STANFORD – Stanford’s 49-20 loss to No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday night served as a harsh reminder of just how far the Cardinal must climb to compete again with college football’s elite.
But for the first time in years, the season came to a close with something Stanford has long been seeking: clear signs of progress.
The Cardinal ended the 2025 season at 4-8, their highest win total since 2020 and the program’s first year-over-year improvement since 2015. They reclaimed the Stanford Axe for the first time in five years, posted a winning home record for the first time since 2018, and fielded a defense that produced its best statistical season in nearly a decade.
The year was hardly transformational. But in an era defined by Stanford struggling to adapt to the new college football landscape, it was at least a step.
Saturday’s game at Stanford Stadium illustrated the Cardinal’s reality. Notre Dame (10-2) opened with 28 straight points in an effort to make a strong closing statement with the College Football Playoff selection committee, and the Cardinal couldn’t do anything about it. The one time Stanford’s defense got a stop, the Fighting Irish scored on an 84-yard fake punt.
The loss dropped Stanford to 0-6 against teams in the College Football Playoff rankings, a glaring measure of the gap separating the Cardinal from the nation’s top tier. Its defeats to BYU, Virginia, SMU, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame came by margins of 24, 28, 24, 35, 15, and 29 points.
But while the Irish controlled the finale, Stanford’s broader 2025 picture was far more encouraging.
“Got the Axe back. That’s one thing. That’s not the only thing,” interim coach Frank Reich said. “The culture that the players set — the chemistry, the brotherhood in the locker room, the way we practice… We didn’t get as many wins as we wanted, but we made progress there, too. We got the most important win of all, and that was against Cal to get the Axe back. So there are a lot more wins coming to this program. Trust me on that.”
The 31-10 win over Cal on Nov. 22 was Stanford’s first Big Game victory since 2020. It highlighted a season in which Stanford went 4-2 at home after posting a 5-20 record at Stanford Stadium from 2021-24.
Reich, who was hired just before spring practice, used the year to reset the culture. On Friday, general manager Andrew Luck announced that former Stanford quarterback and assistant Tavita Pritchard, the Washington Commanders’ quarterbacks coach, will take over the program immediately after Washington’s game Sunday night.
Reich said he believes he is handing off a sturdier foundation than the one he inherited.
Much of that resurgence stemmed from improvement on defense. The Cardinal allowed 408.2 yards per game — their best mark since 2017 — and just 119.3 rushing yards per game, its lowest since 2014. Senior linebacker Matt Rose anchored the group throughout the year and again on Saturday, finishing as the team’s leading tackler with nine stops. His 106 total tackles were the most by a Stanford player in a season since Blake Martinez in 2015.
Offensively, Saturday belonged to senior tight end Sam Roush, who capped his senior year with a team-high 73 receiving yards on four catches. His 545 receiving yards were the most among tight ends in the ACC this season.
Roush said that while his class did not experience the success earlier generations of Stanford players enjoyed, this season felt like a meaningful turning point.
“This year is the first step forward since I’ve been here,” Roush said. “Obviously not the success we wanted when you look at the season as a whole, but we fought and battled every game. We were able to win at home, and we had a winning record at home, which is huge when you’re starting to build a program.”
Stanford’s growth came amid dramatic change. After years of minimal activity in the transfer portal, the program welcomed 17 transfers in 2025, after having only 14 in all its previous seasons combined.
Still, far more talent left The Farm than entered after last season. Last year’s starting quarterback, Ashton Daniels, is now the starter at Auburn, while the Big 12 championship Saturday will feature Stanford early enrollee Bear Bachmeier starting at QB for BYU against a Texas Tech defense led by former Cardinal linebacker David Bailey.
And then there was the schedule, arguably the most unconventional in the Power Four. The Cardinal became the only FBS team to play in five time zones this season, from Hawaii to the Eastern seaboard, including road trips to Virginia, Miami, and North Carolina.
The scoreboard in Saturday’s finale made clear that Stanford remains far from contending with top-ten teams. But the broader context of the 2025 season suggests something else — that for the first time in a long while, the program is moving in the right direction.
As Reich watched his players walk off the field for the last time under his leadership, he said he felt confident handing the reins to Pritchard.
“I know under Coach Luck and Coach Pritchard there will be amazing things ahead for this team,” Reich said.