“They knew all they had to do was do their job”, Helton said of the Trojans’ attitude at the break.
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McCaffrey tied Barry Sanders’ 27-year-old record of 3,250 yards on a punt return and then broke it on a short run toward the goal line during Saturday’s Pac-12 title game against USC.
“It’s a huge honor, ” said McCaffrey, a sophomore.
McCaffrey’s importance was demonstrated in the third quarter. He scored two touchdowns. McCaffrey added an exclamation point to his season so far with two touchdowns in the final seven minutes – first on a 28-yard dump off from Hogan, and then on a 10-yard run with 1:38 remaining.
Stanford (10-2) is now ranked 7th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Throughout the game, yelling and profanities emanating from the USC coaches booth could be heard throughout the press box as McCaffrey stutter-stepped to mid-range gains or blazed his way to the end zone. Senior linebacker Blake Martinez — the conference’s leading tackler — sacked quarterback Cody Kessler and forced a fumble that was picked up by lineman Solomon Thomas. The Heisman Trophy victor went into the USC locker room, which is not allowed because the NCAA banned him from the campus and games.
“We were in man-to-man there”, Hawkins said, “and McCaffrey just lined up on one of our linebackers and won”.
Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan also was quietly effective, passing for a touchdown, running for another and catching a touchdown pass from McCaffrey, who ran for 155 yards in the first half as the Cardinal held the ball for more than 21 minutes. But the Cardinal still dominated USC’s front line to the tune of 262 yards, led by 207 from McCaffrey himself.
Kessler, who completed 22 0f 37 passes for 187 yards, ran one in on his own from 12 yards out to pull the Trojans within one possession early in the fourth quarter, but two McCaffrey two separate touchdowns eventually sealed the conference title for the Cardinal. Junior running back Justin Davis led the way with 99 yards on 17 carries.
USC had reduced a 13-3 halftime deficit to 13-9 on Kessler’s 1-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jahleel Pinner on the Trojans’ first possession of the third quarter.
“The second half, we came out and played great”, Kessler said.
For USC the first quarter was a penalty filled one.
A resurgent USC kept the game close through three quarters, but ultimately the Trojans couldn’t keep pace with the Cardinal’s powerful offensive performance. McCaffrey then threw to a wide-open Hogan for his second TD pass of the season.
USC came into this game with all the momentum in the world. “I said, ‘Absolutely, ‘ regardless of the outcome of this game”.
Knowing his team is unlikely to make the four-team national playoff, Shaw said he expects the playoff field to expand to eight teams at some point. That duo has been outstanding all year long for the Cardinal, which could still sneak into this year’s playoff if enough insane things happen in Championship Week.
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USC was not too upset about Bush’s visit because it gleefully tweeted out photos of his visit with the team. Stanford was able to run the ball effectively with Christian McCaffrey in their first meeting and will look for a similar result on Saturday. Helton said Rodgers wants to play but Nico Falah took all first-team snaps this week.
