Trojans running back Justin Davis, who rushed for 99 yards, said the Trojans might have been too keyed up.
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McCaffrey’s 50 yard run setup Stanford’s second field goal of the game. The numbers are gaudy. He returned five kickoffs for 120 yards and two punts for 29 yards.
Connor Cook led the Spartans (12-1) on a 22-play drive that set up Scott’s 1-yard run.
Stanford won the Pac-12 Conference title on a Saturday night when sophomore tailback Christian McCaffrey shattered the single-season record for all-purpose yards. Sanders’ record was 3,250.
Commentators: Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Todd Blackledge (analyst), Holly Rowe (sideline). “It’s been an extremely exciting season for me”. I couldn’t do it without my teammates. He catches the ball in the backfield, makes the guy miss and takes it to the house.
The first showed off his accurate arm. It took McCaffrey 13 games to set his record, where Sanders only had 11, and he’ll have a bowl game to further it.
“Whenever a new Barry Sanders highlight video came out, he would run to watch it”, Lisa McCaffrey said after the game. USC NET TOTAL Yards is 357 while McCaffrey had 323 yards.
The Cardinal defeated the USC Trojans, 41-22.
Shaw said his running back was the best player in the nation. “It’s not even a debate….What Christian has done is phenomenal…He could still play another quarter if we had to”. Early in the third quarter, a bigger concern was just beating the Trojans. That figure excludes the 11 passing yards he tallied after throwing a touchdown pass to his quarterback, Kevin Hogan. Stanford almost shut the USC offense down in the first half, but the Trojans stormed back in the third quarter to get within three points and make the game interesting.
One wouldn’t understand that only by watching the USC players slowly stumbling and staggering from the Levi’s Stadium field amid flapping Stanford flags and dozens of hugging black-and-red jerseys. Defensive lineman Solomon Thomas scooped it up and charged 34 yards for a touchdown.
McCaffrey then delivered the knockout blow with his 28-yard touchdown.
Heisman Trophy favorite Derrick Henry reiterated his case with another bruising effort, gaining 189 yards in 44 carries. Stanford allowed just three USC first downs before halftime. Given that Adoree is a full-time cornerback for the Trojans defense, he is still capable of being an offensive weapon that would allow USC to become more creative within the playbook.
On the first play of the second quarter, McCaffrey split out to the left, took a pitch from Hogan on a reverse and then pitched it back to the wide-open quarterback for a touchdown.
Martin, who, like Helton, was hired by Lane Kiffin and retained by Steve Sarkisian, is a heavy favorite to be named the Trojans’ offensive coordinator, the role Helton held until being promoted to head coach. “Our guys played so well, put everything they had on that field, I couldn’t be more proud of them”. “I thought we had a good chance there, and then we had a critical error in pass protection that ended up costing us”. Hogan found McCaffrey in an absurdly solitary place, right in the heart of USC’s defense, and he streaked 67 yards. The senior quarterback also completed the hat trick, catching, throwing and running for touchdowns in the win.
Hogan scored on the next play to put Stanford ahead 20-16.
As the Cardinal ran into the locker room, no one was asking what was happening with Clemson.
As long as the FBS National Championship playoffs are capped at 4 teams, at least one Power-5 conference is going to be frozen out.
Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, who is making his first Rose Bowl appearance as a head coach, echoed Shaw’s sentiments – to an extent. How hard is that?
“I’m going to be looking at all avenues and several coaches and I’m not going to rush into this”, Helton said. “Once again, we’re not in charge of that”.
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“This team, every single time we had anybody break us down, we always strived for perfection”, Martinez said. “I think the four-team playoff is great”. “If you win one of the Big Five conferences, you should be in the playoff”.
