It's time to stop thinking about Stanford as a team pulling
off upsets, and time to start thinking of the mighty Cardinal as
the king of the hill the other kids are gunning for.
After all, the widely held dominant defense from Westwood just
got whacked by the Card's O, to the tune of 463 yards and 38
points. Stanford's much maligned defense (without their stellar
starting interior linemen) stuck a cork in UCLA's jugger-not
running game, to the tune of just 57 yards on 22 carries.
Heck, even the consistently porous Stanford special teams
played an impeccably clean game.
Oh yes, the Stanford Cardinal have just taken their place atop
the new world order... at least, in our world (Pac-10 pigskin).
The path to get to this place wasn't a smooth one. But that's
becoming par for the course on this season. You can count on
heartstopping moments, stretching into a full quarter or so of
increasing terror and doubt. There was the fourth quarter fold to
the Cougs; the second quarter malaise against the Mallards; and
Saturday, the second half slip against the Bru-Crew. But to be
more specific, here's how the game played out:
- Stanford started the game on the first possession by a
painfully ironic mishap, with Brian Allen dropping a
backward pass (read: lateral) from Chris Lewis, which was
a live ball. UCLA linebacker Ryan Nece nabbed the pigskin
and sauntered into the endzone unmolested. In what was
sure to be the toughest all-around matchup this season,
Stanford had handed the Bruins a quick seven and dug an
early hole.
- And just as we expect, the unexpected followed: the good
guys ran up no less than 28 unanswered points in the
first half on a combination of prolific & efficient
offense with stiffling defense. By both land and air,
Stanford moved the ball seemingly at will against the
most stingy defense in the league. The first two scoring
drives covered 146 yards on 24 plays, methodically moving
over, around and through the Bruins. Chris Lewis
displayed great precision and poise, with excellent
protection from the O-line. On defense, DeShaun Foster
was absolutely invisible in the first half, with the
exception perhaps of his costly second quarter fumble.
Credit Anthony Gabriel for putting his hat on the ball,
one of two fumbles he forced on an outstanding day. Brian
Allen took that same ball from the spot of Foster's
fumble, and scampered 35 yards to paydirt for the third
TD of the day for the Cardinal.
- Another turnover led to Stanford's fourth and final TD of
that fine first half, this time coming on a great pick by
Ryan Fernandez at the goalline, ruled at the 3-yardline.
All Chris Lewis and Kerry Carter did was sashay 97 yards
in 7 plays for score number four, the second successful
drive greater than 90 yards of the half for Stanford.
- All told, Stanford dominated time of possession, first
downs, rushing and passing in the first half. 363 yards
by the "O" was eye-popping, but the worm was
about to turn...
- The UCLA Bruins had outscored opponents some 72-0 in
third quarters through six games this season, reflecting
some outstanding halftime adjustments. Perhaps it wasn't
surprising to then see the Westwood Warriors storm back.
After an early Mike Biselli field goal made it Stanford
31 UCLA 7, the Bruins scored 14 unanswered in the third
quarter. UCLA had to work awfully hard for those scores,
including a 15-play TD drive that covered just 65 yards.
Stanford's defense was still playing at a high level, but
two key fourth down conversions kept the drive alive.
Backup QB Scott McEwan didn't do much of the work,
completing just 4 of 9 passes; it was a rejuvenated
DeShaun Foster who powered the drive with 26 yards on 5
straight carries to finish the series, including an easy
trot across the goalline from the 1-yardline.
- Stanford's secondary did start to soften as UCLA gained
strength, giving some large cushions and ignoring some
wide-open targets in nickel and dime sets. But the D
still kept up the big play, forcing a fumble, and
interception and two sacks. And though the Bruins did
convert three of four possessions for TDs in one stretch,
the Cardiac Card defense returned the ball to Chris Lewis
& Co on the final two fateful possessions for UCLA on
downs. Even in coverage formations, a banged up Stanford
defensive line muscled through to put heavy pressure and
hard hits on the El Lay QBs.
- After the first of those two final stops, Stanford handed
the ball to Kerry Carter to run the clock and seal the
deal. On the third run, KC blasted through the line and
found the promised land 27 yards later for a crucial
score that lifted Stanford's margin from a field goal to
ten points. Some 60,000 Cardinalmaniacs™ wiped the
sweat from their brow after that score. It proved to be
the last of the day, capping a 38-28 win.
- Other scores were recorded by Luke Powell (20-yard strike
from Lewis in the 1st quarter), Teyo Johnson (outstanding
one-handed grab in the 2nd quarter) and Kerry Carter
(this time by air, on a crossing route for 26 yards).
- Miscellaneous game notes of note: Ryan Wells, bad knee
and all, led receivers in the game with 103 yards by air
- his second game over the century mark this season...
Chris Lewis looked a little too confident in the lob pass
to Teyo, throwing three absolutely awful interceptions.
The discouraging part was that he just made bad
decisions to throw into multiple coverage when he should
have thrown the ball away... but credit CL with an
otherwise accurate 20 of 29 game for 250 yards. Pretty
darned good against UCLA's defense... Stanford turned the
ball over 6 times on the day, while UCLA turned it over 5
times. Plenty of agony for both sidelines... Stanford's
special teams played it's cleanest game of the season on
perhaps its lightest day of work: just 2 punts, 2 punt
returns and 1 kick return... Even with UCLA's
time-consuming drives in the second half, Stanford still
won the possession game: 35:58 to 24:02... Redshirt frosh
Scott Scharff surprised many a Bootie by getting work at
nose tackle in relief of Travis Pfiefer. Scharff has
worked mostly at defensive end in his young Cardinal
career.
Just a monumental win for this season and this program.
I haven't run the numbers, though someone on the BootBoard is
likely to do so in the coming hours and days, but it's also time
to think about Stanford climbing back into at least outside
contention for the Rose Bowl. The undefeated ranks took an
incredible hit today, with just Nebraska, Miami and BYU
remaining. BYU's schedule is likely too difficult to overcome for
a top-two BCS spot... Nebraska has a possible rematch with the
Sooners in a Big XII championship game, and Miami still has
Virginia Tech and the Pac's own Puppies. Stanford has made an
incredible statement with back-to-back wins over previously
undefeated championship contenders ranked #5 in the land, which
means the polls should start coming in line with what the
computer rankings have been saying. Add in one of the very top
schedule strengths in the country, and you just might come up
Roses...
Playing up in Seattle has been about as easy for Stanford over
the past 25 years as selling snorkeling gear in North Dakota, but
the rough-and-tumble part of the Cardinal's schedule is mostly in
the rearview mirror. If Stanford can get past these charmed
chihuahuas, giddiness will be more or less unavoidable. Of
course, only a few thousand Cardinalmaniacs on this green planet
will get to see the U-Dub game: those at Husky Stadium. Our good
friends at LABC have made sure of that.