How College Football 26 Projects the Stanford Cardinal to Finish in 2025

Stanford football season is just a month away, and fans are thrilled to see the Cardinal back in action. Although Stanford has struggled heavily in recent years, it seems like the fanbase is backing them up, and are staying positive through tough times. With new additions on offense, defense, and on the sideline, the Cardinal are ready for 2025.

It has always been tough to predict Stanford football. Although they have consistently gone 3-9 four years in a row, their win column has been filled with marquee victories. With EA Sports College Football 26, we can get the projection of the game's developers of how the Cardinal will finish next season.

In this chaos-filled simulation, EA Sports predicted the Cardinal to have a similar type of season to what we've been witness to over the past few seasons.

In game one, Stanford takes down Hawaii, 48-42, in a thriller. After going into the break down 28-14, the Cardinal forced overtime, where they won on a walk-off touchdown. Bringing the momentum into game two, Stanford took down No. 25 ranked BYU on the road, 52-34, in a win over the Bachmeier brothers.

The first two games went about as well as one could hope, but then things went south. Stanford lost five in a row to Boston College, Virginia, San Jose State, SMU, and Florida State. Each got the best of the Cardinal, and every team put up at least four touchdowns.

All hope was lost, but then somehow, someway, everything went back to life when No. 1 Miami hosted Stanford for an ACC battle. The Canes struggled in the first half, but maintained a 10-3 lead in the fourth. However, Stanford quarterback Dylan Rizk carried the Cardinal to a late win in easily the biggest win of the season.

However, Stanford’s incredible week came to an end. Stanford lost back-to-back contests against Pitt and North Carolina, going into their rivalry game at 3-7. In a back and forth thriller against Cal, Stanford came out with the victory 28-23, courtesy of two touchdowns from Micah Ford.

The Cardinal’s season ended on a poor note, as they fell short to No. 15 Notre Dame, 38-28, finishing the year 4-8. The season would be all over the place, but in the most Stanford way possible. Going 4-8 isn’t amazing, but wins over No. 1 Miami, No. 25 BYU, and a rivalry win over Cal would surely make the season a memorable one.

Stanford’s season is always tough to predict. Sometimes the Cardinal lose to terrible teams, but find ways to beat the great ones. EA Sports surely agrees, and makes the not-so-accurate sim actually feel pretty accurate.

It's tough to say that the simulation will end up coming true the way they laid out, with some huge wins as well as disappointing losses in the projected schedule. With football season just over a month away, we'll find out soon enough how the Cardinal will perform on the real field.