By Mark Soltau
CBS SportsLine Senior Writer
Sept. 12, 1998
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- In an effort to increase season ticket sales, Stanford introduced the "Gridiron Guarantee.'' If you don't enjoy the experience, the school will refund your money.
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Bad idea.
The Cardinal fell to 0-2 Saturday after a 31-14 loss to Arizona and looked lousy doing it in the Pac-10 opener for both teams. It was even more dreadful than last week's 35-23 defeat to perennial patsy San Jose State.
And it marks the school's worst start since 1991.
In the first half, the Stanford offense was flagged for five false starts. And the veteran line was supposed to be the strength of the team. Makes you wonder what it worked on in practice.
HAD ARIZONA CAPITALIZED ON several other first-half scoring opportunities, the suspense would have ended by intermission. One drive stalled at the Cardinal 16 on an interception, and the Wildcats missed two short field goals.
Despite
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So far this season, Stanford's defense has allowed teams such as Arizona to score at will. (AP)
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Indicative of the way things have gone for Stanford, Walters sprained his right ankle on the play and didn't return.
Fourth-year Cardinal coach Tyrone Willingham knew it would be a challenging year. Of his 92 players, 54 hadn't played a single down of college football before the season and only five are seniors. Talk about a youth movement.
"A lot of people like to use the excuse we're a young team,'' said Davis, whose eight catches for 127 yards were a bright spot. "I don't buy that. We just have to learn on the run.''
FOR STANFORD, IT WASN'T pretty. Husak is a first-year starter; so are running backs Coy Wire, Juan-Carlos Lacy and eight defenders. This team is so young it uses pacifiers instead of mouth pieces.
Only eight starters returned from last year's 5-6 squad. Willingham expected junior quarterback Chad Hutchinson back, but he had the good sense to sign a baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, avoiding the possible dismemberment of his pitching arm this season.
Willingham, who succeeded Bill Walsh in 1995, took Stanford to the Liberty and Sun Bowls in his first two seasons. Of course, he did it with Walsh's recruits. He's on his own now, and what seemed like a program on the rise has suddenly hit the skids.
Case in point: Randy Fasani. Two years ago, he was rated the top high school quarterback in the country and seemed like a coup for Willingham. After redshirting last year, the 6-4, 235-pound Fasani failed to beat out Husak during spring practice and has now lost the backup job to sophomore Joe Borchard, who played for the Stanford baseball team last spring.
Fasani finally made his college debut Saturday -- as a tight end. He slipped into the game late in the second quarter, got behind a defender and dropped a tough, but catchable pass.
"WE CANNOT AFFORD TO HAVE OUTSTANDING athletes sitting on the sideline,'' Willingham said.
Things were so gloomy early in the fourth quarter Saturday a local radio call of the Husak-to-Walters completion was replayed on the public address system and touted as the "Play of the Game.'' Not that many of the remaining 10,000 fans listened.
Shortly afterward, Davis caught a nifty 42-yard touchdown pass from Husak.
In fairness, Arizona (2-0) has 14 returning starters from last year's 7-5 team, which beat New Mexico in the Insight.com Bowl. And the 'Cats have had Stanford's number for a while, winning for the sixth consecutive time.
At least the Cardinal moved the ball occasionally. In the four previous meetings, Stanford's "running'' game amassed a combined 18 net yards on 106 carries. Saturday, they gained 60 on 24 attempts.
The defense is another story. After allowing 378 total yards last week against San Jose, it surrendered 511 against Arizona. Time and again, Stanford was victimized by missed tackles and poor coverage in the secondary ... which might explain why Willingham kept the locker room shut longer than usual afterward.
"ANY LOSS HURTS,'' HE SAID. "THAT needs to be made clear. We're still very much a team that can go forward. There was improvement in some areas. There's still a lot of hope.''
Players echoed the sentiment, though the mood was somber.
"We know we're better than this,'' said Walters. "Everybody has to believe in themselves, dig down deep and bring it up another level.''
Added defensive tackle Willie Howard: "There's no reason to point a finger at anybody. Everybody knows if we eliminate mistakes we have a chance to win.''
Easier said than done. Four of the next six games come against ranked opponents, starting next Saturday against North Carolina.
Operators are standing by.
Mark Soltau is a senior writer in CBS SportsLine's San Francisco bureau.