With KJ Costello back, the Stanford offense looked much stronger and more capable.
Arizona got the ball first and struck first with a 29 yard Lucas Havrisik field goal. The Cardinal quickly responded with a touchdown strike on a 1-yard Cameron Scarlett rush. After exchanging punts, the Wildcats took out QB Khalil Tate for QB Grant Gunnell. The Texas native was 3 for 3 as he lead the Wildcats on a 65 yard touchdown drive. The Cardinal responded with QB KJ Costello throwing the ball seven straight times. The drive was punctuated with an incredible one handed circus catch by WR Brycen Tremaine.
Arizona would get the ball back and return the ball after a 3 and out. The shootout soon began afterwards as the Cardinal repeatedly ran over the Arizona defense with runs of 12 yards, 22 yards, 19 yards, and a touchdown run of 8 yards punctuated by the occasional QB KJ Costello pass.
The Wildcats quickly responded. After a 18-yard RB J.J. Taylor run, QB Khalil Tate took one to the house on his legs.
It also didn’t take long for the Costello and the offense to respond. After a series of short runs and passes, Costello found WR Simi Fehoko for 44 yards.
QB Khalil Tate and crew chewed away at the Stanford defense for another touchdown before Stanford quickly marched down the field in 1 minute, 34 seconds on a series of short strikes to end the half with a field goal with the score 31 Stanford-24 Arizona.
The second half started with the Cardinal in control with the ball but QB KJ Costello caught his own pass after being tipped and Costello attempted to throw the ball again once more. This was called for illegal forward pass which set the Cardinal back 17 yards back as twelve yards came from where Costello threw it the second time and five yards came from the penalty.
The Cardinal punted and this gave the Wildcats the chance to once again dice the Stanford defense up for a touchdown scoring drive to tie the game 31-31. However, Costello once again found Simi Fehoko for 14 yards in the end zone to regain the lead.
After exchanging a series of punts, the Arizona Wildcats got the ball only for QB Khalil Tate to throw an interception to CB Paulson Adebo which he returned to the Stanford 37.
The Cardinal marched down the field but the drive stalled right outside the Arizona endzone. Stanford would settle for a field goal. On the ensuing drive, the Wildcats would turn it over on downs. The Cardinal would punt after multiple rushing attempts to end the game. QB Khalil Tate and crew got the ball and march down to the Stanford 30 before throwing another interception to CB Paulson Adebo.
QB K.J. Costello would kneel to end the game.
The Cardinal offensive line surprisingly didn’t allow a single sack in the game and RB Cameron Scarlett had his first multi-touchdown game. WR Simi Fehoko had a breakout game as he recorded two touchdown grabs compared to his previous total of only one touchdown grab. 12 different Cardinal grabbed passes (if you count KJ Costello).
Coach David Shaw said of WR Simi Fehoko, “...This has been coming since the first time we saw him his sophomore year in Utah in high school. The young man is tall. He’s long. He’s got a sneaky stride. You don’t think he’s running as fast as he is, but he ran 4.3 for us in the spring...”
WR Simi Fehoko felt that the game had “slowed down“. He stated “I felt it today. It changed for me. A lot during the season, I’ve felt that I’m rushed. I rush myself. But today, it finally slowed down.”
What’s Next: The Cardinal have a much needed bye week. Coach David Shaw stated that the Cardinal would usually rest the experienced players and play more of the inexperienced players but injures have caused the Cardinal to rest everyone with only two short practices scheduled. The next game is an away game against the Colorado Buffaloes.
Comments
Nice to see KJ light it up in his return
Also good to give Scarlett enough touches (although I think he could have used even more to wear down the defense) to do some damage. Every time Scarlett gets a first down, the Stanford D is getting more rest while keeping Tate and co. off the field.
By worldblee on 10.27.19 9:13am
Two weeks of fewer scrimmages and more film is just what this team needs
With time to recover, Mills should be back, perhaps Robinson and another linebacker or two and maybe one or more offensive linemen. Backups will definitely be essential in the high altitude of Colorado and the fast paced action in Pullman. But, more significantly, less time scrimmaging and more time watching film should definitely benefit Stanford. I agree in the first half, the offense performed well against a pretty passive Arizona defense. The offense did not do as well in the second half after Arizona adjusted. Most noticeable was Stanford utter inability to run screen passes. Perhaps that is too much to ask of three freshmen linemen, but screens are a necessary part of Stanford’s offense.
The defense, however, needs a lot of work. It didn’t seem ready when Arizona switched QB’s. Both times Tate came in, Stanford vacated the middle, allowing him to run unimpeded. And when the defensive backs had good coverage, the safeties stayed way too far back, again leaving the middle of the field open. Washington State lives by passes over the middle. The tackling in general was very poor. All that emphasis in the spring needs to be reintroduced in the few scrimmages the team has over the next two weeks. Also it was not clear why the scatback for Arizona was able to juke repeatedly right by our front three into three or more yards of open space. My guess is poor linebacker angles, but the film will show what needs to be addressed.
Arizona is weaker than each of the four teams remaining on the schedule. (Yes, even Colorado, if you look at how they fared against USC.) But as Michigan and Oregon showed, each remaining opponent can be scored upon and with either Costello or Mills at the helm, Stanford should be able to put points on the board. Getting to six wins and a post season bowl will likely depend upon the defense. So get thee to the film room boys.
By SU74 on 10.27.19 5:05pm
Good and Bad News
First the good news: Costello was his old self and threw some terrific passes. The offensive line played admirably opening holes for the running game and protecting Costello. There were hardly any penalties and no turnovers.
