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.

1. Pounding the Rock

Pounding the rock can get a little claustrophobic when 22 men of decent size gather campfire-style, close by the rock, and then all quickly converge on it. (We’ll look at Shaw’s 4^th quarter play calling later.) As much as Stanford prides itself on the run, I don’t think it can run anytime, in any formation, through decent defenses. Although Stanford piled up yards on the ground, it wasn’t the backs that got all of the work done. Hogan’s legs and one Kelsey Young sweep accounted for 32% of Stanford’s run yardage. Meanwhile, the running backs had 25 runs that went for three yards or less. That’s a lot of plays that didn’t get anywhere. The run game contributed meaningful yardage on only two possessions all game. Still, I like the way Gaffney and Wilkerson run, and love that Stanford has the luxury of both of them. Gaffney is a bit more deliberate and stronger at shaking off tackles. Wilkerson hits the hole like a rabbit. Both have been good, but for me the payoff is setting up the passing game. Ty Montgomery will tell you immediately when asked about success with the passing game, “I think all that stuff comes from the run game, you know, some of the play action-pass that we run, the defense has to respect the run.” Well, OK, every Stanford player seems to give credit to some other aspect of the team when discussing any successes. But I think the passing game has been the big success of the year so far. Montgomery continues to shine in every way, and Cajuste made probably to coolest catch since Andrew Luck’s one handed catch in 2011 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89wGMqET3AM). Plus, these guys are blocking well. Cajuste made the key seal block on Young’s 32 yard run in the first quarter.

Kevin Hogan’s best pass of his career was an incompletion in the second quarter. Luke Kaumatule ran down the middle and had at most half a step on the defender. Hogan lofted the pass perfectly and it slipped off Kaumatule’s fingertips. Hogan, only a sophomore, has rarely showed this kind of touch on a closely defended deep ball. The guy is already good, and he’s only getting better.

I’ve always wondered why Kelsey Young doesn’t return kickoffs and punts or set up at wide receiver and go deep. Now, I think I know why. In the 3^rd quarter, Young came across on a wide receiver screen. Hogan tossed him a perfect little pass, a soft-serve on a hot day. Young dropped it immediately. I guess we’ll have to stick with handoffs and tiny, underhanded pitches.

2. Ed Reynolds and The Party in the Backfield

Ed Reynolds partied a little too hard. He poured himself a shot of Taylor Kelley and took it right to the head—and he got kicked out of the party. I respect Shaw for his honesty after the game, “From the naked eye, I agree with the officials.” The replay confirmed that Reynolds should be suspended for the first half of the Washington State game. Perhaps Reynolds was pissed about getting the raw end of a hit on ASU’s big Chris Coyle earlier in the 4^th quarter. Reynolds lowered the shoulder, and then quickly crumpled to the ground. He was able to redirect Coyle’s vector by about 35º (from a crossing route path to a direct path to the end zone).

Skov was awesome with nine tackles, including a big hit on 3^rd in 1 in the first quarter and a sack in the 4^th. Lyons also had nine tackles. And we had two punt blocks! And it was great to hear Ben Gardner and others talk about seeing these opportunities in the film room during the week (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpAhjR8gEFo). The defensive line was prepared, powerful and dominant. I am not surprised that Arizona St. broke through in the 4^th quarter. Since the offense was told to stop playing football, the defense was on the field too much, and just didn’t execute on some tackles and 4^th downs. Still, a shutout in the first half against a top-25 team is exactly the kind of party that we all want to attend on Saturdays.

3. Math of David: Numbers and Coaching

I’m trying to figure David Shaw out, and I’m not making much progress. He is like a Buddha; his media comments reveal both a deep philosophy and nothing much at all. This past summer, I saw him on campus at the Treehouse eating pizza with his family. My first thought was, “Why not tacos?” I can’t figure this guy out.

