Is it sinking into mediocrity or ready to reclaim its place in the serious sandbox of college football?
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“I had a conversation once with (Joe) Montana that’s one of my favorites”, Shaw said. Last December, Hogan lost his father to colon cancer.
Shaw said on this week’s Pac-12 coaches teleconference that he “will never compare anyone to Andrew Luck”. Utah outscored Fresno State 24-3 in the first three quarters to pull away for the victory. Kicker Conrad Ukropina, who just earned a scholarship on Monday, nailed a 43-yard field goal with 2:33 left in the contest to seal the deal. “Now, we have to do a great job as leaders of this program to make sure that we don’t just kind of lay in the weeds of being ‘woe is me.’ We have to get back up”.
The defensive game plan was as vanilla as in USC’s first two games against Arkansas State and Idaho. “Moving forward, we’re going to start carrying all of our big plays”. Dane Evans threw for 427 yards and four touchdowns and Keyarris Garrett caught 14 passes for 189 yards for Tulsa. Approximately 20 players did so.
“The guys were celebrating after the game”, Stanford coach David Shaw said. “Vanilla”, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit fired earlier in the day.
Devontae Booker rushed for more than 150 yards and two touchdowns as the Utes remained unbeaten on the season.
The Trojans have been blowing cupcake teams out left and right to begin the year, but Stanford is no walk in the park.
Defensively, it is hard to tell just how good USC is because of the level of talent that they have played so far. He finished 18-of-23 for 279 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed for another 28 yards on seven carries.
If Stanford tight end Austin Hooper wasn’t an All-American candidate already, he became one Saturday night. There was Remound Wright, scoring three times from the 1. The second one came soon after an interception by Donovan Wilson on the first play of the second half. What really did Stanford in though, was the run defense – or the lack thereof.
Numerous previous dozen games had not, with the Cardinal losing five times.
Nick Arbuckle threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns, and freshman Penny Hart had nine catches for 128 yards for the Panthers (1-2).
MATCHUP TO WATCH: Stanford’s defensive line against USC’s offensive line…. Stanford is going to have to play solid defense to have any chance of slowing USC down. It feels like DEATH. (NFL, NBA, MLB, National Hockey League and NCAA) Vernon Croy has made his living wagering on sports since 1992 and has been one of the top handicappers in the industry for more than 15 years.
If USC can’t brag up football, its self-esteem goes limp, with no need for Trojans. Last season’s victory ended Stanford’s 17-game home winning streak, but also included USC AD Pat Haden’s memorable trip down to the field to yell at the officials….
USC head coach Steve Sarkisian got a boost on defense, as he welcomes back star linebacker Lamar Dawson. It would be a major upset if Stanford won.
Now, after a disappointing performance against a team that historic enjoys bursting USC’s bubble, the pressure is certainly back on Sarkisian.
“Last season, Stanford”s Jordan Williamson missed two field-goal attempts against the Trojans. 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. Who were the sportsbooks that gave USC the fifth-best odds to reach the College Football Playoff? “Our defense made some key stops and we were able to take the lead at the end of the second quarter”.
Don’t expect Sarkisian to get the ax tomorrow, but the temperature has been turned up.
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The challenge starts next week for USC at Arizona State.
