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Sept. 21, 1997
Stanford Hosts Oregon
THE CARDINAL: Stanford has won seven of its last eight games after Saturday's 27-24 come-from-behind victory at Oregon State ... The Cardinal scored the game winning TD on a two-yard run by Greg Comella with 27 seconds remaining ... Stanford is now 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-10 and ranked 20th by the Associated Press and 22nd by USA Today/ESPN ... Stanford defeated Oregon 27-24 in overtime last season and has won five of the last six vs. the Ducks and four of the last five at Stanford Stadium.
GAME THEME: Saturday's game with Oregon is Homecoming weekend on The Farm ... Alumni festivities will be held throughout the weekend ... Stanford will be presented with the Sears Directors' Cup at halftime of the Oregon game ... This is the third consecutive year that Stanford has won the Sears Cup,which is given to the top overall athletic program in the country ... In addition, the second annnual All Sports Day will take place beginning at 4:00 pm on Angell Field.
TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Now in his third season as Stanford's head football coach, Tyrone Willingham enters Saturday's game with a 16-10-1 record at the helm ... He has led the Cardinal to consecutive bowl games and is only the third coach in Stanford history to lead the Cardinal to bowl games in each of his first two years on The Farm (the other two are Tiny Thornhill in 1933 and '34 and Bill Walsh in 1977 and '78) ... Named the 1995 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Willingham was chosen as a candidate for the Bear Bryant Award by one pre-season magazine and was named the Best Coach in the Pac-10 by another publication.
THE LAST EIGHT: Stanford has won seven of its last eight games dating back to last season when it finished the year by winning its final five games ... The Cardinal had the longest winning streak in the nation (six) before losing at North Carolina on Sept. 13 ... In the last eight games, however, Stanford has defeated UCLA, USC, Washington State, California, Michigan State in the Sun Bowl, San Jose State and Oregon State with the only loss coming at North Carolina ... During this time, Stanford has outscored its opponents 230-142- an average of 29-18 - while winning the turnover battle 23-14 ... The Cardinal has picked off 18 passes in the last eight games and has held its opponent under 100-yard rushing in six of the eight games (136 yards on 44 carries to North Carolina, 103 yards on 35 carries vs. OSU).
SECOND HALF DEFENSE: The Cardinal defense has become stingier in the second half in each of its first three games ... In the second half last Saturday at Oregon State, the Beavers could muster just four rushing yards on 13 attempts while scoring just two field goals ...In the second half of its three games this season, the Cardinal defense has allowed just 80 yards rushing on 45 carries, an average of 1.7 yards per rush ... Opponents have gained an average of only 116 yards in total offense vs. the Cardinal defense in the second half.
TALE OF TROY: Junior flanker Troy Walters has been one of the Cardinal's top offensive weapons thus far in 1997 both as a receiver and punt returner ... He had six receptions for 55 yards against Oregon State last Saturday, giving him a team-leading 20 receptions for 314 yards (15.7 ypc) through three games ... His 6.7 receptions per game average ranks him tied for 13th in the nation while his 104.6 receiving yards per game places him third in the conference and 18th nationally ... Walters' 15.25 punt return average is also among the best in college football - 10th in the country and second in the Pac-10 ... Of his 20 catches thus far, he has registered receptions of 46, 42, 33 and 22 yards ... In eight punt returns thus far in '97, he has returns of 52, 19 and 18 yards ... Walters has a 12.2 career punt return average (32-390), which currently ranks him tied for fourth on Stanford's all-time list.
KAILEE'S CORNER: Senior DE Kailee Wong will once again square off against his hometown Oregon Ducks this Saturday ... Wong, from Eugene, Oregon, has played some of his best games against the Ducks throughout his career ... He had four tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a half-sack in last year's game with Oregon ... In 1995, Wong was credited with six tackles and one tackle-for-loss against the Ducks ... Wong was tabbed as a consensus pre-season All-Pac-10 pick and a Second-Team All-American ... He is attempting to become the first Cardinal defensive lineman since Duncan McColl in 1976 to earn All-America honors ... A year ago, Wong tied for second in the Pac-10 with 12 quarterback sacks and was third in the league with 21 tackles-for-loss ... The Sporting News ranked Wong as the sixth best DE in the nation while Lindy's ranked him ninth ... Wong was also named by some magazines as a candidate for the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award ... He has 3.5 sacks in three games this season, giving him 15.5 sacks in his last 14 games ... Wong has also recorded five tackles-for-loss in three games this season, 14 total tackles, broken up one pass and recovered one fumble ... He has 25.5 tackles-for-loss in his last 14 games.
