At the time, Geronimo was still alive. Defensively, USC football is yielding 251.5 yards in passing and 149.3 yards in rushing against the opposing teams.
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The total has gone under in six of Stanford’s last eight games in September.
That result, however, has not been the norm of late against Stanford, an opponent completely abnormal in its painfully exquisite consistent nature, conservative approach and rigid attitude.
THE PAC-12 COACHING RANKS: Ten of the 12 Pac-12 head coaches have been leading their respective teams for five or fewer seasons. I’ve had fillings that weren’t as stubborn as Shaw is most days.
POLL NOTES: WASHINGTON is the eighth different Pac-12 team to appear in the AP Top 10 over the last three seasons. But I also know that it’s not completely literal. But if USC can contain him which they did do in their first matchup against Stanford previous year (McCaffrey had his third lowest yards per carry average of the season against the Trojans), USC will have success. “And they do it well”.
Stanford beat USC by 19 points in the Pac-12 Championship Game past year, but that was actually a five-point game with 10 minutes to go before McCaffrey tacked on two late scores.
As bad as 2-6 sounds, and even the Rams’ offense thinks that’s inept, those two victories are still two more than UCLA can claim; the Bruins having dropped eight in a row to the Cardinal.
Said USC defensive tackle Stevie Tu’ikolovatu: “They’re the only Pac-12 team that plays the way they do”. What makes it real is the fact that they take turns beating each other.
Defensive end Harrison Phillips, who hurt his right leg two weeks ago, went through individual drills Wednesday, but his availability for Saturday was still up in the air.
The Stanford Cardinal are one of the Pac-12’s best hopes at reaching the College Football Playoff.
What’s more, another loss on Saturday would mean USC has fallen to Stanford three times in one calendar year, something almost as rare in college football as a penalty for too many men on the ice.
The Trojans lost to Stanford in the Pac-12 title game past year 41-22, but that game was closer than the final score might indicate. All it takes is one mistake against them.
McCaffrey also had a 97-yard punt return for a score negated by penalty. Running back Christian McCaffrey is back after his All-American season to lead Stanford as the front runners in the conference.
And remember when the possibility of seeing something both brilliant and obscene at a Stanford game meant watching the school’s band? Similar frustration on Saturday will equate to a runaway Stanford victory. USC CB/WR/KR Adoree’ Jackson (long jump) and ARIZONA STATE WR/KR Tim White (triple jump) attempted to make the U.S. squad, but came up short.
This would seem to suggest the potential of McCaffrey again producing wildly against the Trojans, producing everything up to and including the pre- and postgame shows. Darreus Rogers led USC with 82 yards on seven catches followed by JuJu Smith- Schuster with seven receptions for 56 yards and two TD’s. “He’s a great player”.
“I go against him every day”, he said.
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There is an argument to made that USC’s season nearly rests on this outcome. The guess here: Somewhere between the 52-6 loss to No. 1 Alabama and 45-7 victory over No. The USC Trojans got thrashed by the Alabama Crimson Tide in their first game, but bounced back against Utah State at home this past week. “This has been back and forth, this has been a very physical matchup, this has been an emotional matchup, these have been very, very tight, close games going down to the fourth quarter”.
