Stanford beat USC 27-10 Saturday, marking Stanford’s third straight win over USC by at least 10 points. There are a lot of reasons that Stanford not only had a significant edge in this game, but why Stanford should have confidence going on this tough road schedule over the next few weeks.
We already know this, we knew it coming into this season, we knew it last season, Christian McCaffrey is amazing. He showed great patience in the run game, waiting for the blocks to play out and the hole in the line to open up. He was durable and showed why he is an every down back by smashing again and again into the defense from two yards out to gt his second touchdown on the day. 260 total yards speaks for itself.
He also showed how much more versatile he is than last year, which seems impossible, because of how much he has worked on his route running. He showed he can run every route in the tree which is a huge asset, especially when Bryce Love is the tail back with McCaffrey out wide pulling safeties out of the box.
As Stanford heads to UCLA this weekend another huge factor from this game was how well the Secondary played. Not only were there no big penalties but they also showed great improvement in single man coverage. Alijah Holder played a lot better this game in his man coverage and timing up hits to force incompletions. The most impressive feat, however, was holding JuJu Smith-Schuster in check while keeping the other receivers for USC from burning them. A perfect example is when USC went up against Alabama they went all out on covering Calvin Ridley and Stewart tore them up. Their set of defensive backs might be the best in the country. While Tyler Petite and Steven Mitchell both had some nice moments in the game, the Cardinal secondary never lost control.
Another encouraging take away was some very creative play calling from David Shaw and company. The end around to Michael Rector was a great play call to get him away From Adoree Jackson and get their dynamic receiver the ball. They also are managing McCaffrey’s touches, really making sure they are keeping him fresh for the long haul of the season.
In two games we have seen Stanford win by double digit points. They haven’t blown either of those teams out like an Ohio State or Alabama. They had some moments when they were close, but in both games Stanford never lost control of the game. It was is always their game pace, going on their terms, forcing the other team to play their way. If they can continue this style of play they will be one of the harder teams to beat.
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Comments
Ridley's first name is Calvin, not Steven
Just so you know! Great read, though.
By John Loop on 09.18.16 4:56pm
Managing McCaffrey's touches?
Not sure what you mean here. This is actually an area of concern, IMO. Christian had 30 rushes, caught 4 passes, and returned a kick, while accounting for nearly 2/3 of Stanford’s offense. The guy is out-of-this-world great, but at 205 pounds, I think they should save him a little more, especially in games where the Cardinal are well-ahead. Better to give the other guys a few more touches and keep WildCaff fresh for those occasions when he’s really needed, late in a game or late in the season. Just a fan opinion.
By g8tgod on 09.19.16 1:13am
The offense will likely be diversified over the course of the season as the coaches get a better sense of what they have and how the different (some new-ish) parts work together.
It may be a tricky thing to manage, though, with the front-loaded schedule. Let’s just hope McC is still in one piece by the end of November.
By Cardinal&Orange on 09.19.16 11:51am
not to jump the gun
anyone else kind of nervous about the Washington game?
By hutre67 on 09.19.16 12:41pm
yeah
Absolutely. We’re about to play — on the road — two defenses significantly tougher than we’ve seen thus far, and two QBs significantly better than we’ve seen so far. I like our team and coaching staff a lot, but there’s clearly a decent chance we take a loss over the next couple weeks (and if the loss is to Washington, that could be a problem; expecting them to lose 2 other games seems optimistic). Tough schedule this year, with the toughest tests coming on the road.
By 206 Cardenal on 09.19.16 2:35pm
I'm Kind Of Nervous About Almost Every Game....
but truth be told, the next couple of weeks will likely determine where we end up at the end of the year. I like our chances against UCLA just because we seem to always (recently) find a way to get things done against them. But even when Washington was not the team that they are this year (or coached by Chris Peterson), we have had some very tough games against them. Friday night at home for Washington will have a crowd ready to roar. We have been blessed with a great consolation prize in recent years, the Rose Bowl, but a loss at Washington could mean a very miserable year end for the Cardinal. Winning at Notre Dame later is key, but it will not have the impact it might have had ND not lost TWO games already.
