Stanford football rallies to edge Notre Dame on road

Recap: Colorado football tops Stanford, becomes bowl eligible

Down 10-0 at the half, Stanford football looked to be on its way to a third straight blowout loss, this time at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

But then, a Cardinal defense which had given up 86 points to two Washington teams in the past two weeks finally came together, as a pick-six from sophomore Quenton Meeks kickstarted a second-half rally that would end in a 17-10 victory for the Cardinal (4-2, 2-2 Pac-12) over Notre Dame (2-5) in a turnover-laden game in South Bend, Indiana, on Saturday.

The Cardinal managed just one offensive touchdown with the absence of junior running back Christian McCaffrey, who was sidelined by injury. Sophomore running back Bryce Love stepped up in his stead, rushing for 129 yards on 23 carries in his first collegiate start.

Defense ruled the day as Stanford held Notre Dames offense to 10 points, the lowest in the series history, and 5-of-14 on third-down conversions. The return of starting cornerback Meeks proved vital as he plugged an ailing Stanford secondary, and his 50-yard interception return for a touchdown drastically shifted the games momentum in the Cardinals favor.

Quenton Meeks is a ball hawk. We saw that last year, head coach David Shaw said. Hes got great instincts on top of his physical tools. Hes long, hes physical, hes smart and hes got a feel for the ball.

Despite being effective in gaining yardage at the start of the game, the Cardinal offense was unable to close, squandering opportunities at every turn. Stanfords first five drives resulted in a missed field goal the third consecutive miss off the left upright for fifth-year senior Conrad Ukropina two punts and two turnovers.

Offensively, the inefficiency drives me nuts, Shaw said. We can be so much better. We moved the ball in the first half as well as we have all year probably better than we have all year and [had a] missed field goal and two turnovers. Thats unacceptable.

A third-quarter interception by fifth-year senior safety Dallas Lloyd led to Brian Kellys pulling quarterback DeShone Kizer in favor of Malik Zaire. The new Irish offensive leader proved just as ineffective as the Cardinal forced two three-and-outs and a safety.

Stanfords offense was unable to capitalize on the opportunities given to them in the second half, until their third fumble of the night ironically turned into a touchdown after sophomore receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside recovered a goal-line fumble by Love in the end zone. It marked Arcega-Whitesides fourth touchdown in as many games, an impressive streak for the young receiver.

With the Cardinal leading 15-10, Shaw elected to go for the two-point conversion. Offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren sent out the ogre package, a personnel that typically screams a run up the middle. Following a fake to sophomore running back Cameron Scarlett that left no one not even Ken Bone uncommitted, senior quarterback Ryan Burns pitched the ball outside to Love, who pranced into a wide open end zone.

Burns, who went 10-for-19 passing for 120 yards and one interception, still lacked efficiency and consistency under center, although he took more control as backup Keller Chryst did not see additional action after his designated set in the third offensive drive.

As in previous years matchups between these two teams, the game came down to the last play, when junior defensive end Solomon Thomas provided the final stop to seal the win for the Cardinal. Coming in for a near-sack on fourth down in the red zone with time expiring, Thomas pummeled Kizer, whom Kelly reinstated for the Irishs final drive, as he attempted to get a pass off, securing a Stanford victory.

For Notre Dame, this marks another implosion in a season that has been disastrous for head coach Brian Kelly. Despite being ranked 10th in the nation to start the season, the team has now dropped to 2-5 and lost its third straight home game for the first time since 2007.

While the win saved the Cardinal from what would have been the first three-game losing streak in the David Shaw era, Stanford has a long way to go to return to the caliber of play it exhibited at the start of the season. Stanfords four turnovers in Irish territory do not bode well for the Cardinal, who face a stout Colorado defense next week.

With the up-and-coming Buffaloes headed to the Farm this weekend, the Cardinal will need to shore up holes defensively and find some stability on offense. McCaffreys status remains questionable for Saturdays game, and although Love has shown flashes of brilliance, it may take a tandem of backs to get Stanfords listless offense off the ground.

Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer at stanford.edu andTristan Vanech at tvanech at stanford.edu.

