Sacramento State Hornets wide receiver Chris Miller, 3, hits quarterback Kaiden Bennett during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game at Stanford University on Saturday, September 16, 2023. After a long reception, he was knocked down by Stanford Cardinal linebacker Gethan Bernadel (0). . (Xavier Mascarenhas/Sacramento Bee)
STANFORD – When Stanford opened last season in Hawaii, leaving a day earlier than usual to adjust to the time difference and long flight, few imagined it would prepare them well for the years to come. Ta.
Starting this season, Stanford will replace its annual trip to the Pacific Northwest and Southern California with a cross-country flight as the start of a new era in the ACC.
The Cardinal are scheduled to play four Eastern time zone games in 2024, including visits to Syracuse, Clemson and North Carolina State, as well as a previously scheduled game at Notre Dame.
“It’s going to be fun,” junior cornerback Colin Wright said. “I know a lot of people have mentioned the impact on travel, but I think all of that will take care of itself. That would be interesting.
“Kids like me from Texas have never been to the East Coast, so it's going to be an interesting opportunity to see those places.”
While most would prefer the old arrangement of the Pac-12 and its long-standing regional rivalry, the Cardinals see an advantage to belonging to a new conference.
Gaysan Bernadel, a senior linebacker from Miami, is excited that his family won't have to stay up late to watch as many of his games, and defensive coordinator Bobby April wants to appear on national TV more often. I'm looking forward to what I can do.
“It would be fun to see our guys get pubned up in New York and California,” April said.
The ACC network is available in approximately 90 million households, while the Pac-12 network is available in less than 20 million households, which is one of the many reasons the Pac-12 is disbanding.
While the coaching staff is preparing for a completely new opponent (Cal and Notre Dame are the only ones remaining from last season), coach April is looking forward to a new opponent compared to last year, when the staff brought in by new coach Troy Taylor was the first to join the pack. He said there will be no change. -12.
After going up against a string of top QBs last year, USC's Caleb Williams was selected No. 1 overall in Thursday's NFL Draft, with Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon's Bo Nix selected in the top 12. But Stanford's defense may have to prepare for a different set of challenges this fall.
“We expect to see a lot more running in the ACC,” Wright said. “The Pac-12 is known for its Air Raid offense, and people throw the ball around. That's why most of the Pac-12 QBs go on to play in the NFL. So I expect to see more running.”
The Cardinal will play at home against TCU on August 30th, host Cal Poly on September 7th and open ACC play at Syracuse on September 20th.
Stanford Stadium will host the ACC's first game against Virginia Tech on October 5th. Wake Forest, Louisville and SMU will also visit The Farm for the first time as conference opponents in 2024.
Although the schedule looks different, the coaching staff is the same as last year and should help the Cardinal improve on their 3-9 record in Taylor's first season.
“We talk about fundamentals a lot more than we used to because the players now know how to play,” April said.
At the end of spring practice on Friday, Bernadel compared tape from last spring to this spring and said the improvement was noticeable.
“Experience means something, and you can see that second grade learning is real,” Bernadel said. “The players are going a lot faster. They don't think about anything, they just play. That's a big thing for us. I'm looking forward to what we do in the fall.”
