December 03, 2003

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Palo Alto Online

Cardinal already putting dismal season behind them

by Rick Eymer

Greg Camarillo figures there's only one place to look when it comes to the Stanford football team, and that's to the future.

"We have to go right back at it," said the Menlo-Atherton grad minutes after Stanford dropped a 57-7 decision to Notre Dame in the season finale on Saturday. "We took some steps forward and we have to work even harder to keep moving ahead. We learned what it took this year. It's never easy to win in the Pac-10."

Stanford (4-7) finished the year on a dismal note, losing its third straight after providing a ray of hope entering November by teasing its fans with the possibility of gaining a bowl bid.

The 50-point deficit was the worst loss ever suffered by the Cardinal in Stanford Stadium, which opened in 1921.

Camarillo, who finished with 18 catches for 225 yards on the season, said the defeat would not be easily forgotten.

"We have to keep this sore feeling of the loss in our heads and use it as motivation for the off-season," he said.

For coach Buddy Teevens, the offseason began the next day.

"I think we've progressed," he said. "We played a lot of young guys. It feels worse when it ends on this note but you can see the number of guys coming back who have that hurt look in their eyes and said 'hey coach, let's go back to work tomorrow.' I wish it ended better for them."

The season ended with Trent Edwards, the quarterback of the future for Stanford, lying in a hospital bed as a result of two surgical procedures to relieve the pain and swelling in his left thigh. Edwards sustained the freak injury against Cal and had to spend time in the hospital as a precaution against infection.

The season also ended with fifth-year senior Chris Lewis back on the bench in favor of Kyle Matter, who completed eight of his 10 passes in the fourth quarter.

Lewis was 14-of-29 for 168 yards, which included a 65-yard scoring toss to Mark Bradford, another piece to Stanford's future.

Lewis was constantly harassed by the Notre Dame defense, and was sacked six times.

"We made a lot of strides with a lot of young guys," said Lewis. "It will be a lot better."

Senior offensive lineman Kirk Chambers finished his career with his 45th consecutive start.

"I don't want to say it was a learning year," he said. "It's more of a foundation for next year. We won more games than anyone expected. I'm looking forward to following this team next year."

The offense will be losing six starters, though that's a little deceptive. Only Chambers, Luke Powell and Brett Pierce started every game. Injured offensive linemen Brian Head and Jeff Edwards were starters, and both will return. Returning offensive lineman Jon Cochran, flanker Gerren Crochet, and quarterback Trent Edwards also started at least two games this year.

Defensively the Cardinal will return 10 starters and seven quality backups.

"I think the program is headed in the right direction," said Powell. "If people would stop being so critical and give it a chance, they'd see. Half our team had never taken a snap before this season. We expected to go through some bumps and bruises. We felt we could compete, even if a lot of people thought we'd go 0-11. To win four games, we proved some people wrong but we wanted to do better."

The numbers just stick out too much to avoid though. Stanford scored a conference-low 130 points in eight Pac-10 games, 45 fewer than UCLA. Arizona, which finished last in the conference, wasn't even on Stanford's schedule this year.

The Wildcats won't play Stanford next year, either. The Cardinal open their season at San Jose State on Sept. 11, 2004 in a schedule that's remarkably similar to this season. Stanford plays the same 11 teams, though in slightly different order.

Lewis finished his career eighth on the school's passing list with 4,436 yards. His 33 touchdown passes rank seventh on the career list.

Senior punter Eric Johnson established school records for most punts (82) and punting yardage (3,427) in a season.

Only five months to spring football.

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