Source: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/10/17/stanford-football-rallies-to-edge-notre-dame-on-the-road/

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Stanford football tries to gain momentum against surging Colorado

Highlights: Stanford football extends winning streak over USC in Pac-12 opener

At the beginning of the 2016 college football season, Stanford vs. Colorado appeared destined to be a romp, a chance for the Cardinal to take a well-deserved break from facing more worthy competition like UCLA, Washington and Notre Dame. After all, Stanford has outscored the Buffaloes 138-17 in their only three meetings as members of the Pac-12, and the 4-9 Buffs of last season offered no reason to think differently.

But that was the old Colorado.

Now, in Week 8 of the season, Stanford (4-2, 2-2 Pac-12) finds itself in the surprising position of trying to play spoiler to the rising Buffaloes (5-2, 3-1), who rank fourth in the nation in total offense and are now the favorites to win the Pac-12 South, according to ESPNs Football Power Index.

This year, you see them playing with confidence. You see them making those plays to finish games and win games, said head coach David Shaw of Colorados newfound success. Theyre playing hard, theyre playing smart and theyre very well coached in all three phases.

The Buffs have every reason to be confident heading into Saturday after a 40-16 win over Arizona State. It was the first victory over the Sun Devils in the programs history, as they racked up 580 yards on offense and held the Sun Devils to a meager 199 in the process.

As for Stanford, Saturdays contest is about building on the momentum and confidence gained in a 10-point comeback and difficult road victory last week against Notre Dame. A defense that demonstrated its playmaking ability, such as sophomore Quenton Meeks 50-yard interception return for a touchdown, and an offense that showed promise in the second half by scoring its first meaningful touchdown since running over USC on Sept. 17, will try to build on their success over the course of a full game in front of the homecoming crowd.

Getting that last drive in and scoring was big for our confidence, said sophomore wide receiver Trenton Irwin about last week. I think we just have to try to progress in every little bit of the game we can. I felt like the offense was clicking. We still had a couple mishaps, but we were clicking like we were at the start of the year.

The bad news for the Cardinal is they might have to do so without some key players for yet another week.

Although junior running back Christian McCaffrey might practice harder late in the week, he is still questionable for Saturday, according to Shaw, and his availability mayend up being another game-time decision. Junior cornerback Alijah Holder is said to be better than last week, but is also labeled as questionable. In addition, senior offensive lineman David Bright is doubtful, and junior fullback Daniel Marx has been ruled out for the fourth straight week.

But regardless of who is on the field for Stanford, the focus will be on limiting errors like the ones that sometimes killed Stanfords momentum against the Fighting Irish.

Im confident in the guys we have. Its just those one or two plays that kill a drive that we cant have, Shaw said. The thing for us in the last two games has been shooting ourselves in the foot with fumbles, penalties and missed field goals. Those are things we dont have here and dont accept here.

Limiting mistakes, especially on the offensive line, will be vital this week as a Stanford offense that is worst in the Pac-12 in sacks allowed will be pitted against the Colorado defense, led by Pac-12 sack leader Jimmie Gilbert.

The thing for us is to try to keep our quarterback in rhythm, get the ball out on time and make sure we give every pass rusher the long road to the quarterback, Shaw said.

On the other side, junior defensive end Solomon Thomas will look to continue improving upon his stellar performance after a self-described all right game at Notre Dame. Thomas recorded a career-high 12 total tackles and 1.5 sacks and forced the fumble that closed out the Fighting Irish last week.

Solomon is that rare combination of athletic ability, speed, mentality and technique, Shaw said. The funny thing to me is he has only played a year-and-a-half of football. Hes only going to get better, and Im excited to watch that.

The Cardinal will need Thomas as well as the rest of the defense to be at their best on Saturday in order to slow down Colorados balanced attack.

The Buffaloes have put up more than 40 points in five of their seven games this season, with junior running back Phillip Lindsay, who sprinted his way to a career-high 219 yards and three touchdowns against Arizona State last week, leading a potent ground game.

Stanford will have to hold off Colorados air attack as well, led by senior quarterback Sefo Liufau, who has tallied over 1,000 yards passing on the season despite missing two games.

Even more concerning yet for the Stanford defense is the fact that it must respect Liufaus legs too, as he has added 164 yards and two touchdowns this season after taking it into the end zone five times on the ground last season for the Buffs.

Hes just a good football player. Hes got really good instincts, said Shaw of Liufau. Hes just one of those guys who plays hard every snap. All of the coaches in the conference really respect him.

Stanford will look to get one win closer to bowl eligibility and grab an unexpectedly difficult Pac-12 win with a noon kickoff on Saturday at Stanford Stadium. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Samuel Curry at currys at stanford.edu.

