Stanford on brink of hitting low point in David Shaw era
The Cardinal is having a tough middle season stretch
ach at Stanford seven years ago, David Shaw has never lost three games in a row. Then again, he’s never had a team so incapable of running the football.
The Cardinal (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) hopes to break its two-game losing streak, and improve on a rushing offense that’s 126th among 129 teams in FBS at 85.7 yards per game, when it visits Arizona State (3-3, 1-2) Thursday at 6 p.m.
“Not only have we not reached our potential, I don’t think we’ve approached it,” Shaw said. “We’ve had glimpses in the pass game, glimpses defending the pass, glimpses defending the run at times. But we haven’t put a complete game together, let alone a 3-4 game span where we’re playing our best.”
Will it start tonight? Here are three things to watch:
OPEN WEEK
How much better did Stanford get in the 12 days since the 40-21 home loss to Utah? Shaw said the most important thing was rest and recovery, though it also allowed the team to finetune its fundamentals – “really get back to make sure we’re stepping with the right foot, putting our hands where they’re supposed to be.”
Stanford is 10-4 under Shaw when coming off a bye week.
One of the biggest keys will be getting off to a good start. The Cardinal has been outscored 38-14 in the first quarter but have outscored opponents 140-94 after that.
“We have to start games better,” Shaw said. “We can’t start playing when we’re down 7, down 14, and then play our best football just to get back in the game.”
RUNNING AROUND
Bryce Love had a Stanford-record 301 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 34-24 win over Arizona State last season. He has similar numbers this year (327 rushing yards and three touchdowns) – but it’s for all four games he has played this season. Even if he comes back from an ankle injury that caused him to miss the Utah game, the Cardinal hasn’t had its customary success on the ground.
As reasons for the decline, Shaw mentioned injuries to the offensive line and Love, the quality of defenses Stanford has faced, getting behind early in games, and being Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw walks on the sidelines during their game against the UCLA Bruins in the third quarter at Stanford Stadium in Stanford in 2015.
more effective in the pass game.
Instead, it is Arizona State’s Eno Benjamin who is coming off three straight 100-yard games, including 312 yards against Oregon State. Benjamin’s 119.2 yards per game ranks sixth nationally, which doesn’t bode well for a Stanford defense that has allowed a 100-yard rusher in three consecutive games (CJ Verdell of Oregon, Dexter Williams of Notre Dame and Zach Moss of Utah).
OTHER WEAPONS
Stanford has compensated for its lack of run game with quarterback
K.J. Costello, whose three 300-yard passing games this season are the most for the program since Andrew Luck had five in 2011. Against Utah, Stanford had three 100-yard receivers (tight end Kaden Smith and wideouts JJ Arcegawhiteside and Trenton Irwin) in the same game for the first time in 21 years.
Arizona State is also multi-dimensional. Wide receiver N’keal Harry was an AP preseason all-america second-team selection, while senior quarterback Manny Wilkins has thrown 11 touchdowns and only
one interception.
“The hard part is accounting for a very good running back and a very good receiver, and a quarterback who is not going to be surprised by anything that we do,” Shaw said. “It’s really the combination that we have to be most concerned about. We have to be better slowing down the running game, but knowing we can’t sacrifice the big plays to the receiver either.”
To top it off, the Sun Devils take great care of the ball. They have committed only two turnovers, best in the nation.