The 2015 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinal were led by fifth-year head coach David Shaw. They played their home games at Stanford Stadium and were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference.
In 2015, the Cardinal were the champions of the Pac-12. After finishing in first place in the North Division, they beat USC in the Pac-12 Championship Game by a score of 41–22."Christian McCaffrey Catapults No. 7 Stanford Past USC for Pac-12 Title", USA Today, December 6, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2015. They defeated Iowa 45–16 in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2016.
The Cardinal finished the season ranked No. 3 in the final Coaches Poll, their highest final ranking in the history of that poll. They were similarly ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll, their highest final ranking in 75 years, following the 1940 national championship season.
Personnel
Coaching staff Name Position Stanford years Alma mater David Shaw Head coach 9th Stanford (1994) Lance Anderson Defensive coordinator / outside linebackers coach 9th Idaho State (1996) Mike Bloomgren Associate head coach / offensive coordinator 5th Florida State (1999) Pete Alamar Special teams coordinator 4th Cal Lutheran (1983) Duane Akina Defensive backs coach 2nd Washington (1979) Peter Hansen Inside linebackers coach 2nd Arizona (2001) Tavita Pritchard Quarterbacks coach / wide receivers coach 3rd Stanford (2009) Randy Hart Defensive linemen coach 6th Ohio State (1970) Eric Sanders Defensive assistant 1st UC Davis (2005) Lance Taylor Running backs coach 2nd Alabama (2003) Morgan Turner Tight ends coach 3rd Illinois (2009)
Roster 2015 Stanford Cardinal rosterQuarterbacks 8 Kevin Hogan – senior (6'4, 220) 10 Keller Chryst – sophomore (6'5, 231) 17 Ryan Burns – sophomore (6'5, 225)
Running backs 5 Christian McCaffrey – sophomore (6'0, 197) 15 Reagan Williams Freshman (6'3, 218) 19 Ryan Gaertner Junior (5'10, 215) 20 Bryce Love Freshman (5'10, 184) 22 Remound Wright – senior (5'9, 198) 25 Cameron Scarlett Freshman (6'1, 220) 26 Barry J. Sanders – junior (5'10, 191) 35 Daniel Marx – sophomore (6'2, 247) 42 Pat McFadden – junior (5'10, 195)
Wide receivers 2 Trenton Irwin – freshman (6’2, 199) 3 Michael Rector – junior 6'1 190) 4 Jay Tyler – freshman (5'8, 167) 5 Kodi Whitfield – senior (6'2, 197) 6 Francis Owusu – junior (6'3, 193) 6 Taijuan Thomas – junior (5'10, 185) 11 Dontonio Jordan – junior (5'11, 188) 13 Rollins Stallworth – senior (6'4, 196) 19 J. J. Arcega-Whiteside – freshman (6'3, 207) 21 Isaiah Brandt-Sims – sophomore (5'11, 175) 41 Addison Johnson – sophomore (5'9, 175) 46 Sidhart Krishnamurthi – freshman (5'11, 175) 81 Conner Crane – junior (6'4, 195) 85 Treyvion Foster – junior (6'1, 213) 89 Devon Cajuste – senior (6'4, 232)
Offensive guards/offensive tackles 51 Joshua Garnett – senior (6'5, 317) OG 54 Nick Wilson – freshman (6'3, 268) OG 57 Johnny Caspers – junior (6'4, 292) OG 60 Lucas Hinds – sophomore (6'4, 290) OG 62 Austin Maihen – freshman – (6'5, 280) OG 64 David Bright – sophomore (6'5, 290) OG/OT 66 Nick Davidson – junior (6'7, 283) OT 71 Brandon Fanaika – sophomore (6'3, 321) OG 74 Brendon Austin – senior (6'6, 304) OG 75 A. T. Hall – sophomore (6'5, 278) OT 76 Jack Dreyer – freshman (6'8, 286) OT 77 Casey Tucker – sophomore (6'6, 305) OT 78 Kyle Murphy – senior (6'7, 272) OT Tight ends 9 Dalton Schultz – sophomore (6'6, 239) 18 Austin Hooper – sophomore (6'4, 225) 80 Eric Cotton – sophomore (6'6, 235) 82 Chris Harrell – senior (6'4, 236) 87 Ben Snyder – freshman (6'4, 240) 88 Greg Taboada – sophomore (6'5, 235) 99 Luke Kaumatule – senior (6'7, 260)
Centers 52 Graham Shuler – junior (6'4, 277) 64 Brian Chaffin – freshman (6'2, 278) 73 Jesse Burkett – freshman (6'4, 288)
Defensive tackles 58 David Parry – senior 79 Alex Yazdi – junior 95 Lance Callihan – junior
