuesday, August 12 ... Cardinal freshmen will participate in two practices on August 12 and two more on August 13 ... The remaining varsity reports to campus on August 14 ... Varsity practice begins with double-days on Saturday, August 16 and continues through Saturday, August 30.
THREE-PEAT: If Stanford advances to a bowl game this season, it will mark only the second time in school history that the Cardinal has played in three consecutive bowl games ... The only other time this occurred was in 1933-35 when Coach Tiny Thornhill's "Vow Boys" played in the Rose Bowl for three straight seasons ... Stanford advanced to the Liberty Bowl in 1995 and the Sun Bowl in '96.
PRE-SEASON PICKS: Stanford is a consensus top-20 team and the #2 pick in the Pac-10 Conference based on the myriad of pre-season college football publications (listed on the left portion of this page) ... Stanford's highest national ranking is 13th by Street & Smith's ... The Cardinal is picked to finish second in the conference - behind Washington - in virtually every pre-season publication ... Individually, defensive end Kailee Wong and inside linebacker Chris Draft are consensus First-Team All-Pac-10 selections.
THE SCHEDULE: Once again, Stanford will face one of the most difficult schedules in college football ... Two of the Cardinal's three non-conference opponents - North Carolina and Notre Dame - have been ranked by some pre-season publications among the top five teams in the nation ... Also on the '97 schedule are Pac-10 powers USC, UCLA and Arizona State ... Washington, picked by some to be the nation's #1 ranked team, is not on the Cardinal's schedule in 1997 ... Stanford and Washington last missed each other on the schedule in 1989.
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November Success1996: 4-0 1995: 2-1 1994: 1-2 1993: 1-2 1992: 3-0 1991: 4-0 1990: 3-0 1989: 2-1 |
FINISHING STRONG: In the last eight seasons (1989-96), Stanford owns a 20-6 record in the month of November, including a 6-1 record under Willingham the past two seasons ... Stanford finished the 1996 season by beating UCLA, USC, Washington State and California in the month of November ... The Cardinal has had only two seasons (1993, 1994) during this time in which it did not post a winning record in November ... In 1995, Stanford lost at USC 31-30 on Nov. 4, then finished the regular season by beating Washington State and Cal ... With its perfect 4-0 November record in 1996, Stanford has now won six straight November games over the last two seasons ... In Willingham's three years as a Cardinal assistant coach (1989-91), Stanford was 9-1 in November, including a 4-0 mark in 1991, 3-0 in '90 and a 2-1 reading in 1989 ... In his five seasons at Stanford, Willingham's teams are 15-2 in November.
Wong's Career StatsYear UT-AT-TT Sacks TFL 1994 10-13-23 1/2 2/6 1995 23-16-39 1/3 5/18 1996 48-15-63 12/90 21/115 Totals 81-44-125 14/95 28/139 |
KAILEE'S CORNER: It has been over 20 years since a Cardinal defensive lineman earned First-Team All-America honors - a drought defensive end Kailee Wong would like to end in 1997 ... Last season, Wong became the first Stanford defensive lineman in a decade to earn First-Team All-Pac-10 honors ...The last Cardinal defensive lineman to be named First-Team All-America was Duncan McColl in 1976 ... Wong enters the '97 campaign as Stanford's most honored player in the pre-season ... Every pre-season publication named him a First-Team All-Pac-10 player, Bob Griese's Preview selected him as Second-Team All-America, Street & Smith's named him #5 on their list of players on a "Star Trek" and several ranked him among the best defensive ends in the country ... Street & Smith's also ranked Wong among their candidates for both the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy ... He was tied for second in the Pac-10 last year with 12 quarterback sacks and third in the conference with 21 tackles-for-loss.
OFFENSIVE BACKFIELD: One of the strengths of the '97 Cardinal is the offensive backfield, where everyone returns from last year's team ... At least two pre-season publications seem to agree that Stanford's backfield is one of the best in college football ... The Sporting News ranks the Cardinal backfield second in the nation behind Texas while Lindy's also ranks Stanford second, this time behind Nebraska ... The reasons for such high praise are the return of junior QB Chad Hutchinson and a foursome of senior running backs who are experienced, talented and capable of becoming the best corps of running backs in school history ... Consider that returning at halfback are two of the top backs in Stanford history: Mike Mitchell, the fourth leading rusher in school history with 1,849 yards, and Anthony Bookman, who is seventh on the all-time rushing list with 1,723 yards ... At fullback, Greg Comella (6-1, 235) and Jon Ritchie (6-2, 240) have both proven to be quality players and will provide the Cardinal offense with two backs who can run, block and catch passes equally well ... "Chad Hutchinson made great strides last season and has a terrific duo of RBs in Mike Mitchell and Anthony Bookman, along with burly fullbacks Jon Ritchie and Greg Comella," writes The Sporting News ... "Hutchinson leads a deep and talented group........the running backs are seniors and primed for excellent seasons," states Lindy's.
