Stanford no longer "controls its destiny" after losing a heartbreaker 41-38 Saturday night to Washington State. It's the third straight loss to Washington State but, unlike the previous two, the Cardinal offense was mostly up to the task.
Stanford heads up to Seattle next week to face a limping Washington Huskies team that fell to Cal 12-10. It was an offensive performance so disastrous that Jake Browning was benched at one point. That made it worse. It’s also a preseason marquee game that has lost a lot of its luster. It will feature two unranked, three-loss teams.
The Cardinal will arrive with an offense coming off, in some ways, its best game of the season -- although it came up short in several key plays -- and a defense that is has unfortunately made it a routine to be shredded by opposing quarterbacks.
From the first play of the game it was clear Stanford was going to be different on offense. David Shaw went with tempo to give KJ Costello more time at the line before the snap (he consistently had 15-20 seconds of play clock to use however he wanted) and the passing game led the way. Stanford’s first four plays were passes and first two first-down plays were completions to JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Kaden Smith, respectively.
Stanford scored its first points on an opening drive since the USC game and it featured 10 pass attempts by Cotsello. The last one was a familiar play and result.
Washington State took advantage of the lone turnover of the game to open a 14-7 lead. Jesse Burkett was beaten by a speed rush and Costello lost control of the ball when his arm was hit as he tried to sidestep. It was one of only a couple times in the game that the conference's top sack defense troubled Costello in the pocket. It was Costello's fifth first quarter turnover of the season (two vs. UC Davis and two vs. Utah) and in a close game was critical.
But Stanford put together three impressive scoring drives in the rest of the first half.
The game-tying drive featured a 43-yard run by Bryce Love out of the shotgun that showed that with a less crowded box, and by breaking trends earlier in the game, there could be success running the ball. Stanford gained 120 yards on 23 carries for a finally healthy average of 5.2 yards per play.
Stanford's go-ahead touchdown was a dominant show by tight end Kaden Smith. He hauled in three catches for 66 yards and the touchdown was a heads-up play. Stanford lined up in a formation that was largely successful on the night.
The drive to go up two scores started with two big plays to Trent Irwin and benefitted from a couple penalties. But again there was an encouraging wrinkle. It came on fourth and goal from a couple inches out of the end zone.
Stanford's offense was rolling but significantly slowed in the quarter, gaining only 46 yards and most of that was on the first that resulted in a field goal. At the end of that drive Shaw decided to kick a field goal to go back up seven rather than try fourth and less than a yard at the Washington State 22. If Stanford fails to convert then a reeling defense is back on the field with a four point lead after consecutive Washington State scoring drives.
Stanford only got two drives in the quarter and another key play was the third down pass attempt to Irwin on the second drive. It was third and two after two runs by Trevor Speights and a quick throw to Irwin appeared to be deflected by a great effort by a Washington State linebacker.
Another major play of the second half was the throw short to Love on fourth and three at Washington State's 32 with 9:15 left in the game. After the game, Shaw said Love was not Costello's first read on the play, but Costello checked down to Love more quickly than seemed necessary since there was no pressure.
On the other side of the ball, Stanford's defense started to fall apart in the last drive of the first half when poor tackling and angles allowed Washington State to kick a field goal to set up a rally back from down 28-14. I asked Alijah Holder after the game about that field goal drive and he said: "Missed tackles." That was all. He shook his head and said it was simply missed tackles.
Washington State faced third and three on their own 32 with 34 seconds left when Malik Antoine and then Bobby Okereke -- whose failure was the most costly -- couldn't make a tackle and the result was a 54 yard gain.
Once Washington State knew it could win open field battles with Stanford's defenders it was a relentless attack.
Gardner Minshew was 24-of-27 for 247 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Before he threw two incompletions on the final drive the only incompletion of the half was a shovel pass that bounced off Max Borghi. Stanford's defense was no match for Mike Leach and Minshew.
Stanford could not get to Minshew with four pass rushers, something Shaw was critical of after the game. Stanford even tried Andres Fox but it was a brief cameo for the freshman making use of the new redshirt rule. The Cardinal cannot get pressure without bringing extra defenders, and even then it wasn't often successful.
Washington State didn't need to use the running game, which it has at times to great effect in recent years against Stanford. The Cardinal held up pretty well against the occasional run, but it was the only positive for the unit.
The dagger from Minshew was a perfectly placed pass to Jamire Calvin over Sean Barton for 35 yards to Stanford's 32. Barton was close to Calvin but wasn't aware of where the ball was to make a play. If the throw was a few inches shorter it might go off Barton's helmet. That's how close Stanford likely was to having the ball with just under a minute left in the game to possibly win with a field goal. Instead it's the third loss in four games.
Holder missed a couple series and was replaced by Obi Eboh. No explanation was offered after the game for Holder's absence. He was targeted by Minshew on his first drive back from being relieved by Eboh did not fare well. It was a remarkable sight to see the fifth year picked on to that extent.
