Shaw finds satisfaction with team’s resilience
Stanford coach David Shaw compared his team to the Rolling Stones — no matter where they’re playing, they’re going to put on a show.
“We’re a traveling band right now,” Shaw said. “You know, just tell us the venue, we’re good. This country, another country, turn the bus around and go back and play the local dive — we’re going to go turn it up. I think our guys are just at that point now, let’s not worry about where it is. Let’s go there and be at our best.”
It worked last week. Forced to uproot to Seattle last Tuesday after Santa Clara County issued a ban on contact practices and games, the Cardinal (2-2) practiced at Washington’s indoor facility and at Kennedy Catholic High School before conducting its walkthrough at a local park in view of ducks and Washington fans who heckled them with chants of “Go Dawgs!”
The Cardinal then went out
and upset No. 23 Washington 31-26 before taking 10 buses Sunday to Corvallis, where it has spent the week preparing for Saturday’s game at Oregon State (2-3).
For sophomore linebacker Levani Damuni, the time away from campus means nightly FaceTime calls with his wife of six months. For sophomore safety Jonathan McGill, it means catching up on “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus. For everyone, it means adapting to an unexpected two weeks in the Pacific Northwest while trying to continue a two-game winning streak.
“Washington didn’t care that we had to practice in a park,” McGill said. “Oregon State’s not going to care whatever situation that Santa Clara is going through right now. So we just have to adapt to the situation at hand and continue to make the most of it.”
Here are four keys to making the most of Saturday’s game (7:30 p.m., ESPNU) as Stanford looks to extend its 10-game winning streak against the Beavers:
NEWRECEIVERS >> Quarterback Davis Mills finally seems to be hitting his stride after having to miss the season opener due to a false positive coronavirus test, and then getting out of quarantine just before the second game.
“I think Davis is now at full swing after not being able to be himself the first few games,” Shaw said.
Now comes a new test. Leading receiver Michael Wilson and fellow starter Connor Wedington were injured against Washington, so sophomore Elijah Higgins and junior Brycen Tremayne will be making their first starts today.
Mills, who threw for three TDs in Corvallis last year, may need to rely even more on Simi Fehoko, who had two critical third-and-long catches during Stanford’s game-sealing drive against the Huskies.
“You could tell when those two guys went down it’s almost like (Simi) grew 2 inches,” Shaw said. “Even practice the other day, jumping up to the front of the line and saying ‘Hey, I gotta lead this group.’ ”
HELPING MILLS >> The depleted receiving corps won’t be as big an issue if Stanford runs the ball like it did against Washington. Austin Jones ran for a career-high 138 yards and two touchdowns against the Pac-12’s stingiest run defense, becoming the first Cardinal player since Christian McCaffrey in 2016 to record back-toback games with multiple rushing TDs.
His backup, Nathaniel Peat, is averaging 7.6 yards on 24 carries this season. They should find some holes against Oregon State, which allows the conference’s second-most rushing yards a game (206.4).
Jones, Peat and Mills have benefitted from an offensive line that has started the same five players all season. Besides running for touchdowns on its first three drives against Washington, Stanford didn’t allow a sack and gave up just one tackle for loss against the Huskies, who had 10 sacks and 16 tackles for loss in their other three games this year.
JEFFERSON IS BACK >> Oregon State star running back Jermar Jefferson has been cleared to play after missing last week’s loss to Utah due to contact tracing. The junior is second in the conference with 168.8 rushing yards a game, and his seven rushing touchdowns is tied with Jones for the most in the Pac-12.
“I think he’s been the most explosive back in the conference,” Shaw said.
Jefferson had only four carries for 17 yards against the Cardinal last year, though teammate Artavis Pierce had 16 carries for 141 yards. Stanford had allowed a 100-yard rusher in its first three games before stopping that streak against Washington.
But Shaw announced Thursday that two defensive starters — fifth-year outside linebacker Jordan Fox and sophomore cornerback Salim Turner-Muhammed — have been ruled out for today, making the repeat task tougher.
RUNNING QB >> It isn’t just Jefferson who the defense needs to worry about on the ground. After Beavers starting QB Tristan Gebbia suffered a season- ending injury at the end of a win against Oregon two weeks ago, Chance Nolan had 13 carries for 36 yards in his first start last week against Utah, including a 28-yard run.
Oregon’s Tyler Shough (11 carries for 85 yards and a TD), Colorado’s Sam Noyer (eight carries for 36 yards and two TDs) and Cal’s Chase Garbers (13 carries for 51 yards) all had success as running QBs against Stanford this season.
“It starts with Jordan Jefferson … he’s so shifty, so explosive, runs through arm tackles,” Shaw said. “So discipline is huge for us because now you throw in an athletic quarterback as well. Early on we had trouble with athletic quarterbacks and we’ve done better, but now the combination having a dynamic runner at running back and at quarterback really makes you make sure your eyes are in the right spot.”