Certainly there are things to like. For example, results. Those are good. I’ll take those. And it’s nice to know that Coach Shaw isn’t going to turn into Bobby Petrino one crazy night and end up in the fountain below Hoover Tower with a blonde and a bottle of Jim Beam. So that is nice. He seems a bit more role-model-ish than that. I also like that he understands that good teachers shouldn’t have to do much with familiar students. At the press conference after Saturday’s game, he said, “The coaches shouldn’t even have to go to the Monday meetings. The players should be able to lead it, and tell each other exactly what happened, and where guys were, and where they were supposed to be.” If I’m a player, that is what I want to hear. Accountability. Trust. Not some old guy yelling things I already know over and over again.

And then there are puzzling things, like the offensive scheme in the 4^th quarter. I don’t know the name of that formation, but it is basically called, “We Are Going To Run Straight At You So Bring Your Eleven Guys And Have Fun…Oh, And Tell Your Offense To Get Ready To Be On The Field Soon Because This Never Works Unless You’ve Given Up Already.” I’ve seen this power run work for Stanford. It works when weaker teams have been pounded and no longer care. Arizona State had momentum. They had life. And they made us look stupid. So, what was Shaw doing?

According to Shaw, technique and execution were the problems, not personnel or formations. I don’t really have a problem with the personnel. Crower and others need to get some clock. It would have been better to bring Crower in after a defensive stop, rather than an ASU touchdown, but that isn’t such a big deal. The issue, which Shaw has yet to really address, is the formation. Why line up in a power run with no wide receivers for three straight possessions? No other coach would ever do this! Literally, none. No coaches. No coaches would play this way with so much time left on the clock against a top-25 team.

One possibility is that Shaw wanted to grade more linemen, so he got eight of them out there at once. Another possibility is that he didn’t want to give away any more of the playbook. But you could still run straight up the middle with two receivers out there to bring the number of defenders in the box down to 7 (from 11). Or maybe he just thought that ten consecutive pounding plays were necessary to set up that Hogan bootleg. Yeah right. None of these reasons add up. The only thing I can settle on is that Shaw is just really freaking intense. He is so intense that he thinks Stanford should be able to run for first downs regardless of anything: opponent, formation, personnel, game situation, etc. He is so intense that he won’t even consider the thought that those plays won’t work. I guess you could call him stubborn. For now, I’ll go with intense. If he’s really that intense, then I don’t feel so bad that I don’t understand him. Plus, he’s sneaky. After the game, Hogan said that Shaw told him not to tell the offense that he was going to keep the ball on the 4^th quarter bootleg. I guess he really wanted his guys to “sell” an 11^th straight run up the gut. Shaw says he doesn’t care about “style points,” but he clearly cares about style—his own style, that is.

4. Up Next: Washington St.

WSU is dangerous. A few weeks ago I would have been more concerned with their passing offense. But really their defense has been awesome. They are top-15 nationally in most defensive categories. They held USC to 193 yards. I am hopeful that Hogan will have a big day through the air. I don’t expect 200 yards on the ground, but I think over 200 through the air might be enough for the victory.

5. Around the Pac-12

The Pac-12 had another nice week, highlighted by USC and Utah holding on to beat respectable foes, Utah St and BYU. The Pac-12 is now 29-4 in nonconference games, against teams with a 59% winning percentage in their other games. This is clearly the best performance of any conference. The SEC is 29-7 in nonconference games, against teams with a 58% winning percentage. This year, there is no reason to assume the SEC is the better conference. Last year, the SEC was better—not necessarily better than Stanford or Oregon, but better in the middle and the bottom. This year, the Pac-12 is looking up to no one. We should also note that the SEC’s best nonconference victory is Alabama over Virginia Tech. The SEC has zero wins against the top-30.

I must admit I’m rooting heavily for Washington to beat Arizona this week. For strength of schedule, this makes sense, since Stanford doesn’t play Arizona. But I’m also hoping for a big showdown of undefeated teams next week on the Farm. The only other top-25 game in week 6 is Ohio State at Northwestern. Would Gameday go to Northwestern? Maybe. Perhaps if Wisconsin can shock Ohio State this week there will be a chance we’ll see Lee Corso wearing some tree in the oval on October 5^th.