I am quietly hopeful that Ryan Burns will deliver when called upon. He throws a beautiful ball and his presence in the pocket is outstanding. The OL has looked better than expected for this time of the year (very few penalties) and the defense is getting stops. #5 is well…..you know, outstanding. And #20 spreads the defense when he is in there too. So assuming that David Shaw opens up his bag of tricks, we are ready to rock and roll through this schedule. And to be fair, if we have illusions of going to the playoffs, these are games that we just must win. If we don’t, then shame on us. But I don’t see Washington as a playoff team which means the Rose Bowl may be gone if we lose to them.
I will be on a flight to Chicago the night of the UW game……but am hopeful I can find a way to watch. Not humanly possible to TIVO and wait four days to check out what happened (over night being the longest I have had to go with this strategy).
I really believe that we have not seen yet what the Cardinal is capable of. So GO CARDINAL!!!
By hoyaparanoia on 09.19.16 6:16pm
not too nervous about ucla
i laughed when i saw mccaff’s stats from last year’s game against them. that game was such a blowout people started leaving the bar at halftime.
i think you might be right about the repercussions of losing to uw next week – both the team and the crowd are going to show up that night, regardless of how their game against ua goes this weekend. moreover, it’s a friday game and i imagine that’s going to occupy the cfb fan base that day. i do hope the senior leadership on the stanford team is apathetic to the big lights by now.
outside of that, i do hope uw beats oregon when that game comes – i like chris petersen and their fans are far classier.
i imagine if you’re flying to chicago you’re taking ua or aa…do you know for sure you won’t get directv or something equivalent on the flight? maybe you can get gogo and at least get the gamecast? someone also usually uploads stanford games to youtube within 48 hours – with this being the only important game fri night, might even be just 12 hours.
By hutre67 on 09.19.16 10:57pm
Totally agree about Burns
He looks capable of much more than he’s been asked to provide to this point. We’ll probably need more from him to win some of the upcoming games, and I hope and expect Shaw will loosen the reins when it’s time…..
By 206 Cardenal on 09.19.16 11:17pm
They scare me definitely
Hostile environment. Good defense and a bunch of playmakers on the husky team. But the thing that scares me the most is that their defensive line is really stout and can shut down our rushing attack. So either coach shaw comes out with a brilliant gameplan early or the conservative shaw shows up and we look lackluster in a loss. Short week too and the physical pounding will also cause injuries for the season.
By layman on 09.20.16 9:27am
i recall chris petersen saying the game against stanford last year was their only unwinnable game
in the sense that they were close in all their other games. why different this year? (I missed the Washington game last year and never got to see a replay on youtube.)
By hutre67 on 09.20.16 12:38pm
Last year they played their backup QB
Their true freshman starting QB was injured and they played their backup for his first start ever and they didnt get a 100 yds on offense in the first half. Although their defense was for real last year, our playcalling was stupendous and we got just enough explosive plays to put them away. What’s different is that they will have their starting QB with game experience, their best WR who missed last season and is already tearing up defenses this year, their salty D returned almost everybody and their depth has had playing time with their soft schedule early.
By layman on 09.20.16 1:08pm
btw, anyone know how this special teams gaffe happened?
and if someone knows how to embed a tweet in here, let me know please! https://twitter.com/ShotgunSpr/status/777972884857769985/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
By hutre67 on 09.19.16 10:57pm
*really* wish they went for 2 on that one just to rub it in
By hutre67 on 09.19.16 11:04pm
By RedOscar on 09.20.16 12:15pm
Ellipses
Click on the ellipses at the bottom of the tweet when you are viewing that tweet on twitter (hover over it and it’ll say "More"). There’s a link that says "Embed Tweet" where you can get the HTML code for inserting into comments.
By RedOscar on 09.20.16 12:17pm
good to know, thanks for the tip.
By hutre67 on 09.20.16 12:38pm
The difference in the game was Discipline & Coaching
I think USC shot themselves in the foot with their penalties killing drives that looked promising. On defense they had a couple of busted assignments and so did we against their TEs. They were also out-coached on a couple of excellent calls on offense especially with the reverse. It looked like coach shaw wanted his OL to impose their will on a soft USC DL and they repaid the faith.
Harder tests await and burns gets his first test on the road. So far he has managed to call the plays in the huddle and make the checks and more importantly snap without major delay of game penalties but hostile environments await.
By layman on 09.20.16 9:23am