Another game, another very strong offensive performance by the Cardinal. They weren't perfect today - players and coaches lamented some mistakes/missed opportunities after the game - but they put up 31 in three quarters against the conference's best defense. There weren't as many openings between the tackles as there might have been the past couple of weeks, but Christian McCaffrey was still extremely effective (100 yards passing + running), and Stanford got a ton of players in involved on the offensive side of the ball.
Defensively, a solid performance. UW has some issues, of course, but the Cardinal did a nice job generating pressure, particularly early, even if the sacks didn't materialize. Plus, they batted three balls down. Myles Gaskin is going to be a problem for years to come, and he did have some success, but the Huskies got down big early and he wasn't consistently churning out eight yard gains or anything. So the good news is that Stanford held another opponent in check - Washington only mustered 231 yards of offense and really only had two good drives (the 2 scoring drives were their only ones of at least 30 yards). I do think some of the open field tackling was not great, and that's something that Washington State will test next week. But, overall, a lot to like about the defensive performance.
-Christian McCaffrey was fantastic once again. He surpassed the 100-yard receiving and rushing marks for the first time in his career. (He had a career-high 111 receiving yards.) He bailed Stanford out of several second and longs by taking short passes, blowing by defenders and chewing up yards. He consistently seems to maximize available yardage, and does so better than just about anyone in college football.
-The tight ends didn't have a huge statistical day (well, there weren't a ton of catches to go around to players not named McCaffrey), but they made key plays in key moments. There was Hooper's TD on the first drive. A very difficult catch by Hooper on Stanford's lengthy drive that really iced the game away (that ended with an INT but chewed up 7:50). A terrific leaping catch by Greg Taboada to get Stanford inside the 10 yard line. (The play design was really neat - here's a quick video.) A drive-extending 22-yard completion to Dalton Schultz on a third down. So a lot of timely plays, and neat to get Schultz, who's been blocking his butt off, involved again in the passing game. (They also targeted him in the end zone on the final drive of the first half.)
-Bryce Love had two catches for 28 yards. He also had two rushes for three yards. Yet his presence on the field led to several key plays - defenses have to account for him and the Cardinal has done a very good job of using him as a decoy. (And McCaffrey as well.)
-He's not playing a ton, but Mike Tyler flashed a few times. Batted down a pass on a third down to force a UW punt, got some pressure on Carta-Samuels late. I'd imagine what playing time he has received will dry up once Kevin Anderson returns, but I think the flashes bode well for the future. Though he probably does still need to add some bulk - I think he's primarily in there in clear passing situations.
-It's being discussed in another thread, but Saturday against Washington State is going to be a huge one. I think it's the second-most challenging game left on Stanford's schedule - Notre Dame is also going to be very tough, even though that one is at home. The Cougars will (probably?) host Gameday, it'll be at night in front of a revved up Halloween crowd, and Luke Falk has been darn near unstoppable. Washington State clearly has some issues - they lost to Portland State, after all, as well as Cal - but they're playing a lot better now and will test Stanford's defense, which has been shaky. The other side of this is that if Stanford can get by the Cougars (and Colorado, which shouldn't pose too much of a challenge), there's a chance the Cardinal will have the Pac-12 North clinched before they face Oregon.
-When's the last time Stanford went for it on fourth down on their own side of midfield? (In a non desperation, late-game situation.) Shaw is certainly confident in Remound Wright's short yardage abilities, as well as that of Stanford's offensive line. The Cardinal also went for a fourth and three from UW's 29. They converted both. Shaw was asked about the decisions after the game. Here's what he said:
"I feel fine about it being on our own side of the 50 because of the score we had and the way our defense is playing. Now if we're in a 0-0 game or down by one score, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to play field position. But I trust our guys and believe in our guys and the plan that Coach Bloomgren comes up with. So we get in those positions and we're a two-score lead, somewhere around midfield or plus territory, we're going to go for it."
-Kevin Hogan finished 17-24 for 290 yards and two touchdowns,no interceptions one interception. He missed a few throws, but another solid outing.
-Feels like Ben Burr-Kirven's name was called a lot tonight. Still kind of fascinating to me that UW didn't offer their local undersized LB (Mustafa Branch) and Stanford didn't offer their local undersized LB (Burr-Kirven). I think both will be productive college players.
-Here are full postgame quotes.
-I'll try to get a few videos up tonight. Have the Cardinal/White hoops scrimmage tomorrow morning and I have to get to sleep before too long, so the social media roundup/some postgame coverage might have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.
Recruits
-Jeffrey Okudah (No. 2 S in 2017 - offer)
-Loa Kaufusi (2016 LB. LDS mission - offer)
-Matt Gutwald (2016 OL - walk-on candidate. App is already in.)
-Sire Woods (2017 LB/TE - not sure how heavily they're recruiting him. no offer)
-JJ Parson (2016 DB - Walk-on candidate type.)
-Tre Bugg (2017 DB - not sure how heavily they're recruiting him. no offer)
-Bryce Rodgers (2016 DT from Menlo Atherton - walk-on type)
(There's a chance I might have missed a walk-on type this week, but the above list covers most of the major visitors. Also might have been a hoops underclass recruit or two there - will look into that.)