6. Underrated Team of the Week

California Golden Bears. Something about Cal having a bye week got me thinking more about Cal. No one outside of Cal is talking about the fact that Jarred Goff leads the nation in passing yards per game. And though people around the country acknowledge that Cal’s schedule has been tough, they don’t fully understand two things:

1. Cal’s three opponents are undefeated in their other games. (Yes, Portland St has won its three other games by an average of 40 points.)
2. Cal was really unlucky against Northwestern. Goff had two tipped passes that were returned for touchdowns. Both were totally fluky plays that gifted Northwestern 14 points or more—Cal was driving with tons of momentum on the first one.

ESPN Pac-12 bloggers have Cal ranked 12^th in their current power rankings (http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/62169/pac-12-power-rankings-week-4-3). This is fair I suppose, but is more a reflection of the fact that all eleven of the other teams have had proven success. I don’t expect Cal to finish last in the conference. They have too much firepower.

7. Overrated Team of the Week

Michigan Wolverines. Akron and Connecticut are two of the worst teams in the FBS. Michigan, you are allowed one ugly victory, but not two. Not two at home. And not one that was preserved with holding on the last play. (Yes, Michigan should have been flagged for holding on Akron’s 4^th down play.) Michigan should be unranked, and therefore so should Notre Dame.

1. Pounding the Rock

Stanford was still able to get short yardage when it needed it. The starting unit was 3/3 on running plays on third down with five yards or less to go. (It was 5/5 in the SJSU game.) Hogan was not nearly as effective passing in short yardage situations, going 0/2 on passing plays of third down with five yards or less to go. I would like to see Shaw run the ball more on 3^rd and 4,  3^rd and 5. Harbaugh used to get it to Gerhart back in the day, and since Hogan isn’t a polished pocket passer, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t still be running in these situations. We’ve had success picking up four yards on the ground for many years now. That is our bread and butter. It always shocks me when I see Hogan dropping back to pass on 3^rd and 3.

One option for Hogan is to get him rolling out of the pocket more. He is at his best when he is on the move. We saw this for the first time in the Cal game last year (before Hogan was a starter). Inserted for this particular play, Hogan rolled out right and threw a strike to Toilolo in the corner of the end zone. It was this play that caused to one of the few Stanford bloggers, Hank Waddles (http://www.gomightycard.com), to call for more playing time for Hogan. Neither Hogan nor Nunes got anything going in the Washington St game the next week, but at Colorado, in the following game, the floodgates finally burst open for Hogan. Good things always seem to happen when he rolls out to the right.

Hogan’s receiver corps looks to be in good shape. Ty Montgomery was fantastic. He caught 6 balls for 130 yards and has showed an improved set of hands this year. Earlier in his career he carried a bit of the Chris Owusu stigma—great speed, silly hands. But so far it seems he has kept the Owusu speed and added the Whalen (Griff or Ryan) hands. Michael Rector also showed that he has some quick feet. In the 2^nd quarter, Hogan targeted him deep in the end zone. He wasn’t really open, so Hogan smartly led him too far, but Rector closed on the uncatchable ball much more quickly than the defender. Rector also had a TD catch on a tipped ball in the first quarter.

2. Ed Reynolds and The Party in the Backfield

For the second straight week, I am concerned about what Alex Carter is doing out on the wings. Last week it was pass defense, but against Army it was an abnormal run defense. Army is notorious for its cut blocking, when a blocker dives down to take out a player’s legs. All the Stanford players knew this, and surely practiced how to defend against it. But, in the first half, Carter twice engaged a cut block by leaning forward with his body, lowering his helmet, and colliding head-to-head with the defender. It was like two wild rams bucking heads. On both plays, Carter and the blocker crumpled to the ground while the runner cruised by. Both plays were runs outside the tackles to the right. On the first play Army gained 14 yards. Later in the second quarter, when Carter did the same thing, Army gained 46 yards to help set up a touchdown.

