For the seventh time under head coach David Shaw Stanford has won at least nine games in a season. The ninth win this year was tough to watch if not for the effort of the defense and, yes, the performance of punter Jake Bailey. Bailey's punt to Pitt's own four yard line might have saved the game for Stanford.
Stanford played without five starters on offense and without Dylan Jackson, Alameen Murphy and Mustafa Branch on defense. The injury list was of course felt most on the offensive side of the ball and it got worse with the loss of A.T. Hall. That was horrible to see for the hard-working fifth year and made Henry Hattis the only healthy scholarship tackle available.
But Cardinal fans, and frankly the coaches, shouldn't use that as an excuse for the catatonic state of the offense for more than a quarter. The Cardinal had four straight three and outs to open the game. (Stanford had a total of six three-and-outs and another drive that was four plays.)
But the defense deserves to be talked about before a dive into the offense's struggles. Pitt scored three points in the second half and gained 118 yards on 4.1 YPP. In my opinion, Pitt passed more than it should. Pickett threw 29 passes in a game that was never separated by more than one score and Pitt led for most of it. Stanford's run defense did just enough to parry the best weapon Pitt's severely limited offense has.
Stanford struggled at times at the line of scrimmage against Pitt's offensive line but that unit has had a lot of success this season. And every defensive linemen who played today for Stanford is coming back. Mike Williams had some nice moments that flashed. Most of the guys up front had flashes.
There was a tough lesson early on a third and 10 when Andres Fox was pancaked on a run play that picked up a first down. Stanford has tried to protect him by playing him on "obvious" passing downs. I believe Chase Thomas jokingly tweeted that it appeared a defensive back was playing defensive tackle. (Also, that's a reference to Fox wearing No. 6.) Fox has a lot of developing to do physically, but he can be a good one.
Stanford really missed not having Casey Toohill and Joey Alfieri together all season. There were moments you could see what that would have meant for the unit.
Alijah Holder and Kendall Williamson were the defensive backs Pitt picked on. Williamson may move to safety next season and this year was an emergency role filling in at cornerback. Holder is clearly not the same player he was before his second injury. Paulson Adebo has firmly established himself as radioactive for quarterbacks to touch. And he had this crucial play in run defense.
Once again Sean Barton and Bobby Okereke deserve a big shoutout for playing most (if not all) of the game. Barton led the defense with eight tackles and one TFL. Okereke had five tackles, a sack and 1.5 TFL.
Stanford's offense gained one yard in the first quarter and 16 in the third quarter. Which means both quarters that probably most reflect a game plan and ability to adjust resulted in 17 total yards. Stanford gained 107 of its 208 total yards in the fourth quarter.
Simply put, it was a horrible afternoon for the offense and probably caused flashbacks for fans to the Walt Harris seasons. Which is appropriate, of course, given Stanford was playing the program Harris coached before Stanford.
Stanford's pass blocking suffered its worst setback since the Notre Dame game and that shouldn't have been surprising because of the loss of Walker Little and Nate Herbig. On first viewing, I believe Devery Hamilton gave up two of the three sacks. He needs a great (healthy) offseason.
No offense in the country can shrug off losing Bryce Love, Kaden Smith, Trent Irwin, Little and Herbig. Those are all future NFL players. But so is JJ Arcega-Whiteside. It wasn't until Stanford's second scoring drive that the Cardinal found success getting the elite receiver the ball.
When he did break through he made history. Arcega-Whiteside is the first Stanford receiver this century with at least 1,000 yards. That should be celebrated. It's a big deal and he's a special player. This was almost certainly his last game as a Cardinal and his career highlight should be fun to watch.
Cameron Scarlett had a solid day and was Johnny on the spot to catch the fumble/forward pass for the go-ahead score. It was an appropriate touchdown for the game. Scarlett has played second fiddle his entire career at Stanford outside of a couple cameos as the No. 1 back. This was his best performance as the lead runner and he deserved it. The biggest negative connected to Scarlett's day was that both screen pass attempts to him were dropped, although they were poorly thrown and the plays were doomed.
Stanford's run blocking improved in the second half and there were several plays when the left side especially caved in the Pitt defensive line. The Cardinal nearly put together one of its game-sealing drives of old but the run on third and three came up short. Stanford's inability to convert that down, and the immediate sprint forward by every defender in the box, was representative of how far Stanford is from its old identity.
Costello was off target at times today and couldn't get the passing game going, but he was gritty through several crunching hits. If he does decide to go to the NFL (which I have no hard prediction on right now) he'll wish he had a better final game. But his success this season was one of the brightest spots of the team's performance. He plays the position with a confidence and joy that is fun for fans to watch and I think for teammates to follow. If he comes back there's a chance Stanford's passing game is actually better than this season.
Stanford finished this season without playing a full 60 minutes to its potential. I believe most objective observers and the coaches would support that comment. That's discouraging and something the Cardinal have to correct in the offseason. In the next few days I'll spend a of time looking back on this season and analyzing why I think things played out the way they did.
The Cardinal didn't meet their preseason expectations, but the win over Pitt helps the story that will be told about this year. A lot went wrong this season and the injuries had a catastrophic effect. And yet Stanford scratched its way to nine wins and may be ranked in the final top-25 poll. Going forward it will generally be a good sign for the program if 9-4 is a "down season". But what's done after such a season speaks volumes about a program's true health.