Defensive ends 7 Aziz Shittu – senior (6'3, 275) 17 Brennan Scarlett – senior (6'4, 265) 48 Kevin Anderson – senior (6'4, 245) 55 Nate Lohn – junior (6'3, 274) 56 Wesley Annan – freshman (6'4, 285) 66 Harrison Phillips – sophomore (6'4, 255) 75 Jordan Watkins – junior (6'5, 271) 90 Solomon Thomas – sophomore (6'3, 256) 97 Dylan Jackson – Freshman (6'6, 248)
Linebackers 3 Noor Davis – junior (6'4, 227) ILB 4 Blake Martinez – senior (6'2, 238) ILB 15 Jordan Perez – freshman (6'2, 207) ILB 20 Bobby Okereke – freshman (6'3, 217) ILB 27 Sean Barton – freshman (6'3, 212) ILB 31 Mustafa Branch – freshman (5'11, 218) ILB 32 Joey Alfieri – freshman (6'3, 228) OLB 33 Mike Tyler – sophomore (6'5, 225) OLB 34 Peter Kalambayi – sophomore (6'3, 240) OLB 43 Ryan Beecher– freshman (6'1, 230) ILB 44 Kevin Palma – sophomore (6'2, 240) ILB 47 Sam Yules – junior (6'2, 221) ILB 49 Lewis Burik– freshman (5'10, 216) ILB 50 Sam Shober– junior (6'3, 223) OLB 52 Casey Toohill – freshman (6'4, 230) OLB 53 Torsten Rotto – senior (6'2, 240) OLB 59 Craig Jones – junior (6'0, 215) ILB 86 Lane Veach – freshman (6'6, 233) OLB Defensive backs 8 Frank Buncom – freshman (6'2, 192) CB 11 Terrence Alexander – sophomore (5'10, 178) CB 13 Alijah Holder – freshman (6'2, 174) CB 21 Ronnie Harris – senior (5'10, 170) CB 23 Alameen Murphy – freshman (5'11, 185) CB 24 Quenton Meeks – freshman (6'2, 195) CB 38 Ra'Chard Pippens – senior (6'2, 198) CB
Safeties 2 Brandon Simmons – freshman (6'0, 182) FS 9 Ben Edwards – freshman (6'0, 191) FS 22 Justin Reid – junior (6'1, 195) SS 28 Denzel Franklin – sophomore (6'0, 198) SS 29 Dallas Lloyd – junior (6'3, 209) SS 45 Calvin Chandler – sophomore (6'2, 215) SS
Punters/Kickers 14 Jake Bailey – freshman (6'2 186) P 27 Charlie Beall – freshman (6'2 215) K 34 Conrad Ukropina – junior (6'1 185) K 47 Alex Robinson – sophomore (6'0 200) P
Long snappers 67 Reed Miller – senior (6'2, 222) 68 C.J. Keller – sophomore (6'3, 215)
Terms: Freshman – A player in his first year. Sophomore – A player in his second year. Junior – A player in his third year. Senior – A player in his fourth year. Redshirt – A player who sat out a previous season.Source: 2015 Stanford Cardinal Football Roster
Schedule
Game summaries
At Northwestern
UCF
At #6 USC
At Oregon State
Arizona
#18 UCLA
Washington
At Washington State
At Colorado
Oregon
California
No. 4 Notre Dame
In arguably one of the best college football games of the year, a game that had ten lead changes and almost 1,000 yards of offense, Stanford scored five touchdowns in five red zone trips, but it would be Stanford Kicker Conrad Ukropina who hit the game-winning field goal as time expired, which also ended Notre Dame's College Football Playoff hopes while keeping Stanford's playoff hopes alive. With 6:48 left in the game and the Cardinal leading 35–29, the Irish would march 88 yards in 15 plays (using up 6:18 of the play clock). It was capped off by Notre Dame Quarterback DeShone Kizer's two-yard touchdown run to give the Irish the lead with just 30 seconds left in the game. But the Irish defense could not hold as Stanford would go 45 yards in just 28 seconds and finish off the game with the win from Ukropina's field goal.
Vs. #24 USC (Pac-12 Championship)
Vs. #6 Iowa (Rose Bowl)
Sports analysts had anticipated the contest to be exciting, due mainly to the matchup between Iowa's strong run defense and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, the Heisman Trophy runner-up. McCaffrey led the FBS in the 2015 season with 3,864 all-purpose yards, which came from punt/kick returns, runs from scrimmage, and passes out of the backfield. In contrast, Iowa's run defense finished the season ranked 14th, allowing only 121 yards per game and having defeated historically rushing teams like Wisconsin, Indiana, and Nebraska.
