McCaffrey returns to Stanford lineup, but offense is still stuck in the mud in 10-5 loss to Colorado.
So much for the momentum gained at Notre Dame. So much for a healthy Christian McCaffrey, for returning home, for stout defense and for the good fortune of facing an opponent that can’t make a field goal.
Stanford’s offense was so bad Saturday afternoon in a 105 loss to Colorado, so utterly inept, that nothing else mattered.
Appropriately enough, it was Homecoming: The Cardinal’s attack looked like something out of 50 years ago.
“The personnel does not reflect the production,’’ coach David Shaw said. “And all fingers point to me.
“That’s on me. That’s my responsibility to get the most out of the players that we have.”
In his postgame remarks, Shaw repeatedly declined to discuss the specifics of what went wrong or what adjustments he might make this week before a trip to Arizona.
Asked about quarterback Ryan Burns, who threw three interceptions, Shaw said simply that Stanford isn’t “getting the play out of that position that we need” but declined to address whether a change is coming.
Burns played poorly, but he’s hardly alone. The Cardinal (4-3, 2-3 Pac-12) requires far more than a tweak or two if it hopes to salvage the season. Schemes, personnel, game plans, attitude — everything should be reassessed.
Stanford has scored four touchdowns in the past five games, and two of them came in garbage time.
It got so bad Saturday that boos echoed through Stanford Stadium — and Shaw took no issue with it.
“If you could have seen me on TV, I might have been the one booing,’’ Shaw said. “It was not good enough. Our fans deserve better. Our defense deserves better.’’
Here are three takeaways from the loss to Colorado:
Buffaloes are legit
Coach Mike MacIntyre, who orchestrated a remarkable turnaround at San Jose State, has done the same in Boulder.
The Buffs (6-2, 4-1) are the surprise of the Pac-12, the front-runners in the South, and bowl-eligible for the first time since 2007.
Their ascent is no fluke. The overhauled roster is stocked with long, fast athletes; with depth at the skill positions; and with lines that can hold their own against anyone.
They dominated Stanford across the middle of the field and would have put the game away early in the fourth quarter but for red-zone malfunctions and three missed field goals.
Stanford ‘D’ legit, too
The Cardinal struggled at times across the middle of the field but turned stout in the red zone and held Colorado to 29 points below its season average.
It was the third time in the past five games that Stanford was in position to win solely because of its defense.
The two meltdowns in that span, against Washington and Washington State, came without starting cornerbacks Quenton Meeks and Alijah Holder, who left Saturday’s game with a shoulder injury.
“For what Colorado has done,” Shaw said, “it was tough to even anticipate a game like that from the defensive side.”
Offense is offensive
Everything Stanford does — the formations it uses, the plays it calls, the personnel packages it deploys — is based on an effective running game.
The running game sets up the play-action passing and the manageable second- and third-down situations, which allow the Cardinal to grind out first downs, which chew the clock and wear down opponents.
It’s the same approach that powered Stanford to three conference titles, except the running game is sputtering, the play-action attack is ineffective, and first downs have been difficult to accumulate.
McCaffrey, finally healthy (or reasonably so), had little space to maneuver as defenses continue to make him the priority. Big-play tailback Bryce Love had four touches. The downfield passing game is spotty, and the tight ends appear to be afterthoughts.
Oh, and the penalties, missed blocks and breakdowns in protection are compounding the problems.
“There are not a lot of calls for second-and-15 ... for third-and-15,’’ Shaw said. “Those are difficult situations.
“I still believe, looking at the guys that we have, that we’re capable of so much more, and I have to find a way. I have to find a way to stoke that fire so that we find that and we get some momentum and we get some consistency and we get some efficiency and some play-making, because we’ve got the guys, and it shows up in moments.
“But moments don’t make good teams. Moments don’t make good players. Consistency makes good teams, consistency makes good players, and we haven’t had it.”