Notes
Video of the day
https://vine.co/v/eV0evTQdEHi
Defensively, a solid performance. UW has some issues, of course, but the Cardinal did a nice job generating pressure, particularly early, even if the sacks didn't materialize. Plus, they batted three balls down. Myles Gaskin is going to be a problem for years to come, and he did have some success, but the Huskies got down big early and he wasn't consistently churning out eight yard gains or anything. So the good news is that Stanford held another opponent in check - Washington only mustered 231 yards of offense and really only had two good drives (the 2 scoring drives were their only ones of at least 30 yards). I do think some of the open field tackling was not great, and that's something that Washington State will test next week. But, overall, a lot to like about the defensive performance.
-Christian McCaffrey was fantastic once again. He surpassed the 100-yard receiving and rushing marks for the first time in his career. (He had a career-high 111 receiving yards.) He bailed Stanford out of several second and longs by taking short passes, blowing by defenders and chewing up yards. He consistently seems to maximize available yardage, and does so better than just about anyone in college football.
-The tight ends didn't have a huge statistical day (well, there weren't a ton of catches to go around to players not named McCaffrey), but they made key plays in key moments. There was Hooper's TD on the first drive. A very difficult catch by Hooper on Stanford's lengthy drive that really iced the game away (that ended with an INT but chewed up 7:50). A terrific leaping catch by Greg Taboada to get Stanford inside the 10 yard line. (The play design was really neat - here's a quick video.) A drive-extending 22-yard completion to Dalton Schultz on a third down. So a lot of timely plays, and neat to get Schultz, who's been blocking his butt off, involved again in the passing game. (They also targeted him in the end zone on the final drive of the first half.)
-Bryce Love had two catches for 28 yards. He also had two rushes for three yards. Yet his presence on the field led to several key plays - defenses have to account for him and the Cardinal has done a very good job of using him as a decoy. (And McCaffrey as well.)
-He's not playing a ton, but Mike Tyler flashed a few times. Batted down a pass on a third down to force a UW punt, got some pressure on Carta-Samuels late. I'd imagine what playing time he has received will dry up once Kevin Anderson returns, but I think the flashes bode well for the future. Though he probably does still need to add some bulk - I think he's primarily in there in clear passing situations.
-It's being discussed in another thread, but Saturday against Washington State is going to be a huge one. I think it's the second-most challenging game left on Stanford's schedule - Notre Dame is also going to be very tough, even though that one is at home. The Cougars will (probably?) host Gameday, it'll be at night in front of a revved up Halloween crowd, and Luke Falk has been darn near unstoppable. Washington State clearly has some issues - they lost to Portland State, after all, as well as Cal - but they're playing a lot better now and will test Stanford's defense, which has been shaky. The other side of this is that if Stanford can get by the Cougars (and Colorado, which shouldn't pose too much of a challenge), there's a chance the Cardinal will have the Pac-12 North clinched before they face Oregon.
-When's the last time Stanford went for it on fourth down on their own side of midfield? (In a non desperation, late-game situation.) Shaw is certainly confident in Remound Wright's short yardage abilities, as well as that of Stanford's offensive line. The Cardinal also went for a fourth and three from UW's 29. They converted both. Shaw was asked about the decisions after the game. Here's what he said:
"I feel fine about it being on our own side of the 50 because of the score we had and the way our defense is playing. Now if we're in a 0-0 game or down by one score, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to play field position. But I trust our guys and believe in our guys and the plan that Coach Bloomgren comes up with. So we get in those positions and we're a two-score lead, somewhere around midfield or plus territory, we're going to go for it."
-Kevin Hogan finished 17-24 for 290 yards and two touchdowns,
-Feels like Ben Burr-Kirven's name was called a lot tonight. Still kind of fascinating to me that UW didn't offer their local undersized LB (Mustafa Branch) and Stanford didn't offer their local undersized LB (Burr-Kirven). I think both will be productive college players.
-Here are full postgame quotes.
-I'll try to get a few videos up tonight. Have the Cardinal/White hoops scrimmage tomorrow morning and I have to get to sleep before too long, so the social media roundup/some postgame coverage might have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.
Recruits
-Jeffrey Okudah (No. 2 S in 2017 - offer)
-Loa Kaufusi (2016 LB. LDS mission - offer)
-Matt Gutwald (2016 OL - walk-on candidate. App is already in.)
-Sire Woods (2017 LB/TE - not sure how heavily they're recruiting him. no offer)
-JJ Parson (2016 DB - Walk-on candidate type.)
-Tre Bugg (2017 DB - not sure how heavily they're recruiting him. no offer)
-Bryce Rodgers (2016 DT from Menlo Atherton - walk-on type)
(There's a chance I might have missed a walk-on type this week, but the above list covers most of the major visitors. Also might have been a hoops underclass recruit or two there - will look into that.)
Notes
Video of the day
https://vine.co/v/eV0evTQdEHi
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