Another year, another elite David Shaw-coached Stanford team.
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McCaffrey slipped out of the backfield for a 56-yard touchdown reception and dived over the pile for a 1-yard score as the seventh-ranked Cardinal beat USC 27-10 on Saturday night.
For many, the turning point against USC was Michael Rector’s 56-yard end-around in the third quarter, giving Stanford a 27-10 advantage. They allowed the Wildcats to have a far greater total in time of possession, something that virtually never happens to Stanford due to the Cardinal’s slow, methodical offensive playing style. After knocking down back-to-back Stanford 6-on-5 opportunities, USC’s offense lit up with junior driver Grant Stein hammering in a left handed shot while freshman driver Thomas Dunstan put up a goal of his own a minute later. Guys played hard. They played physical.
“I thought the way they came out, anybody that watched the first drive, I thought they came out exactly the way you wanted them to”, Helton said. Stanford has the best shot at this stage of the year, but Washington is definitely on the rise and OR could earn some respect with a win at Nebraska on Saturday, all of which could get some respect to the west coast and help all the schools in recruiting.
The versatile running back again torched USC, rushing for 165 yards, plus 73 receiving yards, with two touchdowns.
Browne set up the Trojans in the red zone when he hit Tyler Petite on a 38-yard touchdown pass along the seam.
“It’s not like they were just pounding us”, USC safety Chris Hawkins said.
“That’s one of the toughest throws, when he’s wide open and you don’t want to miss it – that’s the only thing you’re thinking”, Burns said. The Trojans didn’t have much luck hanging in there against Alabama.
The Trojans moved the ball 75 yards in nine plays for a touchdown on the first drive of the second half. The Trojans are inexperienced and dealing with some injuries up front.
USC’s offensive line concerns come at an inopportune time, facing off against arguably the best defensive line in the Pac-12.
“They’re going to be disciplined”, Davis said, a prediction similar to forecasting that the ocean will be wet.
USC had seven of its eight penalties in the first half – five of those for false starts. Max Browne (18 for 28 for 191 yards) was solid, but the Trojans did little to stretch the field and played it safe on several third-and-longs.
From that point on, however, USC couldn’t manage to get anything going on offense.
Early in the fourth quarter, USC was approaching the end zone and threatening to score.
Clocked at 4.29 in the 40-yard dash this spring, Rector had 40 career rushing yards before he was turned loose. USC head coach Clay Helton has stated that one of their major goals will be to keep McCaffrey off the field; it will be up to McCaffrey and the Cardinal O-line to dictate the pace of the game at the line of scrimmage. “That’s the way we think”. “This is going to be a good football team”. It’s going to be on graduate transfer quarterback Dakota Prukop to rack up a lot of points and avoid turnovers for the Ducks against a middling Nebraska pass defense to keep OR in this game.
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Stay tuned to Reign of Troy Radio, as we’ll be back to with more USC football talk next week.
