“It just happens to be our biggest rival; just happens to be for the Axe”.
Advertisement
“Any time you lose, it stings”, senior outside linebacker Kevin Anderson said. “So we need a little bit of perspective here, but it definitely stings right now”. Her goal is to help the professors understand what it means to be a student-athlete at Cal, while encouraging the student-athletes to be comfortable enough to approach the professors and develop their relationships directly. But Goff, coming off of a six-touchdown performance against Oregon State that tied a Cal record, is the most prolific passer in program history.
Cal isn’t ready to dominate the trenches against Stanford, but it must win its share of battles on both sides. The Cardinal won 21-3 in 2012 and 63-13 in 2014, but this one might not be as easy. OR scored on big plays of 49, 75, 47, 33 and 49 yards, which could be a concern as the Cardinal prepares for an explosive Cal offense.
He’s happy to be on a team with as much success as Stanford, but he’s also thrilled that after three tough seasons, his alma mater is once again bowl-eligible. That loss to the Ducks could haunt the Cardinal in the years to come, but in the days ahead Shaw needs his team fully focused on Cal.
Head coach David Shaw isn’t usually one to use strong superlatives about his own players, but when talking about Scarlett, he doesn’t hold back. “That’s in our rearview mirror”. We’re going into this game with a lot of respect for this guy.
It was actually last season’s ACL tear, the second one of Scarlett’s career, that provided the impetus for his graduate transfer to Stanford.
-RB Christian McCaffrey had 244 all-purpose yards against Oregon. Their low ranking in yards per game is more a function of the strength of the run game than a weakness in throwing. San Jose State RB Tyler Ervin is a distant second at 209.8. After a near-interception by Texas, Harrell found wide receiver Michael Crabtree on the next play near the sidelined at the 6-yard line. Devon Cajuste, too. Cajuste made two unbelievable catches and almost made another. The only time the Cardinal have lost at home this season was against USC in five sets. “If you’ve got one game to win, I’d probably pick between these two”. The thing we’re most proud about, the thing that’s most important, is the academics. (Pittsburgh’s Tony Dorsett won it.) But when the teams collided in Berkeley at the end of the season, Roth was overwhelmed by the melanoma that would take his life a few months later. My prediction? The Cal Band beats the Stanford Band. Oregon, which leads the conference in rushing, amassed 477 rushing yards against the Bears, averaging 7.6 yards per carry.
Cal’s defense isn’t the porous unit of years past, but it still has its holes. I’d expect Cal to kick away from McCaffrey while Stanford’s solid kick coverage shouldn’t have much trouble with Travor Davis. They did a good job of rebuilding the defense. The biggest question for Stanford is which running back Cal will feature. With Daniel Lasco slowed by injuries this season, Watson had a breakout game last week when he rushed for 110 yards and added 54 yards receiving and a touchdown.
He never has been part of a Big Game win, though.
Last year, a Pac-12 title game berth was on the line.
“Two of the things that I wanted do when I got here was bring us back to a bowl game and beat Stanford”, Goff said. He can tear a secondary to shreds when he gets enough pass protection, but he can be rushed into making mistakes when opposing defenses apply enough pressure.
“I want to be here in the long run”, he said. He now leads the Pac-12 at 28.9 yards per kickoff return. However, he spends a great deal of time at defensive tackle, lined up on the offensive guard. Maybe if schools offered more sacrifices to the football gods, college football would finally have a full-fledged playoff system. How many fourth- or fifth-year seniors are playing key roles? In the last two games, he has a total of eight tackles. He had three against Colorado and five against Oregon.
Stanford’s offense, directed by senior quarterback Kevin Hogan, is potent and versatile. Shittu has the second most TFL on the team with seven, and Thomas is close behind with 6.5.
“They’re going to want to end that streak and come in hungrier than ever”, he said. He is ninth in the Pac-12 in passing but ranks second in pass efficiency rating. “Everyone has showed everything at this point in the season, except one or two plays”. The touchdown was the first of six on the day for Goff. He had two touchdown receptions in 2014. Washington State also put up a fight, but the Cardinal D stiffened up on the last drive to force the Cougars to attempt a field goal.
Advertisement
-CB Ronnie Harris sustained an ankle injury in the loss to Oregon. Redshirt freshman Nick Mitchell had his best moments at Cal before going down with a brutal helmet-to-helmet late hit that took him out of the game in the third quarter.
