We want more

Graham Hays (ESPN) writes about the Cardinal's confronting life after Candice.

When asked if they might be a little tired of talking about her, JJ said, "I wish she was still here and we didn't have to be talking about her. But it's not something that I'm tired of, because she deserves all the talk and publicity and credit she gets."

Nobody is talking about replacing her presence. Having seen what it takes to get to the season's final weekend, nobody is all that interested in wasting energy on words of any kind. Jayne says, "We're just going to go out and do it and not talk about it so much. We're all kind of aware that we all need to step up."

Unlike Tennessee and LSU, Stanford returns almost its entire roster. In addition to all the returning talent, Tara brought in a surprisingly large and unsurprisingly lauded recruiting class. But something else returned alongside all that talent from last season, something that should quickly be passed on to the fresh faces.

"I feel like, coming into Stanford, I think if you ask anyone why they're here, it's to win a national championship," Hones said. "I think everyone put themselves in a place where they were going to do well both athletically and academically. And I don't think -- not think, I know -- we were not satisfied with how we finished last year. Yes, it's great we got to the national championship game, but this year we're greedy. We want more.

Read more...