The only reasonable expectation a 1-11 football team can have at season's end is change.
For Stanford University, the biggest possible change was made, even if it meant hiring a man more revered for his play on the field than coaching off it.
New Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh came to Palo Alto from the University of San Diego, where he was the head coach from 2004-2006 and won back-to-back Division I-AA Mid Major National championships after having no previous head coaching experience.
Harbaugh did, however, play quarterback in the NFL for 15 years.
In December 2006, he took on the mission of rebuilding Stanford's football program from the ground up.
In its first three games this season, the Cardinal (1-2, 0-2) showed why many pundits picked the team to finish in the Pac-10 conference cellar.
With last year's results, who can blame them?
When former coach Walt Harris led Stanford into Tempe last October the Cardinal lost 38-3.
Enter Harbaugh, who this week welcomes ASU to Stanford's new stadium for what he calls another big challenge.
"Week in, week out, it feels like we play half [of] the top 25," Harbaugh said
Tuesday at his weekly press conference.
Sophomore free safety Bo McNally said being an underdog is an underrated role.
"Nobody outside the program has high expectations for us, with last year's record and a new coach," McNally said. "It's kind of fun, because no one expects us to do anything, so when we play well, they take notice."
Playing beyond expectations hasn't been the team's problem, but being able to sustain it has given the team and its fans one headache after another.
Against UCLA and Oregon, the Cardinal had a combined score of 38-38 until halftime. After the break, however, Stanford has been outscored 62-10 against the Pac-10 foes.
Both games resulted in Cardinal defeats.
The new coach believes his young team gets too high and satisfied when it competes in ways onlookers wouldn't expect.
"We have got to become a 60-minute football team," Harbaugh said.
Stanford could be catching its next opponent at the right time though, as the Sun Devils have had their own halftime troubles.
But for ASU, the quarters before intermission have been the issue.
In the Sun Devils' previous two games against the University of Colorado and Oregon State University, slow starts were, ironically, a part of victory, as ASU came back each time to win.
One obstacle most young teams have trouble enduring is the injury bug.
Early on this season the bug has bitten the Cardinal hard, as sophomores Toby Gerhart, a running back, and Ekom Udofia, a defensive tackle, will sit out Saturday's game. Junior left tackle Allen Smith, the anchor of the Cardinal offensive line, is out for at least six weeks, if not the season, with a torn tendon in his knee.
Most notably, the team lost sophomore Fred Campbell not only for the season but also for his career after he fractured vertebra in his neck.
But Harbaugh said injuries, no matter how disheartening, create opportunities for even younger players to prove they too can perform.
An offense led by more experienced players should ease the team's burdens.
The backfield features junior running back Anthony Kimble, who also figures into the passing game as a receiver and into special teams as the kick returner.
As well as having the luxury of a solid running back, senior quarterback T.C. Ostrander has two dependable receiving targets in seniors Mark Bradford and Evan Moore.
Moore is hard to miss, standing 6 feet 7 inches tall.
Young or old, injured or healthy, the Cardinal faces a third tough conference opponent Saturday, and McNally and company trust their new head coach to turn things around.
"The energy he brings to practice and meetings is amazing," he said. "He's doing a great job of preparing us. We just need to do a better job of performing for him."
Reach the reporter at: apentis@asu.edu.
