First, my apologies that the forum was down starting at 11 p.m. last night for maintenance. That prevented me from posting last night and that was probably true for several other people. I don't expect that to be an issue again this season.
Now, about the game. Stanford put together a dominant performance over a very overmatched Rice team. In such a one-sided rout it can be easy to declare much of what happens on the field as false gold, but there were some real nuggets to take away from what we watched.
Although, it's likely that at some point during the 15-hour flight home a number of Cardinal coaches and players will turn their thoughts to the critical USC game in two weeks. That will be a very different challenge. (A "tall order" according to the broadcast team who said Sam Darnold and USC are playing well right now despite their season not starting, yet.)
Stanford fans can pick their favorite statistic from a game that was never in doubt and featured plenty of highlight moments. Starting with the first play from scrimmage that got the sideline hopping:
Love put together a stat line of a high school star who didn't have to play the second half: 13 carries for 180 yards and a touchdown.
Love's excellent day wasn't unexpected, but there were a number of things that were maybe less predictable.
The tight ends are featured
This wasn't a shocking development given the inexperience of the wide receiver group and several injuries, including Donald Stewart missing part of training camp. But all four scholarship tight ends expected to play this year had catches in the first half. Colby Parkinson and Kaden Smith each got into the end zone in their first college game.
Last season Stanford had one touchdown by a tight end. It was Dalton Schultz against Cal in game No. 11. In 2017 it only took the third play of the season for the offense.
Parkinson came to Stanford with a reputation as an elite receiving tight end. He caught three passes for 40 yards and two touchdowns. In December Parkinson said in an interview with Cardinal Sports Report that he had doubts about his ability to block college defenders. Given his role against RIce that may not be a problem.
Smith appeared to fight the ball a bit in the last open scrimmage and didn't put together an impressive performance in the spring or training camp practices that fans watched. Early on against Rice he had a third-down converting catch poked away. But he made a couple tough catches later in the game and those may have been some confidence building moments for the redshirt freshman.
Stanford's involvement of the freshmen
Connor Wedington seemed to have more than just a package of plays that the staff was using to introduce him to college football. He also made a spectacular one-handed catch on a long pass play. Wedington finished the game as the leading receiver with six catches for 82 yards, although that was due to the fact he was still playing in the fourth quarter when several other offensive players no longer were.
Freshmen tackles Walker Little and Foster Sarell also played a lot of snaps and Little may have actually played more at right tackle than Devery Hamilton. How much of that had to do with the lopsided score and getting starters off the field is tough to say, but both freshmen were on the field in the first half.
It's unfortunate that Osiris St. Brown is injured because he certainly would have played given the use of Wedington and Parkinson in the game plan.
Stanford defensive starters dominant
Rice's experienced offensive line was supposed to present at least something of a challenge for Stanford's front seven. Instead it was a major struggle for the Owls to gain yards and they had fewer than 100 entering the fourth quarter.
One potentially significant negative for Stanford is that Joey Alfieri left the game nursing the same right shoulder he hurt a couple weeks ago in a scrimmage. He was back practicing a couple days later and inside linebackers coach Peter Hansen said at the time that Alfieri had "dodged a bullet." It's to be determined if this time is different.
Other notes and thoughts
Keller Chryst had several good throws and big plays before stepping aside for Ryan Burns to get some reps. In my opinion the most heartening things to see were his movement in the pocket and on a scramble. He also appeared to do well at the line of scrimmage, but every play seemed to be working against Rice, so that may be difficult for my non-expert eyes to judge.
Ryan Burns had a couple nice moments that put a smile on the fifth year's face on the sideline. His red zone power run play was interesting and something that you wonder could be an effective package of plays. There's no need to have Chryst run those and it presents a very different look from a wildcat formation. I commented during the game that something like a Tim Tebow 2006 role could fit Burns.
KJ Costello gave the most dedicated fans who stayed up late something fun to watch. He looked good in his college debut and seemed confident. A brief psychology detour, but watching Costello on the sideline and interacting with players he seems to really love being out there. He connected well with with Kaden Smith and also important was how quickly he negated a sack by getting the ball out for a safe incompletion. Given who he was going up against it's tough to declare anything long term about Costello, but he could find himself at the No. 2 spot behind Chryst.
Dorian Maddox made his college debut and gained 29 yards on eight carries. He almost suffered a major injury in the spring game but was fortunate.
Jordan Fox, Lane Veach, Anthony Trinh and Jovan Swann each registered their first career tackles. Fox's celebration after his TFL was a sight to see for recruitniks who followed his recruitment and his commitment to attend Stanford. He finished with three tackles. So did Swann, who showed some nice burst on several plays, including the one that ended in Fox's TFL. And how many defensive lineman get to end a game with an interception?
It also was nice to see Veach get into a box score in the final season of a career often sidetracked by injuries.
Several other players who flashed on defense were Sean Barton, Brandon Simmons, Casey Toohill, Peter Kalambayi and Eric Cotton. Barton had two tackles on special teams and showed impressive closing speed that is not really a surprise. Simmons made a solo, last-man tackle to prevent a long run for Rice. I thought Cotton showed well at times and especially in the first couple series.
Toohill and Kalambayi did well on the edge against the run and Kalambayi finished with a sack and TFL. More experienced eyes may be able to offer more.
It was reassuring to see Donald Stewart out there and especially good for Stanford fans to see him win a down-the-field jump ball because of his positioning.
But the passing game still has some work to do and that was expected. Stewart had two catches and was targeted seven times. And a better defense probably could have had a couple interceptions. Also, depth remains a concern at wide receiver, but less of one now that we've seen how Parkinson may be used as a freshman. Overall it's an inexperienced group that will need to plays at USC.
