San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
A slow start for offense; defense as good as ever
Without injured Bryce Love, the Stanford offense operated in fits and starts Saturday. No matter, the defense was as stingy as usual.
After a slow start, K.J. Costello threw a pair of touchdown passes to JJ Arcega-Whiteside for the No. 9 Cardinal, and the only touchdown the defense allowed came on the final play.
So the 30-10 victory over UC Davis at Stanford Stadium may not thrill the poll voters, but Stanford can’t complain.
“It wasn’t perfect, but we played well,” head coach David Shaw said. “I told the team we’re not going to act like we lost because we didn’t win by as much as we wanted to. We’re going to act like we won.”
The Cardinal ran their record to 3-0 going into next week’s big Pac-12 North game at Oregon.
Love is expected to be back for the trip.
Costello completed 17 of 30 passes for 214 yards before giving way to redshirt freshman Davis Mills in the fourth quarter. Jack Richardson and freshman Jack West also got their turns in the late stages.
Although Costello threw several passes too high in the first quarter, he recovered.
“I never worry about him,” Shaw said. “He’s unshakable. He missed a couple throws, made a couple bad decisions. He comes back, still bouncing on his toes, and says, ‘OK, Coach, what do you want to call next?’ ”
In a game that started at 11 a.m., the earliest starting time for a home game in program history, Stanford fell behind 3-0 early and had just 74 yards of total offense in the first quarter.
Then Costello found Arcega-Whiteside, who walled off cornerback Vincent White in the end zone with his body for a 9-yard score.
Jet Toner added the first of his three field goals later in the quarter, and Costello hit ArcegaWhiteside for an 8-yard touchdown in the final minutes of the half.
UC Davis doubleteamed Arcega-Whiteside often, but also left him in single coverage occasionally. “When they did — when anybody does — I know what my answer will be,” Costello said.
He blamed his team’s inefficiency on first down for Stanford’s inability to build a bigger score. “We’ve got to be more efficient,” he said. “We had too many penalties.”
The Aggies (2-1) had 261 yards of total offense. Standout wide receiver Keelan Doss, an Alameda native, had 106 of those yards on 13 receptions.
“I thought we played really well against him,” Shaw said. “This guy’s really good. He’s fast, long, tracks the deep ball well. That was potentially a 200-yard receiving game if our guys don’t make the plays that they did make on him. … He’s going to play well at the next level.”
Although Cameron Scarlett started in place of Love at tailback and scored a touchdown on a 5-yard run, Stanford’s leading rusher was Trevor Speights with 87 yards on 11 carries, including
a 38-yard run.
Toner kicked field goals of 31, 33 and 46 yards.
Veteran center Jesse Burkett returned to the starting lineup after missing the first two games with an undisclosed injury. But the offensive line is still not blowing anybody away.
“We are still growing,” Shaw said. “We have flashes of being really good and some flashes of not being really good.” He said there were too many times when the line was beaten in pass protection.
Stanford needed only a two-play “drive” to extend its lead to 27-3 in the third quarter. Following a 22yard punt return by Trent Irwin, Costello fired a 53-yard bomb to redshirt freshman Osiris St. Brown. Scarlett scored on the next play from 5 yards out.
The Aggies reached the Stanford 7 early in the fourth quarter, but quarterback Jake Maier’s pass was tipped by linebacker Casey Toohill and intercepted by freshman defensive end Thomas Booker.
Maier completed 22 of 45 passes for 194 yards before sophomore Hunter Rodrigues took over in the fourth quarter. Rodrigues threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Spencer on the game’s final play.
It was the first touchdown Stanford had given up since the first quarter of the San Diego State game, so the defense went 10 quarters without allowing a TD.