Now the bad news: Tackling on defense was horrid, the worst I have seen this year for the D boys. There is a big problem with mobile QBs but fortunately, we won’t be playing any of those in the final four games (Montez though has pretty good mobility). Shaw likes to go into a shell when ahead. We are only up one TD and first and goal inside the 5-yard line late in the 4th quarter and Shaw sends Scarlett off tackle on three successive plays where he was stoned each time. A TD here via a creative play using a tight end pass would have iced the game instead of settling for 3 pts and creating anxious moments at the end of the game.
We should be able to score on Colorado but can we defend them? Washington State at home is almost certainly a loss ofter watching the Cougs take apart the best defense in the Pac 12 at Oregon. Cal is winnable because of poor QB play. ND is a tossup after watching the stinker they played against Michigan.
By gaffman on 10.27.19 7:17pm
ND a toss-up?
I don’t see it that way. I mean it could be that ND simply implodes after this loss, but ND simply has more pieces than we do right now, and unless we substantially improve over where we are right now, that game is not a toss-up at all. Again, unless they implode and/or we get a lot better, ND will win that game. Michigan is much better than we are — I mean Michigan would wipe the floor with Stanford if we played them right now.
Cal it’s because their offense is AWOL. They are kicking themselves, probably, because if they hadn’t lost their entire offense with their QB they would have had a great chance to beat us. They still have a chance to, given how inept we are overall this year, but unless they can find some offense I think we can win Big Game again this year.
WSU is a loss.
Colorado … worries me. We should win, but they could outscore us, as you say. This to me, right now, is a toss-up, depending on what we see between now and the game.
I see the most likely outcome for the remaining 4 games as 2-2, with losses to WSU and ND. Could slip to 1-3 and no bowl if we lose at Colorado. Colorado is likely the "swing" game for the bowl berth.
By Brendan Ross on 10.28.19 4:58am
I am happy for kJ and the team
KJ risked a lot to come back this season when he wouldve been a late round draft pick last year. Playing hurt last against Arizona (game time decision) shows he’s a warrior and leader and a heck of a qb. He deserves to play out the season barring any more injuries. After the cautionary tale of Bryce love going from first round pick to busted knee and late round pick, Shaw needs to show he will support his senior leaders who chose to come back, otherwise more and more draft picks depart early to the NFL. I think mills is a stud and will lead the team well next year, but come one with two knee injuries and a sore knee again this season, why risk it for a 6-6 chicken bowl season?
Alas david Shaw’s post game comments suggest no revamp in the off season. Kind of me wishes we would lose the rest of the games (except cal) and hit the reset button but hard to root against us winning. Oh well
By stanford6thman on 10.28.19 3:29am
why does stanford have 2 byes this year?
By hutre67 on 10.28.19 1:13pm
Everyone does.
The CFB calendar is now 14 weeks instead of 13: https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/06/06/double-bye-weeks-year-michigan-state-michigan-usc-tcu-florida-miami
By Jack Blanchat on 10.28.19 8:12pm
ah, thanks.
probably better for the players considering how frequently injuries happen in football.
By hutre67 on 10.28.19 8:38pm
After seeing a replay of the game...
…Stanford could win or lose any or all of the next four games. On offense, Shaw has clearly realized what went wrong v. UCLA and has corrected it (with the help of solid QB play). Parkinson no longer just plops himself in the middle, letting the d-back reach around him; he is moving and, with Costello’s ability to throw it high, is a much better target. Weddington and Jones are nice short outlets cutting across the middle. And Fehoko is big and fast. The O-line should do well enough against Colorado and WSU, gonna be tougher v ND and Cal. But those games are a month away, so improvement is likely. As long as either Costello or Mills is behind the center, Stanford should be able to score on all four remaining opponents.
So success the remainder of the way comes down to defense. And there are holes all over the place. Booker is mobile and good, but he routinely faces two-man blocks. The other two on the front three are pretty much non-factors. Can’t get to the quarterback and can’t stop runs up the middle. The next level, linebackers, were pretty useless against Arizona. All four took Tate’s head fakes virtually every time, making them run the opposite way from the play. Toohill plays well usually, but he and the other outside linebackers simply did not cover the passes out to the flat (often because they were blitzing and didn’t pick up the back’s release). And the middle linebackers, well, you have to wonder what the heck they are doing. Too slow to blitz effectively or cover anyone, not strong enough to fend off blockers, taking bad angles routinely. I know there are a ton of injuries at that position, but something needs to be done. As for safeties, Antoine is just not very good. Late in coverage, bad angles, slow. Head has potential and hits hard, but Arizona was like his second game and he made mistakes galore. Because the two primary corners (Adebo and Kelly) are good , Stanford is gonna have to opt for single coverage on the outside with the safeties moved up to cover the middle. Otherwise, we won’t stop anyone, even Cal.
One final note. It is good to see the special teams back. Nice job by the freshman kicker/punter, by Wedington, and by the coverage teams.
By SU74 on 10.28.19 5:24pm
"so improvement is likely"
so are injuries (sigh).
By hutre67 on 10.28.19 8:39pm
It was always about the defense.
Stanford rose to the top of the conference, not with offense, but with defense. UW rose to the top of the conference, not with offense, but with defense. WSU had it’s best year when their defense was finally able to stop teams. Utah is leading the South because of their defense.
We won’t sniff another Rose Bowl until our defense can get back to top 10 in the country.
By Blackjoy on 11.05.19 2:36pm
Correct
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.05.19 3:28pm
"so improvement is likely"
so are injuries (sigh).
By hutre67 on 10.28.19 8:39pm