Source: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/10/20/stanford-football-tries-to-gain-momentum-against-surging-colorado/

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The Pick-6: How Stanford football is recruiting Mormons, plus more stories from around the web

Stanford-Washington football game preview

Matt Piper did a story on Stanford assistant Lance Anderson (who was considered an outside candidate for BYUs opening last winter) who acts as the teams chief recruiter in Utah. But this story takes a dive from the Cardinal perspective, noting that it wasnt long ago when Stanford was not welcome ground for Mormons:

The fact that a Mormon conversion took place on a secular college campus in the middle of Silicon Valley might seem surprising. There was a time in 1970 when Stanford refused to schedule games against BYU in protest of what some considered the universitys institutional racism. Today, the Cardinal football team has three returned missionaries on its roster, with another four set to join by 2018.

The story describes Fanaika, who is the younger brother of former Ute Jason Fanaika, converting one of his teammates to the LDS faith, among a handful of anecdotes. Utah, BYU and Utah State have plenty of competition for LDS players.

Some other links of note:

SB Nation blog Every Day Should Be Saturday is farcical by its nature, but Spencer Hall is one of the most entertaining perspectives in college sport. He ranked Utah No. 10 in his entirely subjective rankings, writing: "The Utes did everything you hope a team does when it plays without a shred of fear for how silly they might look, i.e., you winging plays down the field in Madden with reckless abandon."

For those scouting to the next game, the San Jose Mercury News Jon Wilner had some takeaways from Cals 51-41 loss at Arizona State. He highlights, for one, that the Golden Bears allowed a whopping 41 points in the second half, wearing down over the course of the game.

The Oregonian was on hand for Oregons 41-38 loss to Colorado at home, which columnist John Canzano writes should be a wakeup call for Mark Helfrich and the program. Canzano wrote of Helfrich: "I appreciated that he was finally feeling what we can all plainly see Oregon is in trouble."

Elsewhere in college football, LSU made waves by firing coach Les Miles, who almost certainly will come into play in the offseason coaching carousel. But Sports Illustrated broke down why, after narrowly dodging the axe last year, Miles was back on the chopping block after only four games: "He had been handed a chance to make the necessary changes to make LSU competitive in the SEC West, and he hadn"t taken advantage of that chance."

APROPOS OF NOTHING Two deaths rocked the sports world on Sunday, and with all due respect to Arnold Palmer, one of them was still in the prime of his career when he was tragically cut down in a boating accident.

Major League Baseball is in mourning for one of its bright, rising stars Jose Fernandez. A number of outlets had extremely moving coverage of the 24-year-olds death and the ripple that was felt throughout locker rooms around the country, but this column by Yahoo!s Jeff Passan really strikes a powerful note, particularly when talking about his harrowing passage from Cuba:

Fernandez tried and failed to defect three times. On the fourth, when he was 15, he awoke one night to the sounds of thrashing in the water. A woman had fallen off the boat. He didnt know who. He dove in anyway. It turned out to be Fernandezs mom, Maritza. He swam out into the waves and told her to hold on. For an eternity, he dragged himself and his mother through crashing waves, through fatigue and the fetid taste of salt water and the ocean that wanted to take both of them, and made it back to the boat. A few days later, they were in Mexico. On April 5, 2008, they arrived in Tampa. All they wanted was a better life.

For all his talent, all his achievement, Fernandez never lost perspective on what allowed him to thrive. He loved freedom love the ability to say what he believed, to think what he wanted, to live without restriction. When he became an American citizen in 2015, seven years after coming to the United States, he waved a small flag and talked about how thankful he was. When he and the Marlins played at Fort Bragg Fourth of July weekend, the moment consumed him. Hed never forget Cuba. But he was a proud American.

Its harrowing, then, to see the country Jose Fernandez loved and embodied so well keep talking about building walls, about keeping people like him out, because of fear and insecurity. Fernandez gave back far more than he ever took, and he wasnt even here a decade.

kgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4397425-155/the-pick-6-how-stanford-football-is

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Stanford football: Christian McCaffrey doesn"t disappoint in season opener

Washington football"s Jake Browning on beating Stanford: "Our overall performance is jaw-dropping"

PALO ALTO The obvious takeaway from Friday nights season opener at Stanford Stadium is that Heisman Trophy contender Christian McCaffrey is more than capable of living up to the hype.

