Stanford edged out Cal with a 17-14 victory, securing Stanford its eighth consecutive Big Game victory (the longest streak by either team in the 120-year history of Big Game). David Shaw also became the winningest coach in Stanford history, surpassing Pop Warner with his 72nd victory. Shaw also has more Big Game victories (8) than any other coach in Stanford history.
Now Stanford fans turn their attention to Notre Dame as well as to the rivalry game between Washington and Washington State. If Washington wins, Stanford will clinch the North and play USC in the Pac-12 Championship.
First Half:
Stanford started the game with an impressive drive that included a clever trick play. K.J. Costello faked a fumble, caught the corners off guard, and found J.J. Arcega-Whiteside for a nice gain. Still, the team had to settle for a field goal.
Cal then responded with a field goal of their own after Patrick Laird ran through the Stanford defense, which became a recurring theme throughout the game. The Bears almost even took the lead on their next possession, but their field goal attempt bounced off the front of the crossbar.
The Cardinal then took advantage of the missed chance. Costello led the Cardinal down the field on a six-minute drive and finished it with a 17-yard touchdown completion to Kaden Smith.
On the ensuing drive, the Bears faked a punt and extended a drive that resulted in a field goal.
In the first half, the Bears bottled up Bryce Love and held him under control. Still, Costello stepped up, and the team led 10-6.
Second Half:
Bryce Love finally woke up on Stanford’s first possession of the second half. He found the open space and sprinted for a 57-yard touchdown.
Once again, however, Stanford’s defense failed to stop Patrick Laird, who finished with 153 yards on the day. The running back picked up a 39 yard gain and set up a Cal touchdown, and the Bears converted a two point conversation, making the score 17-14.
On Stanford’s next drive, every fan’s heart stopped. Bryce Love limped off the field, and Stanford’s lost their momentum on offense. The Cardinal missed a field goal, giving the Bears a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter.
Love ran for 101 yards by the time he came out, and even after coming out of the game, he was seen walking around the field on his own power.
With Love out, it looked like Cal would take control of the game. They found themselves in Stanford territory, but fortunately, Ben Edwards picked off Cal’s Ross Bowers, allowing the Cardinal to burn time off the clock.
The Cardinal got the ball with 7:25 left in the game, and without Bryce Love, Stanford had to drive down the field to end the game.
With 4th and 1, David Shaw faced a decision. To kick the field goal, or to seal the win. Needless to say, Cameron Scarlett leaped over the line of scrimmage. In fact, Stanford’s final drive that churned off a full 7:25 from the clock was nothing but Scarlett runs (11 consecutive Scarlett runs, to be exact). Stanford won 17-14.
Go Huskies!
Comments
Cal fans have to be the most out-to-lunch football fans I've ever seen.
I don’t know if they’re drunk or high or just delusional. But they clearly experience short-term memory loss. How on EARTH do they manage to kid themselves year after year into thinking they can even hold a candle to Stanford in anything? Stanford is superior in academics, athletics, and facilities. They always have been and they always will be. It’s time for these intoxicated Cal fans to learn some respect, acknowledge Stanford’s winning streak, and stop saying "Furd".
As for the Pac-12, you may be worried about the Huskies not beating the Cougs based on what you’re seeing tonight, but I can tell you the Huskies have not quit on the season.
By CreatureOfTheNight on 11.18.17 8:53pm
Try Nobel prizes
Furd!
By DaveInTheHills on 11.19.17 12:42pm
Gratz
And it’s lovely that in your classlessness you persist in that disrespectful name for us.
By Brendan Ross on 11.19.17 12:55pm
Hey there! Watch party link?
My son and I would like to come to a watch party to cheer on the Dawgs here in old DC. Is there a link to watch party info? (We have this for Stanford alums).
Thanks!
By Brendan Ross on 11.20.17 7:20am
What he said ^
Go Dawgs!!!
By StanfordAA99 on 11.18.17 9:51pm
Sucks that our title game hopes depend on the outcome of a game that is out of our control...
Having said that, if Wazzu can take care of UW in Seattle, then they definitely would be deserving of the North title and I’d say would have a great chance to beat U$C once again! Plus my dad (Wazzu alum) will have something to be happy about finally!
But obviously I’d prefer a UW win
By ColtsButter on 11.18.17 11:27pm
Cal watched the Wazzu game film and came to play
That victory was a lot tougher than many had predicted (including Vegas). Looking forward, the next 13 days could end up being very tough. If the Dawgs prevail in the Apple Cup (no certain thing after the close shave they had with Utah yesterday), Stanford would have to face Notre Dame next Saturday and USC on the following Friday. In addition, whoever catches USC (Wazzu or Stanford) will get the Trojans coming off a bye week (their first of the season, but coming now at a beautiful time for them).
