</span><h1 id="articleTitle">Stanford prepares for life after Toby Gerhart</h1><div id="articleByline">
<a href="mailto:jwilner@mercurynews.com?subject=San%20Jose%20Mercury%20News:%20Stanford%20prepares%20for%20life%20after%20Toby%20Gerhart" target="_blank">By
Jon Wilner
</a>
<a href="mailto:jwilner@mercurynews.com?subject=San%20Jose%20Mercury%20News:%20Stanford%20prepares%20for%20life%20after%20Toby%20Gerhart" target="_blank">Mercury
News</a></div></span></span></span><div id="article">
Now that Stanford doesn't have Toby Gerhart in
the backfield overpowering defenses, taking the pressure off his
teammates and making every play seem perfectly designed â€" now we'll see
if Jim Harbaugh can coach.
At least, that's according to Jim
Harbaugh.
"We'll see how smart we are," Harbaugh said recently,
with an eye to the 2010 season. "It is easy to be a great coach when you
have a Toby Gerhart there. I heard a statement one time say, 'Don't
confuse being smart with a bull market.' "
Or a bull of a running
back.
Replacing Gerhart, who gained nearly 1,900 yards, scored 28
touchdowns and finished second in the closest Heisman Trophy race ever,
is hardly the only challenge facing Harbaugh.
His defense must be
tightened, especially in the secondary. His receivers must make more
plays and drop fewer passes. His offense must shift focus to sophomore
quarterback Andrew Luck. And for the first time in Harbaugh's four
years, his team must cope with external expectations â€" expectations that
will arrive in force late next month when the college football preview
magazines hit the newsstands.
Written in the early spring, the
magazines can be outdated by the time the season begins. But
collectively, they form an important piece of the offseason hype
machine, which sets the expectations for teams, players and coaches.
Those expectations provide the framework for judging whether a season is
successful (and whether a coach is smart). The
combination of Luck, four returning starters on the offensive line and
confidence in Harbaugh will result in Stanford being picked for the top
half of the Pac-10 by some publications. That's rarified air for a
program coming off its first winning season in eight years.
(It's
not just the summer magazines, either: Stanford was No. 24 in the
espn.com rankings published in January.) How
the players and coaches handle the presumption of a bowl bid long before
the season's first snap will go a long way toward determining whether
they actually qualify for a bowl bid.
From hunter to hunted â€" and
no Gerhart in the backfield to protect them.
"We are not satisfied
with anything," Harbaugh said. "A lot of people have asked, 'How can
you maintain? How can you keep this going?' We are moving forward. Our
program the first year had a couple of signature wins (USC and Cal).
Last year, we had some breakout games. But the third step is to win
championships and after that is to win multiple championships."
Harbaugh
does not lack for confidence in himself or his staff. When he says,
"We'll see how smart we are" without Gerhart, what he's no doubt
thinking is, We'll show you how smart we are.
In theory, the
Cardinal won't need to replace every yard Gerhart gained because the
burden will shift to the passing game and, to an even greater extent,
the defense. In theory, Stanford won't have to win games 45-38. Four
touchdowns will be enough with a defense that's better coached (if we're
to believe Harbaugh) than the unit that ranked ninth in the conference
last season.
The reality could be quite different. Despite the
talent upgrade orchestrated by Harbaugh over the past three years,
Stanford's margin for error remains thin.
Whether the Cardinal
wins eight games or five â€" whether it competes for the Pac-10 title or
falls into the lower half â€" most likely will hinge on a handful of plays
over the course of three months.
And No. 7 won't be around to
make them.</div></span>
Edited by: Colonel_Reb