First, the recruits
Jovan Swann (official visitor; 2016 DL with a Stanford offer)
Colby Parkinson (One of the top 2017 TEs)
Jimmy Jaggers (One of the top 2017 TEs)
Curtis Robinson (Stanford commit)
Brett Neilon (2017 OL; teammates w/KJ and Dylan. Potential offer candidate at some point.)
KJ Costello (Stanford commit)
Matthew Gutwald (2016 OL; strong walk-on candidate)
Dylan Crawford (2016 WR)
Collin Riccitelli (2016 K)
Andrew Vorhees (2017 OL who could be an offer candidate at some point)
Jack Richardson (2016 Palma HS QB - walk-on candidate type)
We'll do our best to get visit reaction from as many as possible over the next week or so.
As for the game... (As always, feel free to chime in below or start a new thread with observations/thoughts/etc...)
-David Shaw opened his postgame press conference by praising Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan and the leadership he has provided to the Cardinal offense. It's getting to a point now where the fact that Hogan played extremely well is no longer a surprise. He's not going to complete nearly 90 percent of his passes every game, but this was Hogan's fourth straight strong performance - and his seventh in the last eight games dating back to last year. There are many reasons why Stanford's offense is operating at its highest level since the Andrew Luck era, but the fact that Kevin Hogan has developed - assuming he maintains this level of play - into a really high level college quarterback is among the most important ones.
-What more can you say about Christian McCaffrey? He leads the nation in all-purpose yards, he now has three straight 100-yard games... and he finally got the first rushing touchdown of his collegiate career! Just a dynamic player who could work his way into the Heisman conversation if this keeps up, though I'd imagine the lack of TDs would hurt him with some.
-Another excellent game for the Cardinal offensive line. The caveat here (and really in all praise of the Stanford offense) is that Arizona's defense in its present form is not very good. They're missing several key players due to injury and are going to have a hard time stopping opponents. But the Cardinal was dominant up front. They paved the way for Stanford's back to average 6.8 yards per carry. Arizona did register two sacks, but Stanford's quarterbacks generally had plenty of time to throw. The three biggest reasons for the drastic improvement in offensive performance from a year ago in my opinion (in no particular order): Use of Christian McCaffrey, OL improvement + Kevin Hogan's terrific play.
-Trent Irwin: team-high (along with Rector) four catches for 53 yards. More third down conversions. Several very difficult diving catches where he plucked the ball off the turf. Watching the game live it seemed like they utilized Trent more frequently than in previous games. Encouraging that he bounced back from the INT/limited second half playing time last week to post the best game of his career.
-Again, a caveat here: Barry Sanders has feasted on subpar defenses in his Stanford career. And Arizona has a subpar defense. But am I the only one who's not convinced he finishes the 65-yard TD run a year ago? Stanford's running backs have been really good the last two weeks, and Sanders has looked excellent along with the rest of the group. Really seems like Stanford is using each back in an optimal manner.
-Stanford's approach to the nickel position has been a bit different this year than in previous seasons. They've started three different nickels in the last three games - Meeks against USC, Whitfield against Oregon State and Taijuan Thomas tonight. Clearly they're mixing and matching depending on the opponent - and clearly Akina trusts a number of his guys to do the job when called upon. So far, so good, it seems.
-Alijah Holder was named the starting cornerback opposite Ronnie Harris (he had technically shared starting duties with Alameen Murphy prior to this week) and played a pretty clean game from my vantage point. Stride for stride with receivers on several plays and was in position to record an INT on the play Dallas Lloyd broke up. He's going to be a good one for the Cardinal.
-Clearly, Keller Chryst does not shy away from contact. He certainly looked comfortable when he was in the game and made some nice throws - and some nice runs, although the long TD was called back due to holding. In any event, good for the Cardinal to get him a few series, and Keller acquitted himself nicely. (Though in the future, Christian McCaffrey might want to, uh, avoid the right hook during his celebration...)
-Arizona's offense was clearly hurting without Anu Solomon - Jerrard Randall has a terrific arm, but some of those throws were unbelievably inaccurate. Nonetheless, the Wildcats have some potent weapons and Stanford's defense did a very nice job slowing them. They held Arizona to 314 total yards and 3.5 yards per carry. Another strong game plan by Lance Anderson and co. And certainly some strong flashes from the Cardinal's defensive line, which has to be pretty beat up and exhausted at this point.
-Always fun to see some of the walk-ons/veterans who haven't played a ton of football get playing time in games like this. Sam Shober made a nice stop on a read option. Pat McFadden got everyone fired up by running for a first down. Torsten Rotto got some good run at the end. Rollins Stallworth (who, as fborg has noted, is mainly used as a blocker on run plays), had the first touchdown catch of his career. And so on.
-Stanford will have its bye week before facing UCLA in 12 days. Probably comes at a good time for the Cardinal. On one hand they're absolutely rolling right now and you'd hate any delay to interrupt the rhythm, but Aziz Shittu and Brennan Scarlett could really use the time to continue to heal up, as could Kevin Hogan, who's not quite back to 100 percent. Same goes for Kevin Anderson.
-Blake Martinez had his fifth straight double digit tackle game - against the hometown program that didn't really recruit him until late in the cycle after Rich Rod took over.
-Casey Tucker went to the the locker room in the fourth quarter but was back on the field and looked fine when I saw him after the game. Seems Stanford emerged relatively healthy - we'll get a full injury update on Tuesday, but it didn't seem like there was much significant.
5 Stats
Stanford cracked the 300-yard rushing mark for the second straight week.
