1. Pounding the Rock

The rock is as light as a feather and floats through the air! Last week I wrote, “I think over 200 through the air might be enough for the victory.” How about 322? I haven’t had that much fun watching Stanford football in two years. The beauty was in the execution, but the joy came from the unexpectedness. Hogan had struggled throwing downfield, and Shaw hadn’t called many long passing plays. Plus, Washington St had the second best passing defense in the nation, yielding only 118 yds/game. But Shaw had planned a great game, and he didn’t waste any time letting the air attack loose.

Hogan threw a beauty to Montgomery on the first play from scrimmage, but Montgomery had his first drop of the year. Something seemed ominous about that moment. Was this the one big passing play Shaw had drawn up for the game? Did we just miss a crucial moment? I was reminded of Oct 10^th, 2009, when Stanford was 4-1 in Luck’s first season and playing at Oregon St. On the first play, Luck hit Owusu in stride for an 80-yard touchdown pass—except for the fact that Owusu never caught it. It was only the first play of the game, but the momentum was immediately unseized. 5 minutes later, Stanford was down 7-0 and on its way to a 38-28 defeat. But on Saturday, it took only two plays to make up for Montgomery’s drop. Hogan went deep again on 3^rd and 3 and found Rector for a huge gain. A deep pass on 3^rd and 3 is a great call, as the defense is playing tight looking for the short ball. At that point, something was starting to feel different. Two deep balls in three plays?

And then it just became an embarrassment of riches. Deep touchdown to Cajuste. Deep touchdown to Cajuste. Deep touchdown to Rector. Awesome. Cajsute, Rector, and Montgomery are all potent threats, showing plenty of speed and mostly great hands. And Hogan was absolutely outstanding. His only mistake came in the 2^nd quarter when he floated a ball that should have reached Cajuste for a touchdown. He ran well and managed a great game. And he showed us he has an arm that is capable of working in any kind of offensive scheme. He is also getting great protection. It is really fun to watch your quarterback sit in the pocket and casually toss around a Nerf to whoever is open down the street.

Oh… and, um… Barry Freaking Sanders, baby! The coolest thing about Sanders juking on the screen pass and getting a touchdown later in the game was his teammates’ reaction. They love this kid! And he was so excited. As they showed him on the sidelines afterwards, I couldn’t stop pointing to the television and saying, “Look at how excited he is! Look how happy he is! He’s so excited! How cool is that!”

2. Ed Reynolds and The Party in the Backfield

The party usually starts when someone barrels through the front door and rushes the host. After that, the drinks are just floating in the air, held aloft by slowly spinning cocktail umbrellas. Then Reynolds and company saunter over and grab the freebies. Boom. Party time. 28 consecutive parties with free drinks. (28 consecutive games the defense has forced as turnover.) Trent Murphy really had two interceptions. The first was a pick six by Jordan Richards, but Murphy was the one who hit Halliday and created the play (and took Halliday out of the game.) Murphy’s second pick, which he returned for a TD, was just evil. Devilish. Mauro and Skov continue to play well. Skov finally looks like he is playing as fast as he did before his injury two years ago.

The fact that Washington St couldn’t run the ball for short yardage was crucial. It’s not easy to win football games if you can’t run for 2 yard on 3^rd and 1. Washington St also helped Stanford’s defense early on by dropping some key third down passes.

3. Math of David: Numbers and Coaching

Shaw called a perfect game and did lots of homework. He knew they were going to blitz and stuff the line, so he planned to unleash the downfield passing game. And it was a great game plan. Washington St. was clearly not prepared to defend this kind of attack. It was Shaw’s best display of coaching of his career. Besides the unexpected pass attack, Shaw also let Stanford define its character by going for it twice on 4^th and 1, both times around midfield. Gaffney made an insane effort to pick up one of the 1^st downs. The other one was also barely successful. Perhaps we missed Yankey a bit on the line. Nonetheless, if we can’t pick up a yard on the ground, we aren’t Stanford football. Shaw knows this better than anyone. Shaw chose to punt a few times on 4^th down, once when we were on the WSU 36 yard line. It is commonly accepted that expected value favors an aggressive 4^th down approach anytime past midfield.  In a high-scoring game with strong offenses, this approach is even more imperative. But Stanford’s situation is different. With such a good defense, Stanford is much happier when a team starts a drive from inside the 15 yard line rather than the 40. Plus, Stanford’s new punter, Ben Rhyne, has shown a consistent ability to pin teams inside the 20. If Rhyne continues to do that, I feel comfortable punting on 4^th and 3 or more when just inside the other team’s territory.

