Arizona Football: Ranking the Wildcats’ Top Five opponents for 2019

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PALO ALTO, CA – OCTOBER 27: Cameron Scarlett #22, Reagan Williams #6 and Nick Wilson #54 of the Stanford Cardinal celebrates after Scarlett scored on a two yard touchdown run against the Washington State Cougars during the first half of their NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA – OCTOBER 27: Cameron Scarlett #22, Reagan Williams #6 and Nick Wilson #54 of the Stanford Cardinal celebrates after Scarlett scored on a two yard touchdown run against the Washington State Cougars during the first half of their NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

No. 2 – Stanford Cardinal

Conference: Pac-12

2018 Record: 9-4 (6-3)

Game Info: October 26 (Saturday) | TBD | Palo Alto, CA (Stanford Stadium)

Record vs Stanford: 14-16 (Stanford won the last match-up 34-10 in Tucson in 2016)

We haven’t seen the Cardinal in awhile, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For those that don’t know, Stanford is that classic, run it down your throats, beat you with size and power-kind of football team.

How they win typically isn’t fancy or pretty, and usually their style is predicated on winning with good defense, but never having a stellar offense (aside from the Andrew Luck or Christian McCaffrey years).

While 2019 may be a mystery at this point, a few things are important to note when having Stanford at No. 2 on this list!

First off, quarterback KJ Costello returns after a stellar 2018 season. He’s a big kid with a big arm that threw for over 3,500 yards and 29 touchdowns last season.

While Bryce Love is gone, the Cardinal still have capable runners in Trevor Speights and Cameron Scarlett.

Defensively, Stanford should be just as good as, if not better than last year, and if they can find a decent level of production on offense, it shouldn’t be a stretch to have the Cardinal at No. 2.

Schedule

Schedule