UCLA proves too much for Cardinal
It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse for Stanford than Thursday night’s 3416 loss to UCLA.
The Cardinal failed to score an offensive touchdown until late in the fourth quarter, let Bruins quarterback Dorian ThompsonRobinson run wild in his first game back from an ankle injury, and lost their most reliable scoring threat this season when kicker Jet Toner was injured in the first quarter.
All this while coming off an 11day break. Against a team that was 15 going in, one that Stanford had beaten 11 consecutive times dating to 2008 when Jim Harbaugh stormed the sidelines at The Farm.
Whatever momentum the Cardinal built during backtoback wins over Oregon State and thenNo. 15 Washington was quickly and efficiently put to rest following one of Stanford’s most dismal games in some time.
About the only thing that went right for head coach David Shaw’s team came in the first half when Spencer Jorgensen blocked a punt and Brycen Tremayne fell on the ball in the end zone.
The loss prevented the Cardinal (34, 23 Pac12) from leapfrogging Washington into second place in the North Division.
The problems came at every turn.
Thirdstring quarterback Jack West, a redshirt freshman making his first career start while K.J. Costello (thumb) and Davis Mills (knee) stood on the sideline in street clothes, spent much of the game getting helped up off the turf after seven sacks.
West completed 15 of 32 passes for 143 yards and rarely threw the ball downfield. Only three completions went at least 10 yards.
“I think we communicated well but tonight it just came down to execution, which is what we didn’t do well enough,” West said. “Just comes down to me playing better and putting us in more manageable down and distances.”
In the first half, Stanford went threeandout on three consecutive drives as UCLA dominated the Cardinal’s young offensive line. Each time, the Bruins sacked West on third down, forcing a punt.
With little to worry about from Stanford’s passing game, UCLA’s defense was able to focus on shutting down running back Cameron Scarlett. The Pac12’s leading rusher, who had a career day in the Cardinal’s win over Washington on Oct. 5, was held to 34 yards on 13 carries.
ThompsonRobinson was at the opposite end of the spectrum.
UCLA’s quarterback ducked, dodged and danced away from pressure to keep plays alive. ThompsonRobinson passed for 192 yards and two touchdowns.
He was “quick, athletic, explosive,” said Shaw. “You give (UCLA coach) Chip Kelly a guy like that, we’ve seen that movie before. There were times we had him and then he got out. Sometimes we had everybody covered, and he’s a guy that can take off and make plays with his legs. Those are driveextenders and bigtime plays.”
ThompsonRobinson narrowly avoided a sack by Stanford’s David Vardanian, then found Kyle Philips for a 19yard touchdown in the first quarter. The two connected again on a similar play the next drive after UCLA forced a threeandout. Two plays after scrambling down to the Cardinal 10, ThompsonRobinson hit Philips for a 3yard TD.
Stanford, which jumped offside three times in the first half alone, had an equally tough time containing UCLA running back Joshua Kelley, who ran for 176 yards on 18 attempts.
As bad as all of that was, losing Toner was just as crippling. The Stanford kicker went down in a heap after a kickoff and lay on the turf for several moments. Toner was eventually helped to his feet and walked slowly off the field.