Despite Stanford having two losses, it seems that the committee is setting them up for an inclusion in the top 4, depending on how the other championship game play out.
Advertisement
“I always felt like the loser of the first game has the advantage”, Bowden said.
Despite the Trojans finishing the 1st quarter with only 17 yards of total offense and one first down, Stanford struggled to convert in the red zone, which allowed USC to stay in the game.
Hogan caught the TD pass from McCaffrey, threw one and ran for a third and Solomon Thomas scored on a 34-yard fumble return for the Cardinal. McCaffrey answered with a 67 yard run.
USC was the no-huddle finesse team featuring high-flying playmakers on the perimeter, Stanford the methodical grind-it-out operation happy to push around opponents with trademark physicality. “I know he did it in a few less games, but he’s the guy I had a poster on the wall of when I was growing up”.
At that time, the Trojans were coached by Steve Sarkisian, and they were coming off games that were ostensibly scrimmages against Arkansas State and Idaho.
Stanford defeated USC, 41-22, on Saturday at Levi’s Stadium in a result that should surprise absolutely no one.
The Cardinal needed teams in front of them, such as Clemson or Alabama to lose their respective conference championships.
“We know, on both sides of the ball, we’re going to have to get nitty and gritty”, offensive tackle Zach Banner said.
McCaffrey came into the game with 3,035 all-purpose yards and immediately went to work. By the end of the quarter Stanford was fourth and short going for it, getting the first down with less than a minute left. The Pac-12 Championship game started off slowly when a more aggressive Cardinal’s team led 3-0 with a field goal after Kevin Hogan’s touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey was overturned due to a penalty.
While there are no moral victories for a program that all-time has more than 800 real ones, these Trojans still salvaged a season that could have crumbled and managed to stick with a very good Cardinal team until again succumbing to Stanford’s unrelenting manner.
The Trojans beat the Bruins by outmuscling them for the first time in four years, combining a power running game with an aggressive defense that forced three turnovers. A Cody Kessler TD pass to Jahleel Pinner coupled with a 27-yard TD rush from Ronald Jones had the Trojans ahead, 16-13, with 5:28 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
According to Christian McCaffrey’s mother Lisa, his childhood bedroom was filled with posters of Barry Sanders. Shaw said his running back was the best player in the nation.
The pressure is on Stanford more than USC who has no chance ranked No.20. We put the ball in his hands and trust him to make a play.
Advertisement
Unfortunately, freshman sensation linebacker Cameron Smith is out, but I believe USC has enough talent defensively to make it tough on Kevin Hogan this time around.
