Defense makes mark in shutout of Knights
Itwas Devon Cajuste’s turn to take center stage among the various playmakers in the Stanford offense. He caught three of Kevin Hogan’s four touchdown passes Saturday.
Yet the person who received the first verbal bouquet from head coach David Shaw after the No. 15 Cardinal’s 35-0 victory over Army was first-year defensive coordinator Lance Anderson.
“In three days of practice, to get ready for the triple-option was phenomenal,” Sha wsaid. “I can’t say enough forw hat the defense did today. Itwas outstanding.”
After the previous Saturday’s bitterly disappointing loss to USC, the Cardinal (2-1) were determined to cut down on their mistakes. Stanford still made a few vexing ones, but the defense was stifling throughout in recording its second shutout in the first three games.
It limited the Black Knights’ ground-oriented attack to 207 total yards, and 70 of them came on a
final drive against the reserves. Safety Dallas Lloyd stopped quarterback A.J. Schurr on the final play at the Stanford 5with 1:14 left.
“Wewere going crazy’’ on the sideline, said linebacker Blake Martinez, who had a game-high 11 tackles. “Wewere giving asmuch advice aswe could to the second-string guys to get them to make that stop, and they did.”
Hogan, who lost two late fumbles against USC, bounced back with a 20-for-28, 216-yard passing performance andwas turnover free. He threw TD passes of 23, 2 and 15 to Cajuste before connecting on a 32-yard scoring pass to Ty Montgomery. It was Montgomery’s second touchdown of the fourth quarter. The first came on 4yard run from the wildcat formation.
“He took it upon his shoulders to play one of his better games,” Shaw said of Hogan. “I thought hewas great today.”
According to Hogan, the offense isn’t yet “where we want to be. Itwas a good day today executing, butwe know we can get better. We stalled there in the first half. We have to find away to continue those drives and put more points on the board.”
After he hit Cajuste for a score on the game’s first drive, Stanford was forced to punt four straight times by an outsized but determined Army defense.
“A lot of play-calling is guessing right and sometimes guessing wrong,’’ Shaw said. “So you could saywe guessed wrong and they guessed right a fewtimes.’’
The Cardinal also made a few mistakes, including a dropped pass by tight end Austin Hooper and fumble by Montgomery on a punt return.
The Cardinal took advantage of a big break late in the first
“He took it upon his shoulders to play one of his better games. I thought hewas great today.”
David Shaw, on QB Kevin Hogan
half. Fullback Larry Dixon fumbled on a hit by Alex Carter, and Kevin Anderson recovered at the Army 15. Hogan tried two alley-oop passes to Cajuste, and the second worked as he took advantage of a 4-inch height advantage on safety Geoffrey Bacon.
“He’s a tough guy to guard— 6-4, 227 pounds, and he can run and jump,” Shaw said. “It’s such a complement towhat Ty can do.”
Cajuste said all the offense had to dowas play its normal game to get rolling. “We knew wewere making little mistakes. … We just corrected our mistakes, that’s all.”
The Cardinal have a bye next Saturday before traveling to Washington on Sept. 27. The Huskies, whow hipped Illinois 44-19 on Saturday, probably will be 4-0 going into that game.
Stanford had nine tackles for loss, two of them by linebacker James Vaughters. A.J. Tarpley had an interception off Army’s Schurr, who replaced starter Angel Santiago after the lead reached 28-0.
“The defense is exactly where we want them to be,” Shaw said. “Guys are executing and playing unselfish defense.”
Meanwhile, the running game, with new tail backs and a revamped offensive line, “is still awork in progress,” he said. “It’s something we’re going to stick with because it’s going to pay dividends.”