Offense Awakens in Rout

STANFORD, Calif. -- As Jordan Pratt sprinted toward the end zone early in the second quarter, it became obvious that this was a different Stanford attack, one that would produce a 38-14 victory over Oregon State on Saturday at Stanford Stadium.

In the week leading up to the game Shaw made clear that everything about Stanford’s offense was to be dissected after performing poorly in the team’s three losses.

“We’re too talented on the offensive side not to be able to score points,” Shaw had said.

Afterward, he was satisfied.

“For the first time offensively, it felt like us,” said Shaw, Stanford’s Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. “It felt like what we wanted to have.”    

Stanford (5-3 overall, 3-2 Pac-12) wanted to get game-breaker Ty Montgomery more touches and freshman Christian McCaffrey more involved. Shaw wanted to diversify the offense to take advantage of the skills of a great number of players and not just a few.

And there was Pratt, the 29-year-old former minor-league pitcher from Monmouth, Ore., diving toward the pylon to complete a 37-yard touchdown play and his first collegiate score.

The Reunion Homecoming crowd was witness to the offense’s awakening. Despite two early interceptions by quarter back Kevin Hogan, including one that gave Oregon State the ball at the Stanford 5 and led to the Beavers’ only first-half score, the Cardinal overcame the mistakes in ways it hadn’t before.

Its’ touchdowns came on plays of 42, 37, 37, and 1 yard. Its touchdown drives covered 75, 75, 50, and 60 yards. Montgomery added a 50-yard punt return for a touchdown that could aptly be described as a work of art.

Stanford’s five touchdowns were scored by five different players.

“We're not going to completely scrap our big personnels and our six and seven offensive linemen packages,” Shaw said. “But we can be versatile, so we need to be versatile.”

Only a late touchdown drive, with a backup quarterback at the helm, got Oregon State into double digits against a Stanford defense that tallied six sacks -- 2.5 by Blake Martinez -- and held the Beavers to only 221 yards in total offense. Only 133 of which came before starting quarterback Sean Mannion was replaced for Oregon State's final two drives.

The defense accomplished this despite missing starting frontmen David Parry and Aziz Shittu because of injuries, and getting its most extensive playing time from true freshman Harrison Phillips, as well as senior Alex Yazdi and junior Nate Lohn

Speaking of both the offense and defense, “Once both of us are clicking, nobody can stop us,” Martinez said.

Nothing could stop Stanford on this day, and Shaw indeed was right – Stanford had many weapons and they could be effective if given the opportunity -- a perfect confidence-building heading into the annual showdown with Oregon, on Nov. 1 in Eugene.

After a dismal 26-10 loss at Arizona State last week, Stanford bounced back, as it has all 10 times after a loss under Shaw.

“The key is having great kids, great Stanford young men that understand and have perspective,” Shaw said. “There are a lot of people    the world is crashing down around us, and that's fine for people outside of our locker room.  In our locker room, it's not.  There are going to be highs and lows, and the good teams are the ones that bounce back from losses, bounce back from tough games.  Our guys did that today.”

Hogan came out running the hurry-up offense and firing. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 277 yards, with two touchdown passes, one touchdown run, and two interceptions. Montgomery had 147 all-purpose yards and the Cardinal offense piled up 438.

Pushing the tempo early was one way Shaw acknowledged altering the offense.

“You saw us start the game in no huddle, you saw the tempo,” Shaw said. “The tempo helps the quarterback. He likes it. The offensive line likes it, the receivers like it, and it’s not overly complicated. This needed to be a high execution game, and I think that it was.”

McCaffrey had gotten sporadic touches, but on Stanford’s first drive, he caught a slant pass 10 yards downfield, spun away from a defender, and outsprinted the Oregon State secondary to the end zone to complete a 42-yard play.

“We've had it in the books and finally got an opportunity to run it, and luckily it went well,” McCaffrey said. “Kevin made a great throw, and I just tried to use my abilities to do the best I can.”

And, about that spin …

“I don't know what to tell you,” he said. “The game goes so fast, instinct kind of takes over, so I didn't have that planned, just kind of did it.”

After Oregon State tied the score following linebacker Michael Doctor’s interception (Hogan didn’t see him underneath as he tried to find Montgomery) and Chris Brown’s 5-yard run, Stanford countered with a long Hogan touchdown run.

The defense went for a fake to Remound Wright. Instead, Hogan spun the other way into all kinds of space and stiff-armed safety Ryan Murphy to free himself for the 37-yard scoring run for the go-ahead score.

Then it was Pratt’s turn. He ran a short curl rout, turned inside and got blocks from Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector to clear a path to the end zone for a 21-7 lead. The Cardinal didn’t run its first play from inside the red zone until late in the half, just before Patrick Skov punched the ball over from the 1 with 2:49 left to make it 28-7.

Montgomery made it five touchdowns from five different players when he picked and poked his way to a 50-yard punt return. Using extreme patience and outstanding blocking – from players like McCaffrey, Terrence Alexander, and John Flacco – Montgomery earned the fifth kickoff or punt return for a touchdown in his career. And this one may go down as the best, giving Stanford a 35-7 lead.

Stanford’s efforts to salt away the lead and perhaps get its starters off the field, failed for the time being when Ben Rhyne’s punt was blocked by Ricky Ortiz, who had a clear lane up the middle. The Beavers took over at Stanford’s 24 and reached the 5 before Alex Carter broke up consecutive passes to turn the ball over on downs.

Stanford would tack on a 33-yard field goal by Jordan Williams to build a 38-7 lead with 11:33 left.

Only minutes after the game, Shaw was asked about Oregon.

“You just won't give me 12 hours, will you?” he joked. “The match up with Oregon starts with Marcus Mariota. Forget about what we do on offense, the match up starts with him, not trying to stop him, trying to contain him as best we can. He's the best player in college football.”

Stanford remains in control of its own destiny as it seeks a third consecutive trip to the Pac-12 Championship game. But the final four games are thus: at Oregon, Utah at home, at Cal, and at UCLA. Another championship berth will be well-earned.