Did Stanford’s Week 0 win hand the Hurricanes an advantage?

Stanford started its season a week before Miami, opening their season with a comeback home win over Hawaii on Saturday. But did the Cardinal starting their season a week early give the Hurricanes an advantage for Friday night’s game (9 p.m., ESPN)? Miami now has the opportunity to dissect Stanford’s Week 0 game film. Stanford has to rely on old game tape of last year’s team. “It’s better than not (having film to watch),” Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “… Obviously, Game 1, everybody is who they are. But it’s nice to be able to watch them play and figure out the people, figure out basic schemes and stuff like that.” Recent history suggests that teams that play Week 0 games are not at an inherent disadvantage for their next game. Over the past two seasons, teams that played on Week 0 went 9-6 in their next game, which includes some games where the teams that got an early start were overmatched against higher-level opponents. In games against similar opponents (Power 4 vs. Power 4 or Group of 6 vs. Group of 6), teams that played in Week 0 went 3-3. Last year, Stanford lost to Hawaii in Week 0 and followed that with a road loss to BYU. “Every year, the first game, the first couple games, it’s always, who are they? What have they changed — personnel, (a) coordinator? What have they picked up this offseason?” Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “So it always helps to get more tape, always helps to get ahead with seeing them, what they did this past week. But it’s still early in the season. Things change. They set certain plays up, they’re setting certain looks up or, as we go ahead, things may not have come up in that first game. So early on in the game, we’ll be able to figure out different formations, different motions, different schemes up front, what they’re doing. We’ll have to get a feel for it.” There are other advantages for teams that get to wait an extra week. Stanford is already banged up entering their second game. Starting center Aidan Kilstrom suffered an injury during the Hawaii game and was ruled out for Friday. However, teams that play in Week 0 might have an advantage over teams just starting the season. The early opener gives teams a chance to shake off the offseason rust. It’s a well-known cliche that teams improve the most between their first and second game. Coaches get their first true look at their team when facing another opponent and can sort out their depth charts. The Hurricanes are the massive favorites to win on Friday and almost certainly would have been whether Stanford played in Week 0 or not. Stanford was projected to finish last in the ACC. But Cristobal went against the grain; he thinks the Cardinal might have an advantage because it already played. “This game had our attention since January,” UM head coach Mario Cristobal said. “We knew that we were going to have an opportunity to put together our very best team against an excellent opponent. And watching them — I think when you play a game, you always have the advantage. They played a game. Even though we saw some of the stuff they used schematically, you can tell they have a very large menu.”