Career Yards Rushing1. Darrin Nelson, 1977-81 4,033 2. Brad Muster, 1984-87 2,940 3. Glyn Milburn, 1990-92 2,178 4. Mike Mitchell, 1993-96 1,849 5. Tommy Vardell, 1988-91 1,789 6. Ray Handley, 1963-65 1,768 7. Anthony Bookman, 1994-96 1,723 8. Vincent White, 1979-82 1,689 9. Jon Volpe, 1987-90 1,674 10. Bill Tarr, 1953-55 1,593 |
Career All-Purpose Running1. Darrin Nelson, 1977-81 6,885 2. Glyn Milburn, 1990-92 5,857 3. Vincent White, 1979-82 4,665 4. Brad Muster, 1984-87 4,624 5. Mike Mitchell, 1993-96 2,984 6. Anthony Bookman, 1994-96 2,790 7. Jeff James, 1984-87 2,659 8. Ron Inge, 1973-76 2,635 9. Mike Dotterer, 1979-82 2,541 10. Ken Margerum, 1977-80 2,495 |
RB TANDEM: RB Mike Mitchell was Stanford's most productive running back in 1996, accounting for 809 yards rushing and 207 yards receiving on 23 catches ... He also led the team in touchdowns scored with six and all-purpose running with a 92.4 yards per game average ... Mitchell finished fifth in the Pac-10 in rushing (73.5 ypg) and seventh in all-purpose running (92.4 ypg) ... He had three 100-yard rushing games in '96, including a season-high 147 yards on 22 carries against USC, 127 yards on 24 carries vs. Cal and a 121-yard, two TD game vs. Oregon ... He had just one carry for (-1) yard in the first half against USC, but came on to register 148 yards in the second half in Stanford's 24-20 victory ... After four games last season, Mitchell was averaging 41.5 yards per game while receiving an average of 10 carries per game ... He hadn't scored a TD either ... In the final seven games of the regular season, he gained 643 yards on 104 carries (6.2 ypc) and scored six touchdowns (four rushing, two receiving) ... His per game averages over the final seven games were 91.8 yards and 15 carries ... Mitchell now has 1,849 career rushing yards and is No. 4 on the Cardinal's career rushing list ... He is fifth on Stanford's career all-purpose running chart with 2,984 yards ... Teammate Anthony Bookman is seventh all-time in rushing with 1,723 career yards and sixth in all-purpose running with 2,790 career yards ... The Cardinal rushed for a then season-high 220 yards in the regular season finale against Cal, then came back in the Sun Bowl to record another season best of 257 yards rushing.
IMPROVED DEFENSE: A year ago, Stanford's defense made tremendous strides from its '95 defensive unit and saw improvement in every statistical category ... Entering the '97 season, the Cardinal returns six starters on defense and sports a front seven which may be one of the best at Stanford in recent years ... Street & Smith's ranked the Cardinal's defensive line the fourth best in the nation, largely due to the return of DE Kailee Wong, DT Carl Hansen and DE Bryan Werner ... Stanford's D-Line was ranked behind Nebraska, Florida and North Carolina ... Add to the line a linebacking corps that includes ILBs Chris Draft and Jon Haskins and OLB Donnie Spragan and one can see why there is optimism on The Farm for the '97 campaign ... Compare the numbers from 1995 to 1996:
Defensive ImprovementsCategory 1995 1996 Yards rushing per game (Pac-10 rank) 184.1 (8th) 130.9 (4th) Yards rushing per attempt 4.3 3.1 Passing Efficiency (Pac-10 rank) 111.9 (5th) 114.0 (3rd) Total Yards per game (Pac-10 rank) 412.6 (9th) 353.5 (3rd) Scoring Defense (Pac-10 rank) 26.2 (9th) 20.8 (3rd) Interceptions 14 19 Quarterback Sacks 20 34 Forced Fumbles 4 11 Fumble Recoveries 9 15 |
Pre-Season Honors
Team Rankings
- #2 rated offensive backfield in nation (Lindy's, The Sporting News)
- #4 rated DL in nation (Street & Smith's)
- #5 "Team on the Rise" (Street & Smith's)
Head Coach Tyrone Willingham
- Best Coach in Pac-10 (The Sporting News)
- Bear Bryant Award Candidate (Lindy's)
DE Kailee Wong
- Second-Team All-America (Griese's)
- Consensus First-Team All-Pac-10
- HM All-America (Street & Smith's)
- #6 rated DE in nation (The Sporting News)
- #9 rated DE in nation (Lindy's)
- Outland Trophy Candidate (Street & Smith's)
- Lombardi Award Candidate (St. & Smith's)
ILB Chris Draft
- Consensus First-Team All-Pac-10
- HM All-America (Street & Smith's)
- #8 rated ILB in nation (Lindy's)
- #16 rated ILB in nation (The Sporting News)
QB Chad Hutchinson
- HM All-America (Street & Smith's)
- #5 rated QB in nation (Lindy's)
- #6 rated QB in nation (The Sporting News)
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Lindy's)
WR/KOR Damon Dunn
- First-Team All-America as KOR (Athlon's)
- First-Team All-Pac-10 as KOR (Athlon's)
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Sporting News)
DT Carl Hansen
- HM All-America (Street & Smith's)
- #15 rated DT in nation (Lindy's)
- #16 rated DT in nation (The Sporting News)
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Lindy's)
OT Brian Donoghue
- #14 rated OT in nation (Lindy's)
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Lindy's)
C Mike McLaughlin
- #9 rated center in nation (Lindy's)
PK Kevin Miller
- #9 rated PK in nation (Lindy's)
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Lindy's)
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Sporting News)
FL Troy Walters
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Sporting News)
ILB Jon Haskins
- Second-Team All-Pac-10 (Sporting News)
By the Numbers ...