Jovan Swann (official visitor; 2016 DL with a Stanford offer)
Colby Parkinson (One of the top 2017 TEs)
Jimmy Jaggers (One of the top 2017 TEs)
Curtis Robinson (Stanford commit)
Brett Neilon (2017 OL; teammates w/KJ and Dylan. Potential offer candidate at some point.)
KJ Costello (Stanford commit)
Matthew Gutwald (2016 OL; strong walk-on candidate)
Dylan Crawford (2016 WR)
Collin Riccitelli (2016 K)
Andrew Vorhees (2017 OL who could be an offer candidate at some point)
Jack Richardson (2016 Palma HS QB - walk-on candidate type)
We'll do our best to get visit reaction from as many as possible over the next week or so.
As for the game... (As always, feel free to chime in below or start a new thread with observations/thoughts/etc...)
-David Shaw opened his postgame press conference by praising Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan and the leadership he has provided to the Cardinal offense. It's getting to a point now where the fact that Hogan played extremely well is no longer a surprise. He's not going to complete nearly 90 percent of his passes every game, but this was Hogan's fourth straight strong performance - and his seventh in the last eight games dating back to last year. There are many reasons why Stanford's offense is operating at its highest level since the Andrew Luck era, but the fact that Kevin Hogan has developed - assuming he maintains this level of play - into a really high level college quarterback is among the most important ones.
-What more can you say about Christian McCaffrey? He leads the nation in all-purpose yards, he now has three straight 100-yard games... and he finally got the first rushing touchdown of his collegiate career! Just a dynamic player who could work his way into the Heisman conversation if this keeps up, though I'd imagine the lack of TDs would hurt him with some.
-Another excellent game for the Cardinal offensive line. The caveat here (and really in all praise of the Stanford offense) is that Arizona's defense in its present form is not very good. They're missing several key players due to injury and are going to have a hard time stopping opponents. But the Cardinal was dominant up front. They paved the way for Stanford's back to average 6.8 yards per carry. Arizona did register two sacks, but Stanford's quarterbacks generally had plenty of time to throw. The three biggest reasons for the drastic improvement in offensive performance from a year ago in my opinion (in no particular order): Use of Christian McCaffrey, OL improvement + Kevin Hogan's terrific play.
-Trent Irwin: team-high (along with Rector) four catches for 53 yards. More third down conversions. Several very difficult diving catches where he plucked the ball off the turf. Watching the game live it seemed like they utilized Trent more frequently than in previous games. Encouraging that he bounced back from the INT/limited second half playing time last week to post the best game of his career.
-Again, a caveat here: Barry Sanders has feasted on subpar defenses in his Stanford career. And Arizona has a subpar defense. But am I the only one who's not convinced he finishes the 65-yard TD run a year ago? Stanford's running backs have been really good the last two weeks, and Sanders has looked excellent along with the rest of the group. Really seems like Stanford is using each back in an optimal manner.
-Stanford's approach to the nickel position has been a bit different this year than in previous seasons. They've started three different nickels in the last three games - Meeks against USC, Whitfield against Oregon State and Taijuan Thomas tonight. Clearly they're mixing and matching depending on the opponent - and clearly Akina trusts a number of his guys to do the job when called upon. So far, so good, it seems.
-Alijah Holder was named the starting cornerback opposite Ronnie Harris (he had technically shared starting duties with Alameen Murphy prior to this week) and played a pretty clean game from my vantage point. Stride for stride with receivers on several plays and was in position to record an INT on the play Dallas Lloyd broke up. He's going to be a good one for the Cardinal.
-Clearly, Keller Chryst does not shy away from contact. He certainly looked comfortable when he was in the game and made some nice throws - and some nice runs, although the long TD was called back due to holding. In any event, good for the Cardinal to get him a few series, and Keller acquitted himself nicely. (Though in the future, Christian McCaffrey might want to, uh, avoid the right hook during his celebration...)
-Arizona's offense was clearly hurting without Anu Solomon - Jerrard Randall has a terrific arm, but some of those throws were unbelievably inaccurate. Nonetheless, the Wildcats have some potent weapons and Stanford's defense did a very nice job slowing them. They held Arizona to 314 total yards and 3.5 yards per carry. Another strong game plan by Lance Anderson and co. And certainly some strong flashes from the Cardinal's defensive line, which has to be pretty beat up and exhausted at this point.
-Always fun to see some of the walk-ons/veterans who haven't played a ton of football get playing time in games like this. Sam Shober made a nice stop on a read option. Pat McFadden got everyone fired up by running for a first down. Torsten Rotto got some good run at the end. Rollins Stallworth (who, as fborg has noted, is mainly used as a blocker on run plays), had the first touchdown catch of his career. And so on.
-Stanford will have its bye week before facing UCLA in 12 days. Probably comes at a good time for the Cardinal. On one hand they're absolutely rolling right now and you'd hate any delay to interrupt the rhythm, but Aziz Shittu and Brennan Scarlett could really use the time to continue to heal up, as could Kevin Hogan, who's not quite back to 100 percent. Same goes for Kevin Anderson.
-Blake Martinez had his fifth straight double digit tackle game - against the hometown program that didn't really recruit him until late in the cycle after Rich Rod took over.
-Casey Tucker went to the the locker room in the fourth quarter but was back on the field and looked fine when I saw him after the game. Seems Stanford emerged relatively healthy - we'll get a full injury update on Tuesday, but it didn't seem like there was much significant.
5 Stats
Stanford cracked the 300-yard rushing mark for the second straight week.
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