• Stanford football returns from its bye week with a road clash against Colorado on Friday night at 7:20 p.m. PT. It marks the first game on ESPN this season for the Cardinal.
• The bye week came at a great time for the Cardinal, with the team in the midst of a four-game losing streak. Colorado has been struggling as well since a 3-0 start, losing two of its last three.
• The youth movement has been in full swing for Stanford during the 2023 season. 13 Cardinal players have made their collegiate debuts through five games, while 13 have made their first collegiate starts. Against Oregon, it was Justin Lamson, Tiger Bachmeier and Fisher Anderson recording their first starts.
• From the opening kickoff, there have glimpses that Stanford is close to turning things around. In five games, the Cardinal has scored first four times, with the loss at USC representing the only time the opponent has scored first. On Sept. 30 against the Ducks, Stanford recorded the first two scores of the game.
• Deion Sanders has helped lead a big turnaround on offense for the Buffs. After Colorado’s offense averaged just 281.3 yards per game in 2022, its offense is up to 440 yards per game in 2023. The increase of nearly 160 yards is the fifth-largest increase in the NCAA.
• A bit of history was made by former Stanford standouts during Week 4 of the NFL season. Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Michael Wilson (Arizona) combined for six touchdowns in the San Francisco vs. Arizona game in Santa Clara, which is just the third instance since the AFL-NFL merger that one college has accounted for six or more touchdowns in a single NFL game.
• Stanford is hoping to reverse some of its recent fortunes following bye weeks. The last time the Cardinal won following its bye week came during the 2018 season, when it defeated Arizona State. Those recent struggles following the bye week are rare for Stanford, as the Cardinal is 10-4 after the bye week going back to 2008.
• Stanford is still trying to find consistency in the play of both its offensive and defensive lines. Through five games, the Card has employed five different starting offensive line combinations and four different starting defensive line combinations. The only offensive lineman to start all five games is center Levi Rogers, who is in his first season as a center. Rogers has made 11 straight starts going back to last season. Defensively, Lance Keneley and Anthony Franklin have started all five games for the Cardinal. This is Keneley’s first season as a regular starter, while Franklin has 12 straight starts going back to 2022. His 12 straight starts are second-most on the Stanford roster, behind only Benjamin Yurosek (25).