The 6-foot, 200-pound running back began his junior campaign with 126 yards on 22 carries and a pair of touchdowns, including the knockout punch with 2:12 left a 41-yard scamper out of a jumbo formation to cap the scoring in a 26-13 victory over visiting Kansas State.

That last play, especially, I was just sitting there in awe, of course, Stanford quarterback Ryan Burns said. Hes a heck of a player, heck of a guy, heck of a leader. Came up to me during the game and just gave me some words, a great guy to be around.

McCaffrey also led the No. 8 Cardinal with seven catches and amassed 210 all-purpose yards. But it was nearly much more, considering a 97-yard punt return to the house that wouldve broken a school record set in 1986 was negated because of a block in the back.

The ridiculous play in which he spun out a wave of would-be tacklers and slithered his way to the end zone drew both praise and second guessing.

You know, Chris is not above criticism, Shaw said. There is a reason why there are no 97-yard punt returns, because you should not catch the ball on the 3-yard line. He knows that. But its hard. Sometimes the ball gets high and you think, Oh, my gosh, I have a chance to do it now. But what he did after he caught it, Wow! Thats the best punt return that doesnt count Ive ever seen. But hes a special young man, and sometimes theyre so special that they override their own mistakes.

So well try not to catch those anymore. But if you do catch those, make seven guys miss and score a touchdown.

Pinned at its own 2-yard line after the penalty, the Cardinal embarked on a 10-play, 98-yard drive that culminated with a 40-yard touchdown off play action into the waiting arms of wide receiver Michael Rector, a fifth-year senior who finished with four catches for 73 yards.

That was the highlight of a first half in which Burns went 9 of 9 for 124 yards in his debut as the successor to Kevin Hogan, the winningest quarterback in program history.

I think he did awesome, McCaffrey said. I think he handled himself great. He made some awesome reads and made some awesome checks, but we expect that out of him.

So, was the redshirt junior nervous before taking the first snap?

It was kind of weird, said Burns, who extended separate drives four times with third-down completions in the first quarter. It still hadnt hit me when I was on the field. The first few plays though, I got a little grass in my pants and started walking. But it was almost like an out-of-body experience. But I got used to it pretty quick. It was cool, though.

True to his word, Shaw inserted backup Keller Chryst in the second quarter for limited duty. The Palo Alto High graduate completed his first and only attempt, an 11-yard hookup with McCaffrey.

But the more memorable play came after a handoff on the same drive, as McCaffrey cut through the gut of the defense, stopped on a dime and sprinted out wide for a 35-yard touchdown to make it 17-0 with 7:47 left in the half.

Paving the way was Chryst, who pushed a defensive back to the ground to allow McCaffrey a clear path into the end zone.

Keller has put out more pancake blocks for me than I think anyone no offense to (fullback Daniel) Marx, McCaffrey said with a laugh. No, thats not true. But anytime youve got a quarterback running down the field trying to pancake people, you know youve got a special team and a special bond. So hes an unbelievable guy that comes to work every day with his hard hat on ready to get after it.

McCaffrey and Burns were trending on Twitter during the first half, but after going into the locker room up 17-3, the offense sputtered.

Before the game-clinching TD by McCaffrey, the offense had amassed just 30 yards in the second half, including an atrocious third quarter in which Stanford managed only six snaps for 11 yards and botched a handoff on a read-option play. The fumble was almost returned to pay dirt by the Wildcats.

Not clean, not pretty in the second half, Shaw said. But we played hard and we showed heart at the end.

Burns added: Personally, I think we slowed down a little too much, got too comfortable.

The struggles to move the ball forced Shaw to call an audible and deviate from the game plan, as he kept Chryst on the bench during the third and fourth quarters.

h**l continue to get worked in, but the second half turned in a way we didnt anticipate, Shaw said. Wanted him to get in that series in the third quarter, but we sputtered so much, I didnt want to throw a new quarterback into the mix there. But h**l continue to play. h**l play again against USC and h**l continue to play as long as we see prudent.

On the bright side, Kansas State was unable to capitalize on the Cardinals inability to run out the clock. It helped that Stanford won the turnover battle after safety Dallas Lloyd and cornerback Quenton Meeks both came down with interceptions, the former playing center field on a woefully underthrown pass and Meeks spying into the backfield for his pick.

