22 - Stanford

If there was one surprise in the Tuscaloosa News’ Best College Football Rankings, it’s clearly the program that refers to itself as the Cardinal.

That’s right, Stanford University -- which for the past 25 years has best known for the final play against Cal in 1982, in which the Bears’ Kevin Moen scored after five laterals and slammed into trombonist Gary Tyrrell in the end zone -- is No. 22.

Stanford hasn’t been named anyone’s national champion since 1940 (when Associated Press voters opted for Minnesota), and its lone Heisman Trophy was awarded to Jim Plunkett in 1970.

However, the Cardinal (called the Indians until 1972) has won 12 Pac-10 titles, played in 19 bowl games including 12 Rose Bowls, and has 19 players selected in the first round of the National Football League draft.

Its very impressive stable of legendary coaches includes Walter Camp, Fielding Yost, Glenn “Pop" Warner, Clark Shaughnessy, John Ralston and Bill Walsh.

Among those who have suited up for the Cardinal are quarterback John Elway and fullback Ernie Nevers, who in 1962 was named by Sports Illustrated the greatest football player ever. Against Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen in the 1925 Rose Bowl, Nevers played on two heavily braced ankles, fractured earlier in the season, to gain 114 rushing yards on 34 carries.

Stanford’s home stadium, which opened in 1921, seats 85,000, even though the school has less than 7,000 enrolled students.

And, what will surprise many Alabama fans, Stanford has as many players inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, 15, as the Crimson Tide, Penn State and rival California.

But that’s not how Stanford wound up No. 22. It was primarily because it finished first in one category: Grades.

With a score of 995, which was just five points away from perfect, Stanford had the highest APR (Academic Progress Report) score in the country.

The only other category it finished in the Top 25 was the College Football Hall of Fame inductees.

Stanford -- named after a governor of California, Leland Stanford -- only claims one national championship, 1926, before the Associated Press poll existed. That year, under the direction of Warner, it finished No. 1 in the power rankings computed by Frank Dickinson, a University of Illinois economics professor.

Led by All-American end Ted Shipkey and sophomore fullback Clifford “Biff" Hoffman, the Cardinal finished 10-0-1. The tie came in the Rose Bowl to Alabama, despite out-gaining the Crimson Tide 311 yards to 92.

Then again, the first game against Cal in 1891 was delayed for an hour when no one brought a ball. The owner of a sporting goods store had to ride into town to get one.

So much for that academic prowess.

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at (205) 722-0196.