Stanford vs. Colorado Postgame Thread

Well, Stanford has found its next QB. After sticking with Josh Nunes for eight up-and-down weeks, David Shaw vowed to give Kevin Hogan "12 to 20 snaps" against lowly Colorado. Hogan got a lot more than that, and after the redshirt freshman led the Cardinal to scores on his first six drives and completed 18 of his 23 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, Shaw announced that he will start next week at Oregon State.

Duh.

Hogan made the easy throws look, well, easy, taking advantage of a well executed play-action bootleg on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz. He made a few difficult throws, too, zipping a 20-yard pass to Jamal-Rashad Patterson late in the first half that led to a Stepfan Taylor touchdown that put the Cardinal ahead 35-0. The fade pass to Levine Toilolo even worked.

The offense finished with 436 yards and was 9-of-15 on third down. Taylor scored twice, but with Hogan having so much success throwing the ball, he only carried 10 times for 43 yards. Anthony Wilkerson had a few nice runs, including one out of the Wildcat.

As Jacob was quick to remind us during the game, and rightly so, Colorado -- and especially the Buffs' defense -- is TERRIBLE. Hogan and the Cardinal will face a much stiffer test next week in Corvallis against Oregon State, so we should probably temper our expectations a bit, but at least there's a reason to be excited about the offense again.

Lost somewhat in all the Hogan Hysteria was the Stanford defense's dominating performance. Ed Reynolds got the scoring started with yet another pick six and the Cardinal held the Buffs to 76 total yards, including minus-21 yards rushing. Alex Carter, who was picked on by Jeff Tuel in last week's game, played like a man possessed, and Stanford handed Colorado its first home shutout since 1986.

Enjoy your Saturday night.