STANFORD, Calif. – Christian McCaffrey gets the yards, Remound Wright scores the touchdowns, andBarry Sanders hits the home runs. That's the winning formula for Stanford.
Continuing its offensive dominance of recent weeks, Stanford routed Arizona, 55-17, in a Pac-12 home opener at Stanford Stadium on Saturday night.
No. 18 Stanford (4-1 overall, 3-0 Pac-12) rolled to 570 total yards and showed the Wildcats a thing or two. Arizona (3-2, 0-2), missing its quarterback and defensive star Scooby Wright with injuries, entered the game as the conference leader in scoring, rushing and total offense.
But it was Stanford which looked a cut above the rest, rushing 46 times for 314 yards for 6.8 yards per carry. Over its past three games, the Cardinal has rushed for 834 yards and averaged 5.8 per rush. The Cardinal exceeded 40 points for the third consecutive game, its' longest streak in four years.
"We've found an identity on offense," quarterback Kevin Hogan said in a postgame interview with the Pac-12 Networks. "We want to run the ball, we want to be physical. Ground and pound style. That opens up the passing game. The O-line played a great game, opening holes. Once we get into a rhythm on offense we're hard to stop."
Here's how the Stanford did it: McCaffrey rushed for 156 yards on 17 carries, Wright scored three touchdowns, and Sanders produced his second 65-yard touchdown run in as many games.
Hogan was at his efficient best, completing 17 of 19 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. In the past three games – including victories over USC and Oregon State – Hogan has completed 79 percent of his passes (44 of 56) for 659 yards, with six touchdowns and one interception.
"I see a guy playing the best football of his career," said David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, to the Pac-12 Networks. "He's seeing everything, he's in rhythm, he's throwing the ball accurately, he's making great decisions, and he's leading our football team."
Hogan has been limited by a sprained ankle suffered in the second half of the USC game, but has refused to make any excuses. Not that he had any reason to.
"I feel like I'm playing at 100 percent," Hogan said. "The injuries are going to happen, you just have to play through them. You come out here, the adrenaline kicks in, and you don't really feel it."
After settling for field goals on its first two drives, Stanford scored touchdowns on its next six. The conference leader in time of possession, the Cardinal had the ball for 37:19 to Arizona's 22:41. Stanford's only punt didn't occur until the fourth quarter.
Stanford's offense looked as good as it has all season, which is saying something considering its effectiveness in the previous two games, 41-31 over USC and 42-24 over Oregon State, both on the road. In every way, Stanford simply outmuscled, outran, and outexecuted Arizona.
But consider the point in the season. Stanford next has No. 7 UCLA, on Thursday, Oct. 15, at home and concludes the regular season with Oregon, California, and Notre Dame. Stanford and Cal share the Pac-12 North Division lead and are joined by Utah as the only teams still unbeaten in conference play.
"This was a great effort," said David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, to his team after the game. "We're 3-0 in the conference and that's all we should be thinking about, the conference. This is the tip of the iceberg."
The message: Stanford is playing great football, but there is a long way to go and a lot of work left to do.
McCaffrey has three consecutive 100-yard performances and, with 362 yards rushing in the past two games, came within 39 yards of Toby Gerhart's school rushing record for consecutive games of 401. Also consider that McCaffrey, who had 260 all-purpose yards, didn't play in the fourth quarter.
McCaffrey did accomplish something he hadn't all season: He scored a touchdown. It came late in the second quarter when Stanford was holding on to a 6-0 lead. McCaffrey got loose around the left edge thanks to a block by Kyle Murphy and scored from four yards out.
He got close twice more by finishing runs or catches at the 1-yard line, but it was Wright who cleaned them up. Wright had a 1-yard run and a 16-yard touchdown reception just before halftime, and a 1-yard run midway through the third quarter for a 34-10 lead. Wright scored eight touchdowns in his past three games, and none of his seven rushing scores have been longer than two yards. He now has 20 rushing touchdowns in his career, moving into ninth on the Stanford career list.
And Sanders was simply Sanders. His breakaway ability is becoming legendary. He had a 20-yard score against UCF and scoring runs of 11 and 65 against Oregon State. This 65-yarder came on a 76-yard, four-carry day and came with 1:25 left in the third quarter when great blocking got him into space and his speed and elusiveness got him the rest. Sanders fended off two tacklers inside the 20, but kept his balance down the sideline to reach the end zone.
What's been going right? "It's a simple answer," McCaffrey said. "It's just a matter of execution. Our guys are making plays and that's all it comes down to. You've got to find out what works and keep doing it and keep doing it well."
Said Arizona coach Rick Rodriguez, "We didn't stop anything they wanted to do. They wanted to throw, they threw. They wanted to run, they ran."
Did Stanford surprise you in any way?
"Nope," Rodriguez said.
Defensively, Blake Martinez had 13 tackles and Stanford held Arizona to 314 total yards. Martinez, a Tucson native, now has 63 this season and has been the Cardinal's leading tackler in every game.
"Team defense," Shaw said. "We talked about playing great team defense because those guys can put up a lot of points. Those guys can rack up a lot of rushing yards. We had to play as a team and we did that tonight."
So, is Stanford there yet? The Cardinal is playing like it, but this much it knows: The road will get much more difficult.
"We need to keep getting better every single week," Shaw said.
McCaffrey offered some reassurance: "We still have more in the tank.
"All that matters is all of our guys are going to show up on whatever day we're playing and give it
our best shot. And we're going to work our butt off every single day during practice and do our best to execute to the best of our abilities when it comes game time."
It seems the Cardinal is in good hands.