4
The number of bowl appearances Stanford has made in the last six years (1991-96) ... No Pac-10 team has played in more bowl games during this time than the Cardinal.
5
Stanford's current winning streak currently stands at five after finishing the 1996 season with wins over UCLA, USC, Washington State, California and Michigan State.
6
Number of offensive lineman who have received extensive playing time at Stanford ... They include 1996 starters Mike McLaughlin (center), Andrew Kroeker (left guard) and Jeff Cronshagen (tackle), part-time starters Brian Donoghue (tackle) and Eli Burriss (guard/tackle) and 1995 starter Geoff Wilson (tackle), who missed all of 1996 with a knee injury.
28.5
The number of career QB sacks by defensive end Kailee Wong (14) and defensive tackle Carl Hansen (14.5) ... A year ago, Wong was tied for second in the conference with 12 sacks.
30
In Stanford's final five games last season, the Cardinal defense allowed just 30 points in the second half - an average of only six points per game ... The defense also gave up an average of 25.2 yards on the ground during the second half of the final five games.
31.6
Average points per game by the Cardinal offense over the final five games of the 1996 season ... Stanford averaged 12.7 points per game through the first seven contests in '96.
95
The speed - in miles per hour - at which QB Chad Hutchinson's fastball has been clocked. In two years on the Cardinal baseball team as a starting pitcher, he is 15-6.
100
The 100th Big Game between Stanford and Cal will take place this season at Stanford Stadium on Nov. 22 ... Festivities surrounding the game will take place throughout the season.
1,384
Senior Damon Dunn's 1,384 yards in kickoff return yardage is already a school record ... Dunn, who is second all-time with a 26.6 average, is also the school record holder with three kickoff returns for touchdowns.
3,572
The combined career rushing yardage by running backs Mike Mitchell (1,849) and Anthony Bookman (1,723) ... They rank fourth and seventh, respectively, on Stanford's all-time rushing list.
THE QUARTERBACK: Junior Chad Hutchinson (three years of eligibility remaining) enters his second season as Stanford's starting quarterback as one of the top two-sport athletes in the nation ... Hutchinson, from Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, has been a starting pitcher on the Cardinal baseball team the past two years (15-6 career record) and figures to be one of the top quarterbacks in college football in 1997 ... He is rated as the fifth best QB in the country by Lindy's and sixth by The Sporting News ... Last season, Hutchinson won the starting job in September and started all 12 of Stanford's games ... While he struggled in the early going, Hutchinson continued to improve and was a major factor in the Cardinal's season-ending five-game winning streak ... In the final four games of last season, ,Hutchinson completed 73-for-114 (.640) for 824 yards and six TDs ...In Stanford's six wins a year ago, Hutchinson completed 117-of-175 (.673) for 1,372 yards and eight TDs ... Hutchinson joined an elite group of Stanford quarterbacks who started their second year on The Farm ...The last QB to start in his second season was Steve Stenstrom (now with the Chicago Bears) in 1991 ... Others in the group include John Elway in 1980, Jim Plunkett in 1968 and John Brodie in 1954 ... Some of the great baseball-football players in Stanford history include Elway, Toi Cook, who played 10 years in the NFL, John Lynch (Tampa Bay Bucs) and Brian Johnson (catcher with the San Francisco Giants).
INSIDE EDITION: One of the strengths of the '97 Cardinal defense is their pair of inside linebackers - seniors Chris Draft and Jon Haskins ... Draft, who is a consensus pre-season First-Team All-Pac-10 selection, begins his third year in the starting lineup ... He has recorded a team-leading 200 tackles the past two years ... Lindy's rated Draft the eighth best inside linebacker in the nation ... Haskins, meanwhile, led the Cardinal and was ninth in the Pac-10 a year ago with 100 total tackles ... Both Draft and Haskins are NFL-type linebackers who will be among the best in the Pac-10 in 1997.