Jordan Fox said after the game he thought Washington State sped up their pass game in the second half to make it even more difficult for pass rushers to get to Minshew. There was some success pressuring him in the first half but less so in the second.
Stanford heads up to Seattle next week to face a limping Washington Huskies team that fell to Cal 12-10. It was an offensive performance so disastrous that Jake Browning was benched at one point. That made it worse. It’s also a preseason marquee game that has lost a lot of its luster. It will feature two unranked, three-loss teams.
The Cardinal will arrive with an offense coming off, in some ways, its best game of the season -- although it came up short in several key plays -- and a defense that is has unfortunately made it a routine to be shredded by opposing quarterbacks.
From the first play of the game it was clear Stanford was going to be different on offense. David Shaw went with tempo to give KJ Costello more time at the line before the snap (he consistently had 15-20 seconds of play clock to use however he wanted) and the passing game led the way. Stanford’s first four plays were passes and first two first-down plays were completions to JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Kaden Smith, respectively.
Stanford scored its first points on an opening drive since the USC game and it featured 10 pass attempts by Cotsello. The last one was a familiar play and result.
Washington State took advantage of the lone turnover of the game to open a 14-7 lead. Jesse Burkett was beaten by a speed rush and Costello lost control of the ball when his arm was hit as he tried to sidestep. It was one of only a couple times in the game that the conference's top sack defense troubled Costello in the pocket. It was Costello's fifth first quarter turnover of the season (two vs. UC Davis and two vs. Utah) and in a close game was critical.
But Stanford put together three impressive scoring drives in the rest of the first half.
The game-tying drive featured a 43-yard run by Bryce Love out of the shotgun that showed that with a less crowded box, and by breaking trends earlier in the game, there could be success running the ball. Stanford gained 120 yards on 23 carries for a finally healthy average of 5.2 yards per play.
Stanford's go-ahead touchdown was a dominant show by tight end Kaden Smith. He hauled in three catches for 66 yards and the touchdown was a heads-up play. Stanford lined up in a formation that was largely successful on the night.
The drive to go up two scores started with two big plays to Trent Irwin and benefitted from a couple penalties. But again there was an encouraging wrinkle. It came on fourth and goal from a couple inches out of the end zone.
Stanford's offense was rolling but significantly slowed in the quarter, gaining only 46 yards and most of that was on the first that resulted in a field goal. At the end of that drive Shaw decided to kick a field goal to go back up seven rather than try fourth and less than a yard at the Washington State 22. If Stanford fails to convert then a reeling defense is back on the field with a four point lead after consecutive Washington State scoring drives.
Stanford only got two drives in the quarter and another key play was the third down pass attempt to Irwin on the second drive. It was third and two after two runs by Trevor Speights and a quick throw to Irwin appeared to be deflected by a great effort by a Washington State linebacker.
Another major play of the second half was the throw short to Love on fourth and three at Washington State's 32 with 9:15 left in the game. After the game, Shaw said Love was not Costello's first read on the play, but Costello checked down to Love more quickly than seemed necessary since there was no pressure.
On the other side of the ball, Stanford's defense started to fall apart in the last drive of the first half when poor tackling and angles allowed Washington State to kick a field goal to set up a rally back from down 28-14. I asked Alijah Holder after the game about that field goal drive and he said: "Missed tackles." That was all. He shook his head and said it was simply missed tackles.
Washington State faced third and three on their own 32 with 34 seconds left when Malik Antoine and then Bobby Okereke -- whose failure was the most costly -- couldn't make a tackle and the result was a 54 yard gain.
Once Washington State knew it could win open field battles with Stanford's defenders it was a relentless attack.
Gardner Minshew was 24-of-27 for 247 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Before he threw two incompletions on the final drive the only incompletion of the half was a shovel pass that bounced off Max Borghi. Stanford's defense was no match for Mike Leach and Minshew.
Stanford could not get to Minshew with four pass rushers, something Shaw was critical of after the game. Stanford even tried Andres Fox but it was a brief cameo for the freshman making use of the new redshirt rule. The Cardinal cannot get pressure without bringing extra defenders, and even then it wasn't often successful.
Washington State didn't need to use the running game, which it has at times to great effect in recent years against Stanford. The Cardinal held up pretty well against the occasional run, but it was the only positive for the unit.
The dagger from Minshew was a perfectly placed pass to Jamire Calvin over Sean Barton for 35 yards to Stanford's 32. Barton was close to Calvin but wasn't aware of where the ball was to make a play. If the throw was a few inches shorter it might go off Barton's helmet. That's how close Stanford likely was to having the ball with just under a minute left in the game to possibly win with a field goal. Instead it's the third loss in four games.
Holder missed a couple series and was replaced by Obi Eboh. No explanation was offered after the game for Holder's absence. He was targeted by Minshew on his first drive back from being relieved by Eboh did not fare well. It was a remarkable sight to see the fifth year picked on to that extent.
Jordan Fox said after the game he thought Washington State sped up their pass game in the second half to make it even more difficult for pass rushers to get to Minshew. There was some success pressuring him in the first half but less so in the second.
