Stanford Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. It is the home of the Stanford Cardinal and hosts the university's commencement exercises. Opened 102 years ago in 1921 as a football and track and field stadium, it was an earthen horseshoe with wooden bleacher seating and flooring upon a steel frame. Its original seating capacity was 60,000, which grew to 89,000 by 1927 as a nearly enclosed bowl.
Thomas Arthur "Touchdown Tommy" Vardell is a former professional American football fullback in the National Football League (NFL).
Tobin Bo Gunnar Gerhart is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal, earning unanimous All-American honors. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft. With Stanford in 2009, Gerhart won the Doak Walker Award and was the runner-up for the 2009 Heisman Trophy. He received 1,276 points in the Heisman voting, coming in second to Mark Ingram II, who received 1,304 points; the 28-point margin was the closest vote in Heisman history. Gerhart had a breakout senior season in 2009, leading all running backs in the nation in rushing yards, touchdowns, and points scored, and setting several Pac-10 and school records. He held the Stanford record for most rushing yards in a season (1,871) until Christian McCaffrey broke it in 2015, and still holds Cardinal records for touchdowns in a season (28) and most touchdowns in a career (44).
The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of the summer of 2023, Stanford's program has won 134 NCAA team championships, the most of any university. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 47 consecutive years, starting in 1976–77 and continuing through 2022–23. Stanford athletes have won 544 individual NCAA titles.
The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference. The team is known as the Cardinal, adopted prior to the 1982 season. Stanford was known as the "Cardinal" for its first two decades of athletic competition, then more commonly as the "Cardinals" until 1930. The name was changed to the "Indians" from 1930 to January 1972, and back to the "Cardinals" from 1972 through 1981. A student vote in December 1975 to change the nickname to "Robber Barons" was not approved by administrators.
The 2008 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head coach was Jim Harbaugh, who entered his second year at Stanford. The team played their home games at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California and competed in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Cardinal improved on their 4–8 record from the 2007 season by going 5–7. After winning back the Stanford Axe from rival California in 2007 for the first time in five years, Stanford lost the Axe to Cal in the 2008 Big Game.
The 1982 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the Pacific-10 Conference in the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by third-year head coach Paul Wiggin, the Cardinal had an overall record of 5–6.
The 1991 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season. It would be Dennis Green's final season as the head coach.
The 2007 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. In Jim Harbaugh's inaugural season at Stanford, the 41-point underdog Cardinal pulled off the second greatest point-spread upset in college football history by defeating the #1 USC Trojans in a mid-season game. To cap off Harbaugh's first season, the Cardinal defeated archrival Cal in Stanford's final game of the season to win the Stanford Axe for the first time in six years.
The 2011 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. The Cardinal were led by former offensive coordinator and new head coach David Shaw, as Jim Harbaugh departed following the 2010 season in order to become the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. They played their home games at Stanford Stadium and are members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season with 11–2 in overall record, 8–1 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie with Oregon for first place in the North Division. Due to their head-to-head loss to Oregon, they did not represent the division in the inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game. They were invited the Fiesta Bowl, their second consecutive BCS game, where they were defeated by Oklahoma State 38–41 in overtime.
The Notre Dame–Stanford football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team of the University of Notre Dame and Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. As of 2023, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Stanford Cardinal have met 37 times, beginning in 1925. The Notre Dame–Stanford game has been played annually since 1997, with the teams meeting at Notre Dame Stadium earlier in the season in even-numbered years, and at Stanford Stadium on the weekend following Thanksgiving in odd-numbered years since 1999. The game typically alternates positions in Notre Dame's schedule with its other Pac-12 opponent, USC.
David Lorenzo Shaw is an American football coach. He served as head coach of the Stanford Cardinal football team from 2011 to 2022. Shaw was the team's offensive coordinator for the entire tenure of his predecessor, head coach Jim Harbaugh, from 2007 to 2010. Previously, Shaw was a four-year letter winner as a wide receiver for the Cardinal from 1991 to 1994, where he was coached by Dennis Green and Bill Walsh. Prior to returning to Stanford as offensive coordinator, Shaw was Harbaugh's passing game coordinator at the University of San Diego and an assistant coach in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders, and Baltimore Ravens. Shaw resigned as the Stanford head coach on November 27, 2022.
Barry James Sanders is a former American football running back. He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal football team from 2012 to 2015 and the Oklahoma State Cowboys football team in 2016. He is the son of former NFL running back Barry Sanders.
The 2012 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinal were led by second-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.
The 1984 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their first season under head coach Jack Elway, the Cardinal compiled a 5–6 record, and played home games on campus at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California.
The 1992 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cardinal played in the Pacific-10 Conference and were coached by Bill Walsh. Walsh served as Stanford's coach for two seasons before leaving to coach the NFL's San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships. He retired from coaching in 1989, worked briefly as a broadcaster, and then returned to coach Stanford to a #9 ranking and a Blockbuster Bowl victory.
The 1993 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cardinal played in the Pacific-10 Conference.
The 1990 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season.
The 1977 Sun Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game, part of the bowl schedule of the 1977 NCAA Division I football season. Played on Saturday, December 31, it matched the LSU Tigers of the Southeastern Conference and the Stanford Cardinals of the Pacific-8 Conference at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. It was the 44th edition of the Sun Bowl.
Christian Jackson McCaffrey, also known by the initials CMC, is an American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers eighth overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. As a sophomore in 2015, McCaffrey was named AP College Football Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He holds the NCAA record for most all-purpose yards in a season, with 3,864. McCaffrey holds numerous NFL and Panthers franchise records and is one of three players ever to record 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, doing so in 2019.
