Hogan, McCaffrey ignite the offense
CORVALLIS, Ore. — With only one day of practice this week, Kevin Hogan put his foot down on Oregon State on Friday night, with a big hand from Christian McCaffrey.
After spraining his left ankle last Saturday against USC, Hogan threw two touchdown passes, a 42-yarder to Austin Hooper and a 49-yarder to Michael Rector, and the No. 21 Cardinal trounced the Beavers 42-24.
McCaffrey became Stanford’s first 200-yard rusher since Toby Gerhart in 2009. McCaffrey gained 206 yards on 30 carries — a 6.9-yard average. He also caught a pass for 38 yards.
“What else can you say about Christian McCaffrey?” head coach David Shaw said. “He was physical, fast, explosive.”
McCaffrey said the work of the offensive line was “unbelievable. It’s so much fun to watch them work, from the running back’s point of view.”
Shaw said Hogan had “no issues” with his ankle, and there was no change in the game plan to lighten the load on him. “We still called gun-runs. We felt he could protect himself.”
Barry Sanders scored on an 11-yard run and added a career-long 65yard scoring run, tiptoeing down the sideline with 13 minutes left. Stanford had 325 yards
rushing, including 217 in the second half when the worn-out Beavers missed numerous tackles.
Stanford had some possibly significant injuries in the rugged game. Defensive linemen Aziz Shittu and Brennan Scarlett and offensive tackle Kyle Murphy were injured in the first half and didn’t return. The Cardinal were already very thin on the defensive line.
A 40-yard touchdown pass from OSU freshman Seth Collins to Jordan Villamin cut Stanford’s lead to 35-24 early in the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, Hogan launched a deep pass to Rector, who caught the ball near the sideline between strong safety Cyril Noland-Lewis and cornerback Larry Scott. The play gave Stanford a 28-17 lead.
“That was a perfect backshoulder throw,” Rector said. “Kevin is the definition of a tough guy. He fights for this team.”
The Cardinal (3-1, 2-0 Pac-12) made it 35-17 soon thereafter with a drive of 55 yards without a pass. McCaffrey got most of the yardage before Sanders scored on 11-yarder.
Remound Wright scored two first-half touchdowns as the Beavers (2-2, 0-1) fell in the Pac-12 debut of head coach Gary Anderson. It was Stanford’s sixth straight win over OSU.
Before a crowd of 37,302 at Reser Stadium, the Cardinal kept Collins in check most of the night. The quick quarterback threw for 275 yards (20for-36) but had just 12 yards rushing after twice surpassing 100 in the first three games.
Stanford marched to a 1-yard touchdown by Wright on its first possession. Wright was set to do his usual dive from the 1-yard line, but the Beavers were stacked on the inside. So he bounced outside for the touchdown.
The Beavers went nowhere on their first possession but quickly got the ball back on an interception by Noland-Lewis of a deflected pass intended for Trent Irwin.
This time, Oregon State tied the score on a 1-yard run by Collins, climaxing a methodical 58-yard drive. Collins completed what was nearly an 8-yard scoring pass to Villamin, who was ruled down just short of the goal line. A replay review upheld the call, but it was quickly moot because Collins scampered around the right side untouched for the tying score.
It took Stanford just three snaps to retake the lead. Hogan fired a 42-yard scoring pass to Hooper, a tight end.
Ryan Nall, a redshirt-freshman tight end for the Beavers, carried three straight times as a tailback, the last a 5-yard run that tied the score 14-14 early in the second quarter.