I don’t know much about the hands-on technique of football. But it is pretty obvious how to defend against a cut block. I watched Ed Reynolds many times: step back, put your hands out to help force the diving blocker to the ground, and move to one side. A simple Google search—“How to defend against a cut block”—reveals this basic strategy. I have no idea what Carter was doing. Unfortunately, on the second of these two plays, Reynolds also was taken down as he tried to move laterally to avoid the block, and Stanford yielded by far its longest play of the season.

Nonetheless, the defense clogged the middle for the second straight week. We’ve come to expect it, so it is less exciting to note the details, but it was absolutely the key to the first two games. SJSU and Army had a combined total of one solid gain through the middle of Stanford’s defense: Army’s 2^nd quarter touchdown run of 15 yards. The front is especially tough when its name is called; Stanford stopped Army both times on 4^th and 1.

3. Math of David: Numbers and Coaching 

Shaw finally offered up an early aperitif of sweet play-calling nectar. In the 3^rd quarter, Kelsey Young came across on the sweep as Gaffney spilled out ahead of him to block. But Young was just the decoy. Hogan kept it, Gaffney wheeled down the sidelines, and Hogan lofted it to him for the easy score.

I like that Shaw got the back-ups some time on both sides of the ball, but having Crower throw a pass on 4^th and 1 was not the right call. If you want to throw it on 4^th and 1, do it like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FS8dBb5yZU  (Scroll to about the 4 minute mark to see Mike Riley’s genius play call in the 4th quarter of Oregon State’s win over Utah.)

4. Up Next: Arizona St.

Arizona St was better than Wisconsin and should not have needed the refs to secure the win for them. They served up 7 free points on a bad punt snap and made careless decisions with two-point conversions and clock-management. They had no problem moving the ball through the air, and they will test Stanford’s corners. In the 4^th quarter, Taylor Kelly targeted Jaelen Strong multiple times on back-shoulder routes along the sideline. Each time, the Wisconsin corner was right next to him. Each time, the defender never turned to see the ball. All three times, Strong made the catch. I am concerned about this matchup against Alex Carter. Keep an eye out for Kelley throwing the back-shoulder pass early in the game. If the ASU coaches watched SJSU film, they will see that Carter is vulnerable.

I think Hogan might have a tough time in the pocket against ASU’s pressure. I hope to see a bunch of dump screens against blitzes, and a lot of plays to keep Hogan on the move. I think Stanford will have success if it can avoid 3^rd and long. 

5. Around the Pac-12

Nine of the ten remaining games on Stanford’s schedule are against teams with winning records. (Cal is the exception.) Going undefeated looks much much harder than it did in August, and not because Stanford hasn’t blown out its first two opponents in dominating fashion. It is the Pac-12 as a whole that looks much deeper and much more dangerous.

What a solid weekend for the conference. UCLA looked like a title contender in the 2^nd half. Washington took care of business on the road against an undefeated Illinois team. And being an Oregon fan right now must be ridiculously satisfying. I just hope Tennessee wins a few games in the SEC. If it does, the Pac-12 deserves to have its best team in the national championship game.

Keep an eye out for Utah St., one of the most underrated teams in the country. USC is going to have to put up a few points. I think people got a bit too relaxed after USC’s offense put up 35 on Boston College. BC is a horrible team and from my perspective Kessler’s solid day last week hasn’t proved anything.

6. Overrated Team of the Week

UCLA Bruins. They are good, and they looked great against Nebraska, and I hope they keep winning. And they might. I just don’t think beating Nebraska is that big of a deal. Nebraska doesn’t deserve to even know where the paragraph (below the top-25 rankings) ends. They aren’t even close to one vote in my opinion. They were dominated by Wisconsin and Georgia at the end of last year, and they barely got by Wyoming this year. UCLA is a top-20 team, but there is no way to justify having UCLA above Baylor, for example. Baylor crushed UCLA in the Holiday Bowl last year. Just crushed them. So UCLA, in my opinion, has some more winning to do to deserve a top-15 ranking. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury has UCLA at #4 in his AP ballot. Come on… above Stanford! Stanford beat them twice in a row a few games back! Wilner is smart to reward teams for road wins against good teams, he just doesn’t always figure out who the good teams are. Nonetheless, go Bruins. They are fun to watch and I hope they roll into Stanford Stadium undefeated next month.