McCaffrey caught a short pass and turned it into a 75-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. The Hawkeyes were unable to stop him, as he averaged 9.6 YPC (172 yards on 18 carries), returned a punt for a touchdown, and converted many third downs. Though he did not rush for any touchdowns from scrimmage, he proved to be the primary playmaker for Stanford, catching a third of Cardinal Quarterback Kevin Hogan's twelve passes. McCaffrey was such an offensive threat that Hogan was able to make large gains with the read option, including a wide-open first-quarter option TD run.
Stanford's 21-0 first-quarter lead was the most first-quarter points scored by one team in Rose Bowl history. Stanford shut Iowa out in the first half 35–0, with Stanford's 35 points the most scored in the first half of a Rose Bowl in its entire 102-year history. McCaffrey gained a total of 368 all-purpose yards, setting another Rose Bowl record.
Iowa was unable to get their run game going, rushing as a team for 1.3 YPC (48 yards on 38 carries). The longest Iowa runs were 14 and 12 yards, as well as a 14-yard scramble by Quarterback C. J. Beathard. Iowa's inability to establish a run game closed up Iowa's potential for play-action passing, which had been Beathard's bread and butter all season. Iowa's halfbacks, their biggest threat all season, were overall unable to garner any significant yardage on the ground.
By the second half, Stanford's explosiveness slowed down, scoring just 10 second-half points versus their 35 first-half points. Iowa did not score until the 3rd quarter when placekicker Marshall Koehn kicked a field goal after converting on 4th down earlier in the drive; Beathard threw 2 touchdowns in the 4th quarter, with Koehn missing one of the two PATs.
Iowa had a slight advantage in time of possession, possessing the ball for almost 33 minutes, though they were simply unable to make meaning out of their possessions. Iowa also outgained Stanford through the air by a slim margin, with 239 yards to Stanford's 223.
Rankings
Statistics
Team
Team statistics Stanford Opponents Scoring 529 316 Points Per game 37.8 22.6 Points Off Turnovers 96 60 First Downs 311 267 Rushing 155 106 Passing 129 145 Penalty 27 16 Rushing yardage 3132 1958 Yards gained rushing 3358 2358 Yards lost rushing 226 400 Rushing attempts 610 453 Average Per rush 5.1 4.3 Average Per game 223.7 139.9 TDs Rushing 33 16 Passing yardage 2965 3198 Comp-Att-Int 213-318-8 271–473–8 Average Per Pass 9.3 6.8 Average Per Catch 13.9 11.8 Average Per game 211.8 228.4 TDs Passing 30 19 Total offense 6097 5156 Total play 928 926 Average Per play 6.6 5.6 Average Per game 435.5 368.3 Kick returns: # – yards 51-1265 70-1473 Punt returns: # – yards 17-154 11-93 INT Returns: # – yards 8-125 8-101 Kick Return Average 24.8 21.0 Punt Return Average 9.1 8.5 INT Return Average 15.6 12.6 Fumbles lost 12-5 10-6 Penalties – yards 78-648 80-742 Average Per game 46.3 53.0 Punts – yards 48-1959 66-2797 Average Per punt 40.8 42.4 Net punt average 37.2 39.1 Kickoffs – yards 96-5900 69-4003 Average Per kick 61.5 58.0 Net kick average 41.4 34.2 Time of possession/game 34:48 25:12 3rd-down conversions 91/182 70/193 3rd-Down Pct 50% 36% 4th-down conversions 13/16 15/24 4th-Down Pct 81% 62% Sacks By – yards 34-260 20-104 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Touchdowns scored 68 36 Field goals – attempts 18-20 23-26 On-Side Kicks 0-1 0-3 Red-Zone Scores (54–62) 87% (41–47) 87% Red-Zone Touchdowns (41–62) 66% (21–47) 45% PAT – attempts (67-67) 100% (29–31) 94% Attendance 349,381 221,786 Games/Avg Per game 7/49,912 5/44,357 Neutral Site Games 2/76,372
All opponents
Pac-12 opponents
Non-conference opponents
Players drafted into the NFL
1 28 Joshua Garnett G San Francisco 49ers 3 81 Austin Hooper TE Atlanta Falcons 4 131 Blake Martinez LB Green Bay Packers 5 162 Kevin Hogan QB Kansas City Chiefs 6 200 Kyle Murphy OT Green Bay Packers
References