Cal reduced a 21-6 halftime deficit to 21-16 on Matt Anderson’s 25-yard field goal and Goff’s 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Darius Powe. However, the field crew didn’t flip the down marker to third down, so Colorado quarterback Charles Johnson assumed he had one more possession to score after spiking the ball on fourth, and used that chance to score as time expired to give Buffaloes the infamous win.
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STORYLINES: The combination of a Stanford victory or an or loss would clinch the North division title for the Cardinal….
The Bears bounced back in a hurry, marching 12 plays for a field goal, getting within 14-6 with 51 seconds to go in the second period. The Bears ran for 307 yards last week, led by Tre Watson (110) and Vic Enwere (89).
Touring a couple of Menlo Park neighborhoods, we found plenty of signs that the Cal Bears were invading what is traditionally Stanford territory. His performance against Cal was a signature night where he showed us everything he could do, including perhaps a few of his most exciting plays of the season.
In the 1990 Big Game, Ed McCaffrey scored the touchdown that would pull Stanford within one of Cal, eventually allowing the Cardinal to win the game. Once I started playing in it, the energy level is right up there with the best games I’ve played in. Stanford sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey ran for a total of 389 all-purpose yards in the game, breaking his career all-purpose yards mark, including one rushing touchdown and a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the first of his career.
McCaffrey finished with 192 yards on the ground, 49 in the air and 148 on kickoff returns. Stanford ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in run defense but Cal is 10th in the nation in passing yards per game (348.1) so the game plan wasn’t going to be to run the ball anyway.
Scarlett is the first graduate transfer at Stanford.
Stanford was able to largely offset the Bear Raid with McCaffrey’s outstanding play. It left redshirt freshmen Alameen Murphy and Alijah Holder as the Cardinal’s starting cornerbacks….
Whether McCaffrey loses out in the Heisman race to Alabama running back Derrick Henry or Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield or Leonard Fournette of LSU or whomever, he is lighting up Stanford Stadium down the stretch in ways never seen before. More often than not, they’ve been part of the #Pac12AfterDark package.
Chantel Jennings also goes on to tell us about the difference in OR defensive end DeForest Buckner’s on-field and off-field personalities.
“We’re trying to keep taking steps forward, (and) this is one of those steps”, Dykes said this week.
While Scarlett knows numerous players and coaches at Cal, Stanford coach David Shaw said he is not tapping him for any inside information this week.
The Bears enter Saturday having secured bowl eligibility for the first time under Dykes with a win over Oregon State last weekend. But this year, the two teams t hat the Bears didn’t play in conference play were two of the weaker teams in the conference. “A 1-11 season, just grinding from the bottom to try to get to this point where we’re competitive and respectable in the Pac-12”. In a tight game late in the second quarter, McCaffrey made it happen. He was far more efficient than he was during the team’s four-game losing streak, when he completed 98-of-172 with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.
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“It’s a minor consolation”, said safety Stefan McClure.