1. Pounding the Rock

Stanford got two yards whenever it wanted. The receivers caught every ball that was easily catchable. The result was predictable, though still sensational: zero punts. That is pretty special. As a comparison, Oregon punted four times while scoring 59 against Virginia, as they were occasionally unable to pick up short yardage. Stanford dominated by moving the ball when they needed to and never turning the ball over. (I’m just not going to count that Dallas Lloyd fumble.) 34 points, no punts, and no (real) turnovers… I would take that every game of the season.

If there is anything to nit-pick, it is that Hogan doesn’t seem to see all his options. He intuitively will take off running for an empty hole, and shows a good ability to improvise, but I rarely see him stare down one receiver and then turn to another to complete a pass.

The way Stanford’s current offense is designed, the most satisfying part of any game is running the rock and the clock. Stanford’s last drive was pure Cardinal. Wilkerson took one handoff after another and looked like he was sauntering through a scrimmage squad.

2. Ed Reynolds and The Party in the Backfield

I was surprised that Fales and SJSU took so few shots downfield. Either they respected Ed Reynolds or they didn’t think they would have enough time in the pocket for a downfield receiver to emerge. Probably both. When they tried to throw downfield, Reynolds either made the interception or had it called back by a teammate’s holding penalty. The actual interception was definitely a result of pressure, as three Stanford rushers looped inside and swarmed the middle lane, cause Fales to panic and release a floater.

Open-field tackling looked good. San Jose State’s longest play from scrimmage: 19 yards. Yep… tackling was good. Once cause for concern: Alex Carter was slow to see the ball along the sidelines. Unless things change, receivers on the outside might be able to make easy catches, even when Carter is close by.

3. Math of David: Numbers and Coaching

Shaw called a conservative game. Hogan threw downfield a few times, but generally Shaw kept the playbook closed, and went with standard plays.  For example, we only saw Kelsey Young’s name called once, on a predictable sweep in the wildcat formation. The game unfolded perfectly for sticking with a simple approach to play-calling.

While Shaw tends to be more conservative than he should on 4^th down, especially past midfield, his decisions to send in the field goal unit three times were warranted. All three field goals were attempted with Stanford leading by 11 points. It goes without saying what a field goal does for an 11 point lead.

4. Around the Pac-12

The conference looks to be on the rise, though teams face major tests in Week 3. The bottom of the conference seems much improved, as teams are settling in with smart coaches that the players like. I never thought players could like Mike Leach—maybe they don’t—but he certainly has them playing well. Their win over USC is not a surprise to those who watched WSU-Auburn and USC-Hawaii. WSU easily kept pace with Auburn, and USC’s offense is worse than anything Walt Harris ever produced.

Watch a Sonny Dykes post-game press conference and you’ll see that he’s smart and direct and probably fun to play for. Mike MacIntyre is one of the hottest coaches in the country right now. All those former Pac-12 bottom dwellers are now dangerous. Or at least they look like they are becoming potent again. And many teams around the league have young quarterbacks. Everything is starting to look sunny out west. And once Lane Kiffin is fired, the Pac-12 should enjoy a great run of years with a competitive top-to-bottom and a cast of national title contenders more diverse than just Stanford and Oregon.

5. Overrated Team of the Week

Miami Hurricanes. Miami only gained 212 yards against Florida and won 21-16 because of Florida’s five turnovers. How did they jump all the way to 15^th in the poll? For some comparison, BYU dominated a Texas team that was thought to be on par with Florida, and BYU barely even breached the paragraph. Yeah, BYU lost to Virginia, but so did Miami—at least last year. Miami might be decent, but we probably won’t know anything about Miami until November 2^nd, when they face Florida St. For now, keep in mind that this team went 7-5 last year, losing by 39 to Kansas St. and 38 to Notre Dame. And we saw how well Kansas St. and Notre Dame held up against the elite in their bowl games. Take the name off of Miami’s jerseys and they aren’t ranked in the top 20.