With apologies to Colorado, it appears the Buffs are going to be guinea pigs for a little experiment with Stanford.
With Cardinal coach David Shaw dissatisfied with the consistency -- or lack thereof -- from Josh Nunes, it appears that Stanford is going to allow backup Kevin Hogan to see more snaps this Saturday against the Buffs, perhaps as many as 20. Hogan has come in only briefly the past couple of weeks.
“We’ll let that play out. Each guy has their thing we are packaging to hopefully make us a more efficient offense,” Shaw said.
Nunes has started every game for the Cardinal this season, but has struggled mightily at times too. He was just 7-of-15 for 136 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s win over Washington State and looked dreadful earlier this year in a loss to Washington.
Which QB performs better against Colorado could play a role in deciding who starts the following week against a much better opponent -- Oregon State. Stanford then finishes out the season against Pac-12 North favorite Oregon and surprising UCLA. When asked if giving Hogan more snaps would hurt Nunes’ confidence, Shaw replied “not at all.”
“As I said in front of the team, this is big-time college football. There’s competition everywhere. Josh has responded great in practice, and so has Kevin,” Shaw continued. “It’s not necessarily to compete to be the ‘starter.’ It’s competing for plays.’'