A West Coast college football rivalry that rarely sizzled in its first 10 decades has become a hot ticket.
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“The sky was falling?” “They were able to make some long drives, [and] it was hard to stop them”.
Two big plays extended the drive. The Cardinal is converting 30 percent of its third downs. Conrad Ukrponia’s 46-yard field goal with 2:27 remaining gave Stanford a 10-point lead that USC couldn’t overcome.
Stanford had averaged just 3.2 yards per rush in the first two games but managed 4.0 against the Trojans, outrushing them 195-155. 21 Stanford out of the A.P. Top 25.
Things have been a lot more positive for USC’s quarterback.
“Kevin, when he gets hot, is very, very scary”, Sarkisian said.
“We’re going to evaluate everything after today”. “We need to act like it”.
“He’s a fifth-year senior and has won back-to-back Pac-12 championship games”, Shaw said. Approximately 20 players did so. “That’s not to excuse what we did”, he said.
“Our guys are used to playing in big games”. Conservative, I had said for weeks, joined by others. When quarterback Cody Kessler hit receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster for a 54-yard catch-and-run touchdown, the Trojans had a 21-10 lead early in the second quarter.
“The games are won during the week”, defensive coordinator Lance Anderson said. The Trojans have another big playmaker in their seemingly limitless supply with the addition of Jones, an incredibly fast freshman from Texas with 169 yards rushing and two touchdowns already this season.
I’ll go with Kevin Hogan and Stanford here, though, to keep it close, and maybe even get a couple shots to win this one at the end.
Neither USC nor Stanford has been effective on third down. “There’s a rare quality to him and he’s only going to get better”. The real question is when Jackson will look like he did in training camp? The under is 5-0 in the Cardinal last 5 games in September and 7-1 in their last 8 games after allowing less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game.
USC opened Pac-12 play against Stanford Saturday. 2 USC and the year before that, Stanford survived in triple overtime behind a heroic performance from Andrew Luck.
USC’s offense did its part. Now the odds for the game have USC favored by a comfortable margin to pick up the win. It feels like DEATH. It was Stanford’s first victory in the series since 2012, but its fourth in their past six meetings.
USC’s strong 2015 class, which finished No. 3 in the nation and easily No. 1 in the Pac-12, was built largely on the promise of where head coach Steve Sarkisian could take USC.
Regarded by some as a potential playoff contender, Stanford got off to rough start, losing to Northwestern 16-6 due to an offense that could not finish drives.
A true freshman with elusive skills and speed captivated the Stanford fans past year , and it happened again in Saturday’s home opener. Next thing you knew, Carroll was off to the Seattle Seahawks and varying results in Super Bowls, and the empire he left behind was on probation and drained of scholarships. USC still lacks that leader, as a program lurches toward another mini-crisis which has to be halted as soon as possible. He had no touchdowns however, as the Cardinal punched the ball in with Remound Wright who had three scores on the day. Nothing is amusing about a family in turmoil, but it is another reason why Shaw, as the model of equilibrium in a insane profession, should be viewed as a Stanford prize.
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“(Hogan) did a great job getting us into the right plays, ” Hooper said. “Outside of the coaching world, (people) look for somebody to blame”.