I watched the first half of the Navy-Notre Dame game yesterday; and from what I could see, Notre Dame is definitely beatable. The key to winning that game will be our run defense, which has been very suspect this year. But in the end, if the Huskies can take the Apple Cup, the Notre Dame result will be rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things. A potential rematch with USC would be much more important; and resting Love until that game would make a lot of sense. I like our chances in a Trojan rematch with Costello under center and the improved O-line play. Again, it’s the front seven that gives cause for concern. Can we get Solomon Thomas, Blake Martinez, Shayne Skov and Aziz Shittu back for just a couple more games this season? I miss the times when our front seven was a run-smothering machine with intermittent parties in the backfield.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.19.17 3:18am
Yep
Clearly they took a page from what the Wazzu defense was doing to us, but WIlcox is also very smart. The gameplan was perfect for them on both sides: play keepaway on offense, taking advantage of both our soft rushing D and our bend not break passing D to feature runs and dink/doink passes all night long … and play Wazzu on defense, take away the run (mostly) and force Costello and the passing game to beat the Bears. They made one big mistake when they got too greedy on that one play (Bowers clearly suffers accuracy on long balls, and it wasn’t just that one, there were a few terrible long throws early too), and it cost them the game, because their defense was finally starting to wear down against the run and couldn’t stop Scarlett and co at the end of the game. But if they play dink/doink there instead of going for the bomb, they very well may have won that game — it was certainly in their grasp. You could say that our bend not break scheme worked, too, by taking away the big play, and giving them the small plays all night, but gosh it was close.
The Apple Cup is looking iffy, I think. I am wondering what UW’s motivation will be other than the spoiler (which isn’t that insignificant) as compared with WSU being on the brink of winning a division. Of course, all of the pressure is also on the Cougs, and it is in Seattle, but I don’t have a great feeling about that one a week out from it.
I still don’t see us doing well against ND despite how they have looked the past two games. Their strength (rushing) plays perfectly against our weakness (rushing D). We made Laird look like an all Pac-12 back, and both Adams and Wimbush are better than Laird, much better. Anything can happen in rivalry games, and there have been some wild ones in this rivalry as well, but "by the chalk", I don’t see this working out well for us. The good news is that it doesn’t matter much, because it’s irrelevant for the Pac situation, and Stanford isn’t in CFP consideration and most likely not NYD consideration either with 3 losses already, so a 4th loss overall isn’t that big a deal at this point in the season. I agree that it would make the most sense to sit Bryce to see what happens in the Apple Cup in case we are in the champ game.
Still, when we were 6-2 and looking at the final stretch, I think 2-2 over the last 4 did not seem like a bad outcome, really, and that’s now worst case. Of course, 3-1 for 9-3 would be nice, but I just think ND matches up too well against our weakness this year.
By Brendan Ross on 11.19.17 3:39am
Also afraid of that, but...
If UW had lost to Utah last night for their second tough loss in a row, I could see the Huskies folding next week. But that was an inspiring last-minute drive with a great performance from Browning, and they won’t do any less than their best in a rivalry game when they still could be 10-2 and ranked high. BTW, Kyle Whittingam made the dumbest timeout call ever in that game, with UW on its 25, second and eight, 40 seconds to go. The Huskies were happy to run out the clock and go for OT, but somehow Utah thought it could get the ball back despite not having enough timeouts to stop the clock after third down. Two Browning passes and a FG later, UW won.
By vk on 11.19.17 7:51am
Agree...UW Will Be Motivated
This is the Huskies’ biggest rivalry game. Sure, UW is not going to win the North nor go to the playoff, but they are not going to lie down for WSU. WSU may, in fact, be a better team. But playing UW at their home field in a rivalry game changes a lot of things.
Also, WSU (and Luke Falk) have shown the ability to inexplicably play a bad game from time to time. There will be a lot of pressure on Falk, Leach and WSU to bring this one home. We’ll see.
By hoyaparanoia on 11.19.17 8:29am
Hmm
Maybe Jeff can clarfify, but I thought that Oregon was UW’s main rival, and WSU was the secondary rival (sort of the same for Oregon), whereas UW is WSU’s main rival (same for OSU).
By Brendan Ross on 11.19.17 8:57am
In terms of years
Washington and WSU have a much longer rivalry. Growing up as a Husky, I was constantly reminded of how vile it was to lose to the cross-state rivals. It’s also an assymetrical rivalry: UW leads the all-time series 71-32-6, so it is truly the case of big brother vs. little brother. During UW’s glory years under Don James, the Huskies didn’t really give the Cougars much thought and heavily dominated the rivalry. One memorable line I heard from a Husky football coach trying to stress the importance of this game to out-of-state UW players (who maybe didn’t appreciate the rivalry) was the following: "Losing to WSU is like stepping in dog manure, except you can’t wash it off for an entire year".
The animosity between Oregon and Washington arose during the Don James era, when the UW would dominate the Ducklings with ease. James went 15-3 against the Ducks, and some of those games were blow-outs. If you listen to Duck fans during this period, the arrogance from the Washington side was palpable: the royal Huskies in big city Seattle with their regal purple and gold were simply a league above the provincial green-and-yellow quackers. Duck fans did not forget this, and when the tables began to turn in the beginning of the new millennium, the hatred intensified. The streak of twelve straight Duck victories was seen as just retribution for past Husky hubris. Now, the Huskies are back in the ascendant, and the mutual animosity continues.
