The Mercury News has been really into the Walsh rivalry game. College football columnist Jon Wilner compared ripe golden delicious apples to moldy granny smiths in terms of quarterbacks earlier this week. Mark Purdy also wrote about the game, wondered out loud why Stanford Stadium is only half full usually for the annual match up between the Spartans and the Cardinal.
Neither columnist really mentioned it, although Purdy danced around the subject, but there is no road team for this game. The projected attendance is around 30,000 fans, and a considerable number of those people will be rooting for the Blue and Gold.
The two schools are, as Spartan Daily sports reporter Joey Akeley said, about 30 miles apart. That means no time zone changes for the Spartans. No hours logged on the plane. No climate changes. No legions of unfriendly fans without the Spartan Squad to drown them out.
This is a road game on the Spartan’s schedule that isn’t really a road game. The team needs to remember that the only difference in the scenery are the miles of empty red seats and the word “Stanford” spray painted in each end zone.
The Spartans have been far better at home than on the road in the Dick Tomey era, and have been just short of awful on the road during that same timeframe. The team hasn’t been this consistently average since the 1980s, and its refreshing to know we as fans can be guaranteed the team will show up and play week in and week out.
But taking advantage of these types of games is key to taking the next step from team in the gutter to potential division winner.
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