Stanford played without five starters on offense and without Dylan Jackson, Alameen Murphy and Mustafa Branch on defense. The injury list was of course felt most on the offensive side of the ball and it got worse with the loss of A.T. Hall. That was horrible to see for the hard-working fifth year and made Henry Hattis the only healthy scholarship tackle available.
But Cardinal fans, and frankly the coaches, shouldn't use that as an excuse for the catatonic state of the offense for more than a quarter. The Cardinal had four straight three and outs to open the game. (Stanford had a total of six three-and-outs and another drive that was four plays.)
But the defense deserves to be talked about before a dive into the offense's struggles. Pitt scored three points in the second half and gained 118 yards on 4.1 YPP. In my opinion, Pitt passed more than it should. Pickett threw 29 passes in a game that was never separated by more than one score and Pitt led for most of it. Stanford's run defense did just enough to parry the best weapon Pitt's severely limited offense has.
Stanford struggled at times at the line of scrimmage against Pitt's offensive line but that unit has had a lot of success this season. And every defensive linemen who played today for Stanford is coming back. Mike Williams had some nice moments that flashed. Most of the guys up front had flashes.
There was a tough lesson early on a third and 10 when Andres Fox was pancaked on a run play that picked up a first down. Stanford has tried to protect him by playing him on "obvious" passing downs. I believe Chase Thomas jokingly tweeted that it appeared a defensive back was playing defensive tackle. (Also, that's a reference to Fox wearing No. 6.) Fox has a lot of developing to do physically, but he can be a good one.
Stanford really missed not having Casey Toohill and Joey Alfieri together all season. There were moments you could see what that would have meant for the unit.
Alijah Holder and Kendall Williamson were the defensive backs Pitt picked on. Williamson may move to safety next season and this year was an emergency role filling in at cornerback. Holder is clearly not the same player he was before his second injury. Paulson Adebo has firmly established himself as radioactive for quarterbacks to touch. And he had this crucial play in run defense.
Once again Sean Barton and Bobby Okereke deserve a big shoutout for playing most (if not all) of the game. Barton led the defense with eight tackles and one TFL. Okereke had five tackles, a sack and 1.5 TFL.
Stanford's offense gained one yard in the first quarter and 16 in the third quarter. Which means both quarters that probably most reflect a game plan and ability to adjust resulted in 17 total yards. Stanford gained 107 of its 208 total yards in the fourth quarter.
Simply put, it was a horrible afternoon for the offense and probably caused flashbacks for fans to the Walt Harris seasons. Which is appropriate, of course, given Stanford was playing the program Harris coached before Stanford.
Stanford's pass blocking suffered its worst setback since the Notre Dame game and that shouldn't have been surprising because of the loss of Walker Little and Nate Herbig. On first viewing, I believe Devery Hamilton gave up two of the three sacks. He needs a great (healthy) offseason.
No offense in the country can shrug off losing Bryce Love, Kaden Smith, Trent Irwin, Little and Herbig. Those are all future NFL players. But so is JJ Arcega-Whiteside. It wasn't until Stanford's second scoring drive that the Cardinal found success getting the elite receiver the ball.
When he did break through he made history. Arcega-Whiteside is the first Stanford receiver this century with at least 1,000 yards. That should be celebrated. It's a big deal and he's a special player. This was almost certainly his last game as a Cardinal and his career highlight should be fun to watch.
Cameron Scarlett had a solid day and was Johnny on the spot to catch the fumble/forward pass for the go-ahead score. It was an appropriate touchdown for the game. Scarlett has played second fiddle his entire career at Stanford outside of a couple cameos as the No. 1 back. This was his best performance as the lead runner and he deserved it. The biggest negative connected to Scarlett's day was that both screen pass attempts to him were dropped, although they were poorly thrown and the plays were doomed.
Stanford's run blocking improved in the second half and there were several plays when the left side especially caved in the Pitt defensive line. The Cardinal nearly put together one of its game-sealing drives of old but the run on third and three came up short. Stanford's inability to convert that down, and the immediate sprint forward by every defender in the box, was representative of how far Stanford is from its old identity.
Costello was off target at times today and couldn't get the passing game going, but he was gritty through several crunching hits. If he does decide to go to the NFL (which I have no hard prediction on right now) he'll wish he had a better final game. But his success this season was one of the brightest spots of the team's performance. He plays the position with a confidence and joy that is fun for fans to watch and I think for teammates to follow. If he comes back there's a chance Stanford's passing game is actually better than this season.
Stanford finished this season without playing a full 60 minutes to its potential. I believe most objective observers and the coaches would support that comment. That's discouraging and something the Cardinal have to correct in the offseason. In the next few days I'll spend a of time looking back on this season and analyzing why I think things played out the way they did.
The Cardinal didn't meet their preseason expectations, but the win over Pitt helps the story that will be told about this year. A lot went wrong this season and the injuries had a catastrophic effect. And yet Stanford scratched its way to nine wins and may be ranked in the final top-25 poll. Going forward it will generally be a good sign for the program if 9-4 is a "down season". But what's done after such a season speaks volumes about a program's true health.
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