But that is two weeks away and in the meantime enjoy highlights of a very successful trip to Sydney.
Now, about the game. Stanford put together a dominant performance over a very overmatched Rice team. In such a one-sided rout it can be easy to declare much of what happens on the field as false gold, but there were some real nuggets to take away from what we watched.
Although, it's likely that at some point during the 15-hour flight home a number of Cardinal coaches and players will turn their thoughts to the critical USC game in two weeks. That will be a very different challenge. (A "tall order" according to the broadcast team who said Sam Darnold and USC are playing well right now despite their season not starting, yet.)
Stanford fans can pick their favorite statistic from a game that was never in doubt and featured plenty of highlight moments. Starting with the first play from scrimmage that got the sideline hopping:
Love put together a stat line of a high school star who didn't have to play the second half: 13 carries for 180 yards and a touchdown.
Love's excellent day wasn't unexpected, but there were a number of things that were maybe less predictable.
The tight ends are featured
This wasn't a shocking development given the inexperience of the wide receiver group and several injuries, including Donald Stewart missing part of training camp. But all four scholarship tight ends expected to play this year had catches in the first half. Colby Parkinson and Kaden Smith each got into the end zone in their first college game.
Last season Stanford had one touchdown by a tight end. It was Dalton Schultz against Cal in game No. 11. In 2017 it only took the third play of the season for the offense.
Parkinson came to Stanford with a reputation as an elite receiving tight end. He caught three passes for 40 yards and two touchdowns. In December Parkinson said in an interview with Cardinal Sports Report that he had doubts about his ability to block college defenders. Given his role against RIce that may not be a problem.
Smith appeared to fight the ball a bit in the last open scrimmage and didn't put together an impressive performance in the spring or training camp practices that fans watched. Early on against Rice he had a third-down converting catch poked away. But he made a couple tough catches later in the game and those may have been some confidence building moments for the redshirt freshman.
Stanford's involvement of the freshmen
Connor Wedington seemed to have more than just a package of plays that the staff was using to introduce him to college football. He also made a spectacular one-handed catch on a long pass play. Wedington finished the game as the leading receiver with six catches for 82 yards, although that was due to the fact he was still playing in the fourth quarter when several other offensive players no longer were.
Freshmen tackles Walker Little and Foster Sarell also played a lot of snaps and Little may have actually played more at right tackle than Devery Hamilton. How much of that had to do with the lopsided score and getting starters off the field is tough to say, but both freshmen were on the field in the first half.
It's unfortunate that Osiris St. Brown is injured because he certainly would have played given the use of Wedington and Parkinson in the game plan.
Stanford defensive starters dominant
Rice's experienced offensive line was supposed to present at least something of a challenge for Stanford's front seven. Instead it was a major struggle for the Owls to gain yards and they had fewer than 100 entering the fourth quarter.
One potentially significant negative for Stanford is that Joey Alfieri left the game nursing the same right shoulder he hurt a couple weeks ago in a scrimmage. He was back practicing a couple days later and inside linebackers coach Peter Hansen said at the time that Alfieri had "dodged a bullet." It's to be determined if this time is different.
Other notes and thoughts
Keller Chryst had several good throws and big plays before stepping aside for Ryan Burns to get some reps. In my opinion the most heartening things to see were his movement in the pocket and on a scramble. He also appeared to do well at the line of scrimmage, but every play seemed to be working against Rice, so that may be difficult for my non-expert eyes to judge.
Ryan Burns had a couple nice moments that put a smile on the fifth year's face on the sideline. His red zone power run play was interesting and something that you wonder could be an effective package of plays. There's no need to have Chryst run those and it presents a very different look from a wildcat formation. I commented during the game that something like a Tim Tebow 2006 role could fit Burns.
KJ Costello gave the most dedicated fans who stayed up late something fun to watch. He looked good in his college debut and seemed confident. A brief psychology detour, but watching Costello on the sideline and interacting with players he seems to really love being out there. He connected well with with Kaden Smith and also important was how quickly he negated a sack by getting the ball out for a safe incompletion. Given who he was going up against it's tough to declare anything long term about Costello, but he could find himself at the No. 2 spot behind Chryst.
Dorian Maddox made his college debut and gained 29 yards on eight carries. He almost suffered a major injury in the spring game but was fortunate.
Jordan Fox, Lane Veach, Anthony Trinh and Jovan Swann each registered their first career tackles. Fox's celebration after his TFL was a sight to see for recruitniks who followed his recruitment and his commitment to attend Stanford. He finished with three tackles. So did Swann, who showed some nice burst on several plays, including the one that ended in Fox's TFL. And how many defensive lineman get to end a game with an interception?
It also was nice to see Veach get into a box score in the final season of a career often sidetracked by injuries.
Several other players who flashed on defense were Sean Barton, Brandon Simmons, Casey Toohill, Peter Kalambayi and Eric Cotton. Barton had two tackles on special teams and showed impressive closing speed that is not really a surprise. Simmons made a solo, last-man tackle to prevent a long run for Rice. I thought Cotton showed well at times and especially in the first couple series.
Toohill and Kalambayi did well on the edge against the run and Kalambayi finished with a sack and TFL. More experienced eyes may be able to offer more.
It was reassuring to see Donald Stewart out there and especially good for Stanford fans to see him win a down-the-field jump ball because of his positioning.
But the passing game still has some work to do and that was expected. Stewart had two catches and was targeted seven times. And a better defense probably could have had a couple interceptions. Also, depth remains a concern at wide receiver, but less of one now that we've seen how Parkinson may be used as a freshman. Overall it's an inexperienced group that will need to plays at USC.
But that is two weeks away and in the meantime enjoy highlights of a very successful trip to Sydney.
