The conference opener will give the Cardinal a great indication how it will fare in coming weeks against teams with speed, such as Southern California and Oregon, and ones with wide-open offenses, such as Washington State. That image may be more fact than fiction on defense this season, where nine of the starters are seniors and the other two are fourth-year juniors That doesn't mean the Cardinal will be any faster, but experience players react faster. That doesn't make the Cardinal more physical, but seniors certainly are stronger than sophomores. This probably isn't going to be a dominating group because it doesn't measure up athletically with some teams, but this experienced Stanford defense won't often be victimized by opposing offenses. Personalized sports info for your home page Messenger Follow the scores for your favorite teams.
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