Cardinal ‘D’: diligent, dominant, divine
As shocking Stanford wins go, this one wasn’t quite up there with the 24-23 stunner over USC in 2007. That Cardinal team, a 41-point underdog, was 1-3 and starting a backup quarterback.
But one thing was clear after Saturday night’s 17-14 overtime win over then-No. 1 Oregon in Eugene: If there has been a better defense on the Farm, ever, it had to have been in the leather-helmet era.
Stanford has shut down other teams completely, twice holding teams to negative rushing yardage in recent weeks. Holding a team averaging 55 points to 14 was a feat on a much higher plateau.
The Cardinal made two fourth-down stops in the first half. They held Kenjon Barner to 66 yards in 21 carries, a 3.1-yard average. They limited the super accelerator De’Anthony Thomas to 74 all-purpose yards.
By dropping a lot of people into coverage, sometimes at the expense of the pass rush, they held quarterback Marcus Mariota to 21 completions in 37 tries for only 207 yards. His longest completion was for 28 yards. Very modest numbers for a redshirt freshman who was leading the nation in passing efficiency.
In his previous two games, Mariota had thrown as many touchdown passes (10) as incompletions.
“I wouldn’t say they were frustrated,’’ linebacker A.J. Tarpley said. “They can score at any time from 90 yards out. We knew that. Even though we had them at 14 points, in two minutes, they could take it to 21.’’
With his changing formations and disguised coverages, defensive coordinator Derek Mason seemed to have figured out a way to frazzle the seemingly unflappable Mariota. In the overtime, he apparently misread where wide receiver Josh Huff was going in the end zone; he threw to the right side while Huff went over the middle. That mistake forced a field-goal attempt, which Alejandro Maldonado missed.
Stanford’s offense was far from perfect. Kelsey Young and Stepfan Taylor lost fumbles, and Drew Terrell nearly lost another on a punt return before a replay review found he was down just before the ball came loose. Quarterback Kevin Hogan threw an interception and also fumbled in overtime, but guard Khalil Wilkes outwrestled the Ducks for it and saved the day.
Nevertheless, Taylor, Hogan and tight end Zach Ertz, who caught the tying touchdown pass, his career-high 11th catch of the game, did enough on offense to complement the superb defensive effort.
“They beat us bad the last year and won eight out of nine against us,’’ Ertz said. “To beat them at their place is a great accomplishment.’’