After lining up in the power elephant run formation for 14 consecutive plays against ASU, Shaw never did it more than once at a time this game, despite again having a huge lead. The play still never worked, of course. But I was glad to see Shaw change his tune from last week’s play-calling debacle. The only call that was suspect was a first quarter quarterback draw on 3^rd and 11. I love the draw on 3^rd and 5, but as announcer Matt Millen noted, the draw play won’t work on 3^rd and long with the defense in a zone. When there is only one play call that really stands out as suspect, it is clear the coach has carved up a masterpiece. Shaw’s stock is up, way up.

4. Up Next: Washington

Washington is for real. Boise St, Illinois, and Arizona are all decent teams that fell easily to Washington. I think the key for Stanford will be tackling and containing Price. Price made some key plays out of the pocket against Arizona, and his athleticism will present Stanford with problems similar to Oregon. If we can stop Price from scrambling and making plays outside of the pocket on 3^rd and 4^th down, I like our chances.

5. Around the Pac-12

Here’s why Oregon might be the best team in college football: a guy most people (including myself) have never heard of returned two punts for touchdowns against Cal. Bralon Addison. Who? Hmm… I thought the only good Oregon players were Thomas and Mariota. You mean there are other players with talent? Well, you wouldn’t know it from the way the team is covered nationally.

Excluding the Stanford game last year, Oregon has won 16 consecutive games by 17 or more points.  It is such a shame that the wrong team keeps winning the Stanford-Oregon game, excluding both teams from the national championship game. In 2010, it was a true national semifinal, and Oregon came up just short in the BCS championship against Auburn. But that year Stanford may have had its best team of all-time. If the onside kick and crushing blow to Owusu don’t happen, then Stanford plays for, and I think wins, the national championship. In 2012, if Thomas doesn’t start celebrating early and turns around to block Carrington on Mariota’s huge first quarter run, then Oregon plays for the national championship. Stanford and Oregon are each exactly 38-3 against other teams in the past four years. Unbelievable. It is as good as any rivalry in football. Only Texas A&M vs Alabama could match it for pure theater, mostly because those two teams have contrasting styles just like Stanford and Oregon. If x defines when I am a huge fan of Oregon football, then x < November 7^th < x .  Go Ducks and go Card.

What else around the league… Yes, Kiffin got fired. No, there isn’t much to write about. From all of his coaching stints, he has no equity and no results. Cal vs Washington St feels like a must-win for Cal. The remaining schedule is daunting. It will be interesting to see how Goff bounces back from the slippery wet fingers fiasco against Oregon. I expect him to play well this week, especially since Hogan exposed some flaws in WSU’s secondary. ASU needs to take care of business against Notre Dame. Also, I’m rooting for UCLA against Utah. I’d love to see an undefeated UCLA team against Stanford on October 19^th.

6. Overrated Teams of the Week

Ole Miss Rebels. Mississippi was just crushed by Alabama, 25-0. It gained 205 total yards! And somehow Ole Miss is still ranked, coming in at 24^th in the AP poll. This stat will tell you all you need to know: Ole Miss hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent in 4 years. If there is ever a team that benefits from SEC bias, this team is it. (Miss St. is also notoriously over-ranked, last year climbing to 11^th midseason. Miss St. hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent in 3 years.)

Oklahoma State Cowboys. I’m not sure why people thought Oklahoma St. was going to be good this year. And I’m not sure why they are still ranked 21^st in the AP poll after losing to a bad West Virginia team. OSU went 8-5 last year, including a loss to Arizona. Arizona has the same 3-1 record as OSU (with neither owning any quality wins), but Arizona lost to UW, a much better team than West Virginia. There is no way to justify ranking OSU unless you are voting Arizona ahead of them. And can I get a drumroll please?…. This week, Arizona received: no votes.