Stanford will be challenged to reverse its recent tendency.

The Cardinal have developed a habit of playing their best football in the second half of seasons. Victories in their final four games of 2018 rescued a season that ended with a 9-4 record. Wins in the last six games of the 2016 season lifted Stanford from a 4-3 start to a Pac-12 title.

All three of Stanford’s nonconference opponents — Northwestern and Central Florida in the first three weeks and Notre Dame in the finale — are ranked in the coaches’ preseason poll, prompting Sports Illustrated to say Stanford has the toughest nonconference schedule in the country.

But it is the Cardinal’s first six games that could make or break Stanford’s season.

Stanford opens at home on Saturday against Northwestern, which is unranked in the Associated Press poll but 25th in the coaches’ poll. The Wildcats, who finished first in the Big Ten West last season, have made Stanford’s preparation difficult by not announcing whether their starting quarterback will be Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson or former walk-on TJ Green.

Then comes a road game against USC, a road game against 17th-ranked Central Florida, a home game against No. 11 Oregon, a road game against Oregon State and a home game against No. 13 Washington.

Shaw on Luck’s decision Stanford head coach David Shaw was as surprised as anyone by the decision of former Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck to retire from football. But Shaw — who took over the Cardinal in Luck’s third and final season on The Farm, added: “He’s not dead. Everybody talks about it like eulogies. It’s not a eulogy. He’s just done playing football. He’s 29 years old. He’s got a lot of life to live. He’s got a lot to give this world. It’s not going to be on a football field.” — Jake Curtis

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“We’ve got to play those first six games like our last six games of the season,” quarterback K.J. Costello said. “If we want to win every game, go 1-0 each week, we have to feel as if we’re executing like the back half of the season in the first six games.

“For me, I remember playing a little bit different football, a little higher level the last six games (last year). We have to try to do that the first six.”

Head coach David Shaw acknowledged the difficulty of Stanford’s slate during the summer, but he is done assessing the schedule.

“I think that’s a question for after the season,” he said Tuesday. “I stopped talking about that last week.”

Indeed, it remains to be seen whether the Cardinal’s early foes are as good as expected.

However, those first few games might shape the nation’s opinion of Stanford and Costello.

Costello, a second-team All-Pac-12 selection last year, is expected to be a standout, and Stanford, ranked No. 25 in the AP poll, is expected to be a Pac-12 title contender. But with so many questions on defense, it is difficult to predict what Stanford will do.

Midway through last season, the Cardinal moved away from their physical, run-first, ball-possession offense to let Costello win games with his passing. Shaw is curious to see what kind of team he has.

“Once we start to play, it’s not just Game 1, it’s really the first three games or so to get a good idea of what we have a chance to be,” Shaw said.

Jake Curtis is a freelance writer.