HANSEN: Senior DT Carl Hansen is once again proving to be one of the top defensive tackles in the Pac-10 ... Last week at Oregon State, Hansen, from Houston, Texas, was credited with four tackles-for-loss, one quarterback sack and six tackles ... He currently leads the team with five tackles-for-loss in three games to go along with two sacks and 12 total tackles ... An honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection in '96, Hansen has started 25 consecutive games for the Cardinal on the defensive line ... He has 26 tackles-for-loss and 16.5 sacks during this time as well as four fumble recoveries, two interceptions, one blocked kick and two forced fumbles.
DYNAMIC DUO: Even though Anthony Bookman and Mike Mitchell are both among the top five rushers in Stanford football history, they had never before rushed for over 100-yards in the same game until last Saturday's game at Oregon State ... It was the first time a pair of Stanford running backs had rushed for over 100-yards in the same game since Glyn Milburn (9-106) and Tommy Vardell (29-114) on September 28, 1991 vs. Colorado ... Combined, Stanford's halfback tandem rushed for 222 yards on 32 carries vs. Oregon State with Bookman gaining 120 on 14 attempts and Mitchell netting 102 on 18 carries ... Mitchell raised his career total to 2,015 yards, becomming the fourth back in school history to amass 2,000 yards rushing ... Bookman's career total of 1,911 leaves him just 89 yards shy of joining Mitchell in the elite 2,000 yard club ... Mitchell needs 164 yards to pass Milburn for third place on the school's all-time rushing list ... Mitchell ranks fifth all-time in career all-purpose yards with 3,198 while Bookman is in sixth place with 3,088 yards ... In three games this season, Mitchell and Bookman have combined for 344 yards on 74 carries (4.5 ypc).
TWO-SPORT STAR: Junior Chad Hutchinson (three years of eligibility remaining) is one of the top two-sport athletes in the nation ... A former first round draft pick in baseball (26th pick overall by Braves, June, 1995), Hutchinson is in his second season as Stanford's starting quarterback ... He has been a starting pitcher for the Cardinal baseball team the past two seasons (15-6 record) and will enter the '98 season as one of the top pitching prospects in college baseball ... He is eligibile for the major league baseball draft in June, 1998 following his junior season ... As a quarterback, Hutchinson entered the '97 football season rated by Lindy's as the fifth best QB in the nation and number six in the nation by The Sporting News ... He began the '97 campaign by throwing for 302 yards in the season opener vs. San Jose State - his second 300-yard effort of his career ... Last week against OSU, he completed 19-of-26 for 171 yards and one TD ...In the last two years on The Farm, Hutchinson has participated in two bowl games (the 1995 Liberty Bowl as a redshirt freshman and the '96 Sun Bowl as the starting QB), two NCAA baseball regional playoffs and one College World Series, that coming last season ... He was a Freshman All-American in baseball in 1995 and last year he was the Offensive MVP of the Sun Bowl.
GETTING THEIR KICKS: Junior Patrick Shinnefield made his Cardinal debut on Saturday at Oregon State as he replaced senior Kevin Miller as the team's placekicker ... While Shinnefield did not have a field goal attempt, he did make three of his four extra point attempts (the other one was blocked) ... Miller, meanwhile, remains Stanford's punter ... He is having an outstanding year punting the ball, as his 46.5 yard average would attest ... Miller leads the Pac-10 and his sixth in the nation in punting ... He was Stanford's placekicker all of last season and through the first two games of '97 ... Miller went 12-of-19 in the field goal department last season and was one-for-four this year ... Shinnefield, from Yorba Linda, Calif., had not played during hist first two years on The Farm ... He came to Stanford as a highly-recruited kicker out of Mater Dei High School in southern California.
DUNN'S DAY: Senior wide receiver Damon Dunn had his finest day of the season last Saturday at Oregon State as he collected seven receptions for 48 yards and one touchdown ... Dunn, Stanford's leading returning receiver (35 receptions in '96), had just one reception after the first two games of the year ... He scored his first receiving TD of the season on a 14-yard pass play from QB Chad Hutchinson ... Dunn, who is already the school record holder in career kickoff return yardage (1,485 yards) and kickoff returns for TD (three), is a licensed Baptist minister who preaches at local churches in the Stanford community ... Dunn, from Arlington, Texas, and Anthony Bookman, from Grand Prairie, Texas, are longtime friends who came to Stanford in 1994 as two of the top recruits in the state.
STANFORD INDIVIDUAL STAT RANKINGS (top-50) Name Category Avg. Pac-10 NCAA Chad Hutchinson Total Offense 225.5 t3rd t15th Troy Walters Receptions 6.7 t4th t11th Troy Walters Receiving Yards 104.7 3rd 18th Troy Walters Punt Returns 15.25 2nd 10th Troy Walters All-Purpose Yards 145.33 6th 34th Anthony Bookman Kickoff Returns 31.0 2nd t10th Kevin Miller Punting 46.53 1st 6th