Cardinal find they need more than Love
STANFORD >> With Bryce Love bottled up, another Stanford senior dominated the season opener against San Diego State.
JJ Arcega-Whiteside had six catches for 226 yards — the third-highest receiving total in Cardinal history — as No. 13 Stanford beat the Aztecs 31-10 on Friday night at Stanford Stadium.
SDSU’s focus on Love worked, as last year’s Heisman runner-up was held to 29 yards on 18 carries. But it left man coverage on the outside, and Arcega-Whiteside took advantage with three touchdown catches.
“We wanted to establish the run,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “We tried to stay with it as long as we could, and in doing so they left JJ Arcega-Whiteside in particular 1-on-1, so we came back at halftime and said let’s stop being stubborn. Let’s take advantage of it.”
Here are four takeaways:
1. LOVE LIMITED >> Love had a big opportunity to make an opening statement in his quest for the Heisman, playing on national television and with limited competition from other games. He had 9 yards on 14 carries after three quarters. Sure, SDSU was geared up to stop him, but teams had the same mentality last season and he was held below 100 yards only once (69 against Washington State). That includes last year’s game against the Aztecs, when Love had 184 yards on 13 carries.
Still, Shaw said Love’s blitz pick-ups were phenomenal. After Shaw said Love would be a bigger part of the passing game, Love had three receptions for 18 yards after making just six catches all of last season.
2. PLAN B WORKED >> The good news for the Cardinal is that they still put up 31 points despite getting only 50 yards out of the run game. K.J. Costello did something no Stanford QB could do in 2016 or 2017 — throw for 300 yards. The junior completed 21 of 31 passes for a career-high 332 yards, with four touchdown passes of at least 19 yards.
“It’s no secret, Bryce is the best running back in the country,” Costello said. “We all believe it, and (SDSU) clearly did tonight. There were times I came to the line and there were 11 guys coming downhill ready to light him up, and being able to counter that is what you have to do to be a good offense, and once we settled in we were able to do that.”
Costello only took one sack despite what Shaw said may have been the most blitzes he’s seen in his 12 years at Stanford.
3. ARCEGA-WHITESIDE WILL CATCH IT >> Arcega-Whiteside followed up his three touchdowns in last year’s bowl game with another three on Friday, showing an incredible knack for fending off pressure and making difficult catches.
“That’s something we discussed all offseason, just being ready on the outside,” Arcega-Whiteside said. “You never know when it’s going to come to you. And when we saw SDSU was stacking the box like they were, we were telling ourselves, ‘Now it’s time to go.’ ”
A 38-yard touchdown catch with 27 seconds left in the first half gave Stanford the lead for good at 9-7.
But the biggest play, an 80-yarder, came on thirdand-15 with 4:45 left in the third quarter. Arcega-Whiteside fended off corner back Kyree Woods at the SDSU 40, caught Costello’s pass and raced into the end zone for Stanford’s longest reception since Love’s 93yard catch in the 2015 season opener. The 6-foot-3 senior even caught a fade over the 6-0 Woods on the ensuing 2-point conversion.
“They had a receiver we couldn’t cover,” Aztecs coach Rocky Long said. “Otherwise we played just as good as they did.”
Troy Walters holds the program record with 278 receiving yards against UCLA in 1999.
4. DEFENSE ROUNDING INTO FORM >> Stanford’s defense recorded five sacks and scored almost as many points (two) as it gave up (three) after allowing a 92yard touchdown drive on SDSU’s second possession, the result of poor gap control.
After Jake Bailey’s 63yard punt rolled out at the 1, linebacker Bobby Okereke — who shares a uniform number with Love — sacked Christian Chapman in the end zone midway through the second quarter for Stanford’s first points.
“People were telling me I was the first No. 20 to score, before Bryce,” Okereke said.
Led by Okereke (two tackles for loss) and Sean Barton (nine tackles), the linebackers were particularly strong. The defense allowed Juwan Washington to run for 158 yards on 24 carries, but stopped him on fourth-and-1 on the Stanford 32 on the opening play of the fourth quarter to all but seal the win.
Surprisingly, the Cardinal’s best defensive play came from wide receiver Trenton Irwin. After SDSU defensive tackle Noble Hall intercepted a tipped pass, Irwin sprinted back to strip Hall and recover the fumble. Arcega-Whiteside scored Stanford’s first touchdown two plays later.
“That was obviously the biggest momentum shift in the game,” Long said.