The guy ran a double move from the slot, which you really dont see very often, Meeks said. But I was in great position, so as soon as he made his second move I just looked to the quarterback immediately. When a guy runs a double move, you just expect the ball to come out and it did. And when the ball is in the air, I have the mentality of a receiver, Its mine.

A big factor for the secondarys ballhawking tendencies was the effort of the front seven.

Late in the fourth quarter, the game turned into a party in the backfield, with defensive tackle Jordan Watkins recording his second sack for a safety and outside linebacker Peter Kalambayi ending the last gasp with another QB takedown with 36 seconds left, leaving him with team-high 2 sacks for the game.

Depth in the trenches and linebacker core played a key role for Stanford, which racked up eight sacks.

It allows you to get some hits on the quarterback late in the game because your guys are fresher, Shaw said. We saw Solomon Thomas running in the fourth quarter after the quarterback full speed. He can only do that if we rest him and work the other guys in. Same thing with the outside linebackers. Peter Kalambayi has enough speed left to finish and get a sack.

As far as special teams, kicker Conrad Ukropina booted a 50-yard field goal to make it 3-0 after the opening drive.

Punter Jake Bailey had quite the night, with three punts in the second half that pinned Kansas State inside its own 10-yard line including back-to-back kicks that were downed at the 1- and 2-yard line by wide receiver Trenton Irwin, the latter resulting in the safety that made it 19-7 with 4:11 left.

But the Wildcats kept things interesting by recovering the ensuing onside kick, then executing a 15-yard fade on fourth down to get within 19-13.

Clearly, Shaw was frustrated by the mental error on the first onside attempt.

Theyre down by two scores and its after the safety, they cant afford to kick it deep, Shaw said. We knew it was going to come short. We didnt put the hands team out there because we didnt think we needed to put the hands team out there. But we were not aggressive to the football.

No such mistake the second time around, as a Kansas State player touched the ball before it went 10 yards, then McCaffrey put the game out of reach.

Next up is a bye week, before Pac-12 action begins Sept. 17 by hosting No. 20 USC.

The only thing we can do now is look in the windshield and focus on the mistakes and learn from our mistakes and getting better from there, McCaffrey said.

Email Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at Twitter.com/dailynewsvytas.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_30324615/stanford-football-christian-mccaffrey-doesnt-disappoint-season-opener

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Stanford fan in hijab gets threats on Facebook

USC Football - Stanford Rapid Reaction

Stanford junior Tesay Yusuf and her friends were cheering for the camera at a Cardinal football game recently, but when the image ended up in an advertisement for football ticketson a Stanford Facebook page it turned into a target of hatefulremarks. Along with her Cardinal red shirt, Yusuf was wearing a hijab.

Disgusted, she took to social media herself.

When @Stanford Athletics posts ONE diverse ad of me and my friends at a football game, all h**l breaks loose, Yusuf tweeted over the weekend, including a screenshot of some of the comments.

She wasnt exaggerating. Stanford removed direct threats to Yusuf as well as other hate speech posted in response to the ad, said university spokeswoman Lisa Lapin.

Hey Stanford, take that Muslim (expletive)elsewhere, we dont want to see it,read one of the comments that Stanford took down.

Born in the U.S. to Ethiopian immigrant parents, Yusuf said she was not surprised by the commentary and initially brushed it off, but that she took a stand over the weekend after seeing that the comments continued.

Her post was retweeted nearly 8,000 times, with many people expressing their disgust at the treatment she received.

HELLLLLL NO. This is totally unacceptable. They need to be hauled off of Facebook and planet earth, one person wrote in support of Yusuf.

Yusuf said she thinks her message resonated with people who were shocked that a simple image of students cheering for their team could become fodder for racist commentary and that the comments were made so openly.

People are feeling more comfortable saying these kinds of things, she said, noting that Facebook is not an anonymous forum. People feel like its OK to be blatantly bigoted.

Lapin said Stanford stands behind Yusuf and that the student did not want the photo to be altered or removed.

Everybodys very proud of the way the students are conducting themselves and the courage of this particular student, Lapin said. In a way this has united the community, certainly here.

Yusuf said she hopes her stand will inspire others to be anti-racist to push back against racism and bigotry especially in a tense political climate.

These kinds of things shouldnt be ignored anymore, she said.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/12/stanford-football-fan-calls-out-hateful-remarks-about-hijab/

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