LONG DISTANCE: In WR Damon Dunn and FL Troy Walters, Stanford boasts two legitimate break-away threats at the receiver positions ... Dunn is Stanford's all-time leader in kickoff return yardage (1,384) and kickoff returns for touchdowns (3) and is a First-Team pre-season All-America as a return specialist ... He caught 37 passes last season in his first year as a starting receiver and showed the ability to score via the pass, run or on returns ... Dunn scored long-distance touchdowns on reverses (37-yards vs. Cal, 27-yards vs. Michigan State in the Sun Bowl), receptions (58-yarder vs. Washington State) and kickoff returns (93-yarder vs. USC) ... Walters had 32 receptions a year ago, but 21 of those came in the final four games of the season ... He had three receptions of over 50 yards - two for touchdowns - and one 75-yard punt return for a touchdown.
TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Beginning his third season as Stanford's head coach, Tyrone Willingham will attempt to become only the second coach in Stanford history to take the Cardinal to three straight bowl games ... Only Tiny Thornhill (1933-35) has led Stanford to three consecutive bowl games ... Willingham has guided Stanford to the Liberty Bowl in 1995 and the Sun Bowl in '96 ... The Sporting News named Willingham as the "best coach in the Pac-10" while Lindy's rated Willingham number-two on their list of candidates for the Bear Bryant Award ... Named the 1995 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Willingham's two-year record stands at 14-9-1.
What They're Saying
"After going to bowl games in the first two seasons under Tyrone Willingham, why expect anything different on The Farm? With an upset win at North Carolina or at home against Notre Dame in the first half of the season, the top-10 might not even be out of reach." - The Sporting News.
"With Hutchinson and his offensive options along with a stout-enough defense, Stanford is well-positioned for an end run at the Rose Bowl. Coach Tyrone Willingham has instilled a can-do, aggressive approach, and 14 returning starters - including a complete set of skill-position players - helps." - Lindy's.
"...the team won five straight, finished third in the Pac-10,and walloped Michigan State 38-0 in the Sun Bowl. The turnaround was no illusion, and Tyrone Willingham's team looks poised for a title run this season behind one of the conference's top young quarterbabcks, the deepest corps of running backs in the league, and a defensive front that could be the best on The Farm in several years." - Street & Smith's.
"With a sophomore quarterback getting better each game and the return of the components of an improved defense, Stanford can challenge for its first Rose Bowl berth in 26 years." - Athlon.
"Key players return, and in most of the cases where they don't, there are players to step in who already have proved they are capable major college players." - Lindy's.
"Chad Hutchinson made himself an NFL prospect in the last five games. 'It was incredible to watch him develop,' says Cal coach Tom Holmoe. The MVP of the Sun Bowl, Hutchinson has a pro arm, pro size and a pro demeanor." - Athlon.
"Like Batman and Bruce Wayne, Chad Hutchinson the quarterback and Chad Hutchinson the pitcher are never seen at the same place at the same time. In the spring, he's a pitcher - projected as the possible No. 1 pick in the June, 1998 amatuer baseball draft. And he remains in that role until Stanford's final game, skipping spring football practice to remain with his baseball teammates. Then, and only then, Hutchinson returns to being a quarterback - where he could eventually become one of the nation's best." - The Sporting News.
"... a strong-armed quarterback, the best group of running backs in school history, and a legitimate All-America candidate on the defensive line have many on the Farm looking optimistically ahead to the upcoming season." - Bob Griese's
- "Stanford does have a dominator on defense: All-Pac-10 defensive end Kailee Wong. A former high school running back, Wong is quick enough to spin out of blocks." - Bob Griese's.
DID YOU KNOW...
- FL Troy Walters has come on in the second half of the season to become one of the team's top offensive threats ... Walters, whose father Trent is an assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings, has caught 21 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns while returning a punt 75 yards for a TD in the last four games ... Walters had just 11 catches for 153 yards after the first seven games, but his eight reception, 144-yard effort against UCLA in game eight was his coming out party ... Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham was on the same Viking's staff as Troy's father Trent.
- FS Tim Smith proved to be one of the Cardinal's top young defenders in 1996 ... Smith, a former prep quarterback, was converted to wide receiver before being switched to free safety prior to the '96 campaign ... He has responded to his new position by being one of the most active players on the field ... He led the team in interceptions with four while also recording three quarterback sacks, three tackles-for-loss, five pass breakups, one forced fumble and one blocked kick ... He will replace Josh Madsen as the team's free safety in 1997.