Stanford football coach David Shaw doesn’t put any emphasis on who starts. That philosophy has served him very well his first two seasons. Shaw, though, must be somewhat concerned that most of his skill players on offense are lacking game experience.

The sooner this Cardinal offense proves itself as a unit, the better Stanford’s defense will be. The more points Stanford puts on the board, the more its dynamic defense can pin respective ears back and party in the backfield, to use one of their handles.

On Aug. 31, ESPN talking head Lee Corso picked Stanford to win the national title. Corso’s cohort, Desmond Howard, picked Stanford to get to the national title game, but lose to LSU.

Not so fast. Though the aforementioned could happen, as a unit, the Stanford offense is scary unproven.

Follow the bouncing football:

Shaw said that either Anthony Wilkerson or Tyler Gaffney will start at running back. Neither Wilkerson nor Gaffney — or their backups — has started a collegiate game. Gaffney is coming back after missing a year of football, so who knows how rusty he will be. In 11 games last season, Wilkerson caught one pass for minus-1 yard, so he has nowhere to go but up in that department.

Fullback Ryan Hewitt? Seven starts. Backup Lee Ward? Three starts. Backup No. 2, Patrick Skov? Zero starts.

Sophomore tight end Luke Kaumatule, not only has yet to start a game, he has yet to catch a pass, playing in nine games last year. Davis Dudchock, a possible reserve tight end, has played in eight games, but has never caught a ball. Backup tight end Charlie Hopkins has yet to see the field, nor have the highly touted true freshman tight ends.

Starting wide receiver Ty Montgomery has played in 24 games the past two years, but has only started eight. The remaining Cardinal wideouts who will see the field this year have a collective zero starts, with 12 receptions for 129 yards and zero touchdowns. That includes hybrids Remound Wright and Kelsey Young.

As for redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Hogan, call him half-proven, having started only five games in 10 appearances. OK. The nimble Hogan led the Cardinal to five straight victories down the stretch, including wins in the Pac-12 title game and the Rose Bowl. For that he should be lauded.

But, Hogan’s bread-and-butter was throwing short routes to the likes of tight ends Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo and running back Stepfan Taylor, all gone to the NFL. Hogan’s longest pass play was a 43-yarder to Ertz in the Rose Bowl. In Hogan’s five starts, he passed for over 200 yards only twice, his high 254 yards vs. Oregon State.

It is imperative that Hogan and the Cardinal get a semblance of a passing attack going and not just via short routes. Even if Hogan rolls out and throws short, the only proven receiver that is not named Montgomery is Hewitt, who comes out of the backfield.

Defenses are going to stack the line, in order to stop Stanford’s vaunted power run game. To counter, Hogan needs to take shots downfield early in every game, in order to keep defenses loosened. And when Hogan hits an open receiver in stride, said receiver has to secure the football and take it to the house.

The offensive line has a wealth of experience and could turn out to be one of the best in Stanford history. There is an All-American in David Yankey at left guard. The rest of the interior linemen — left tackle Andrus Peat, center Khalil Wilkes, right guard Kevin Danser and right tackle Cameron Fleming — are extremely talented.

One can assume Corso and Howard picked Stanford to get to the national title game because of its defense — on paper, one of the best in school history.

If the Stanford offense proves it can pull its weight, it all could add up to a national title for the Cardinal. That would be the first since 1926 when Stanford won the Dickinson math-based crown.

Email John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at twitter.com/dailynewsjohn.