Pac-12 football: Stanford’s stunning comeback at Colorado echoes a breakthrough win 16 years ago

Stanford’s stunning victory at Colorado on Friday night, in which the Cardinal overcame a 29-0 halftime deficit, was the fourth-largest comeback in Pac-12 history and the biggest since UCLA rallied from 32 down to beat Washington State four years ago.

But the relevant comparison for Stanford is 16 years old.

As first-year coach Troy Taylor attempts to rebuild the program, the 46-43 double-overtime escape in Boulder echoes Stanford’s stunning upset of USC under another first-year head coach trying to revive the program.

For Taylor, Oct. 13, 2023 is equivalent to Jim Harbaugh’s miracle on Oct. 6, 2007.

Yes, the trappings are different.

Back then, Stanford was a 41-point underdog, whereas the point spread Friday was barely in the double digits (11.5 points).

And, of course, this Colorado team isn’t in the same stratosphere as the USC powerhouse Stanford toppled on that surreal evening in the L.A. Coliseum. Those Trojans were on their way to the Rose Bowl; these Buffaloes (4-3) will be fortunate to qualify for any bowl.

But the impact of the 2023 comeback and the 2007 upset feel similar given Stanford’s complicated internal dynamics.

Harbaugh had been on the job for 10 months and was attempting to revive a program at the bottom of the conference — a program that not only lacked the talent and depth necessary to win but also was devoid of the resources and institutional commitment required to compete with the best in the Pac-12.

Stanford didn’t pay competitive salaries for assistants or provide reasonable on-campus housing for the football staff, thus making it difficult to retain quality coaches.

It lacked the infrastructure to comb the country for elite recruits who also could meet the school’s admissions requirements.

It viewed football as a necessary evil, not a powerful potential marketing tool for the university.

The Cardinal ventured into the Coliseum that afternoon with a 1-3 record, fresh off a blowout home loss to Arizona State, and was given no chance against an opponent that hadn’t lost at home in six years.

The 24-23 victory wasn’t merely the biggest upset in college football history (based on the point spread); it changed the perception of the program, legitimized Harbaugh’s tenure and provided fuel for his resuscitation operation.

Now here comes Taylor, 10 months into his tenure in command of a program that has fallen behind its peers on multiple levels: Weak lines of scrimmage. Substandard perimeter speed. No obvious starting quarterback. And ominous off-the-field forces.

The equivalent to Stanford’s 2007 resource challenges are the transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) — the twin pillars of roster-building for most Power Five schools but not, of course, for the Cardinal.

Taylor must build a competitive roster the old-fashioned way, with high school recruits, and hope for some flexibility from the university with regard to transfers.

Both on and off the field, it’s 2007 all over again for Stanford.

Which brings us back to the present. To the unlikely events that unfolded Friday night in Boulder.

Stanford had two weeks to prepare for the Buffaloes but played like it had two days to get ready. It was slow, sloppy and uninspired in the first half as CU powered to a 29-0 lead.

Taylor indicated after the game that his halftime message was understated — “I want to see how you compete,” he told the players — and we can imagine a stark contrast to Harbaugh’s blazing pregame speech in the Coliseum locker room 16 years earlier.

But Taylor’s matter-of-fact approach landed just right. The Cardinal scored on its first possession of the second half and on every subsequent possession through the second overtime period. It walked out of a stunned, silent Folsom Field at 12:21 a.m. (Mountain Time) with a victory that has few equals in the conference’s 108-year history.

It was a statement win for Taylor, partly because of the opponent — Colorado coach Deion Sanders is the center of the college football universe in much the same fashion as USC’s Pete Carroll in the mid-2000s — and partly because of how it happened.

Rallying from 29 points down isn’t identical to winning as a 41-point underdog, but it’s close enough to be a fraternal twin.

The upset of USC didn’t change the trajectory of Stanford’s season; the Cardinal lost five of its next seven games and finished with a 4-8 record.

Don’t expect anything different this time around for Stanford (2-4), especially with a stretch-run schedule that features four ranked teams.

Instead, the impact of the upset lies in the legitimacy it lends to Taylor’s rebuild, just as the USC takedown did for Harbaugh’s reclamation project a decade and a half ago.

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