So looking at UW’s motivation, they have every incentive to demolish the Cougars: the Dawgs have won 7 of the last 8 and want to keep this dominance intact; they could play spoiler to the Cougs’ Pac-12 championship aspirations (how insufferable would Cougar fans be if they won the north and beat USC a second time in the title game?); and they could end the regular season at 10-2 and hope for a very good bowl bid, while sending the Cougs to something like the Foster Farms classic. Believe me, the Huskies will not roll over a die on the field next Saturday.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.19.17 9:44am
Thanks for clarifying
That is good news.
By Brendan Ross on 11.19.17 10:05am
Competitive Conference
This was a tough game; Cal is playing at a much higher level than in the recent past. Our D is only so-so, and they exploited weaknesses well. Still the O played well. The running game was pretty good, and especially so in those last few minutes when Cameron and crew were playing lights out. The old saying "when something works, run it until they stop it" worked here. It looked to me that Scarlett has been paying attention to Bryce; I thought he definitely waited for things to develop in front of him on some of those runs, then went where the going was good. Costello gave a solid performance. On Love’s long run, the instant KJ handed him the ball, I told my wife: "He’s gone!" There wasn’t an upright Cal player within 25 yards of him. Nevertheless, while setting an FBS record for most runs over 50 yards, Love slipped to second overall in total yards, about 100 behind Penny (SDSU). Maybe he gets an invite to the Heisman ceremony.
The other two PAC games that were on concurrently (UCLA-USC and UW-Utah) were down to the wire nail-biters. Nobody in this conference really looks dominant. If that continues, our (PAC) chances of getting into the CFP are going to be slim. That said, I move that playing a FCS team in the penultimate game of the regular season be disqualifying for CFP participation.
I do think ND is beatable; they’re big but not terribly fast. We may have the speed edge. As to UW-WSU, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. UW’s passing attack, without Ross, is a shadow of its former self. If both teams come to play, it’s probably going to be down to the wire, keeping us Cardinal fans twitching and shouting throughout! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
By jafco99 on 11.19.17 10:55am
Cal Played Us Pretty Even Yesterday
Love’s one long run and Costello’s mobility were the difference on offense, plus the last drive. Hard to win when you only score 17 points in this league with almost 400 yards of offense. Our defense came through when it counted, including a game saving interception. Then, against all odds, we ran it 11 times to play out the clock. Kudos to Shaw for going for it on 4th and 1.
My only real issue was on the opening drive when with 3rd and maybe 5, Costello went for JJ in the end zone (he caught it out of bounds). We had great momentum moving up the field and I would have loved to have seen a shorter pass play for the first down.
Classic David Shaw win. We even controlled TOP. Ugly. Close. Could have gone the other way. But I’ll take it.
By hoyaparanoia on 11.19.17 8:44am
Coaching may make the difference next week, in both games
Approaching the Apple Cup game, it appears on paper that WSU has the better team. Falk and his backup are playing better this year than Browning. The front four for WSU, when inspired, are more dominant than the larger bodied Husky defensive front four. Chris Petersen is a better leader than Mike Leach, who seems quite willing to throw his players under the bus when the team underperforms. But Leach seems to take a more hands on approach to coaching during the game and that may make the difference in this game. Sure, as a Stanford fan, I’d love to see Stanford take on USC one more time, but this really has been Washington State’s year. They deserve to get to the PAC 12 championship game.
As for Stanford/Notre Dame, both teams have underperformed pretty much all year. They win against weaker opponents and lose to equal or better teams. The players are fairly similar in size, ability, and effectiveness. But we’re now in the last game of the regular season, so there is a lot of film to review for both teams. I expect Lance Anderson will have the defense ready for the Fighting Irish’s running game, despite its repeated lapses against Cal. Several of the Cal runs were a direct result of poor tackling by several Stanford players, particularly at the first point of contact. That can be fixed. And, despite the interception, Cal’s QB is slightly better than Notre Dame’s. So the issue is can Shaw continue to improve the offense, with or without a healthy Love. Shaw’s plan against Cal was clearly to wear them down, which he did. A missed field goal and a few poorly thrown passes kept the score lower than it probably should have been. But it was nice to see the tight ends emerge again. So there is hope next week. If the coaches prepare the team as well as they did against Washington (and better than against WSU or OSU), Stanford could very easily win. Even with his frequent lapses, Shaw is a much better coach than Brian Kelly.
By SU74 on 11.19.17 9:04am
Interestingly
Even though the final score was so low, both teams only punted once. In total, Cal and Stanford combined for only 13 possessions (Cal with 6 and Stanford with 7). Three of them ended in TDs, three in FGs, two in punts, two in interceptions, two in missed FGs and one to end the game. The difference was: Stanford had two of the three TDs, while Cal had two of the three FGs. Each team punted once, threw an interception once and missed one FG. Stanford had the extra possession holding the ball at the end of the game.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.19.17 10:41am