STANFORD, Calif. - The origin of Iron Man the superhero was unveiled in the pages of “Tales of Suspense” No. 39, in 1963.
The origin of Iron Man the football player came against UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 28, 2014. That’s when Stanford’s Devon Cajuste caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan. From that point on, Cajuste has celebrated his touchdowns with an “Iron Man” pose.
The comic book figure Tony Stark suffered a severe chest injury when kidnappers forced him to build a weapon of mass destruction. He instead created a powered suit of armor to save his life and protect the world.
Ironman resonated with Cajuste who, like Stark, loved to tinker with mechanical objects and build things. When Cajuste was young, he built an amusement park with K’Nex, a construction toy system, complete with working rollercoasters, a Ferris wheel, and two six-foot high towers. He even built a life-sized person.
“So, when it came to Ironman, yeah, it was like a level up,” Cajuste said. “Technologically advanced. You get to fly around. You have all these gadgets, and you have this super computer. I’m totally into that.”
In fact, Cajuste’s room is full of electronic equipment. He said it looks like the command center of a battleship. As for Iron Man, Cajuste has a keychain, lunch box, and he even had a mouthpiece with an “Iron Man” inscription until he lost it.
“I’m so obsessed with Iron Man,” Cajuste said. “It started with the first Iron Man movie. The similarity with Tony Stark was his love for technology. I thought that was fascinating. Watching his evolution over time to become a better person, I did see some similarities.”
The touchdown celebration came with the encouragement of fellow receiver Michael Rector, whom Cajuste has nicknamed “Flash,” to keep with the superhero theme.
“Michael caught a huge touchdown toward the end of the half,” Cajuste recalled. “Then he slid and comes up and then gives the ball to the ref. When I scored my touchdown, something triggered inside me to do that same thing, here we are, representing the team and celebrating with your teammates. That was the first time I really got to emphasize my energy. That lifted the team and that momentum carried through the rest of the game.
“It’s very hard to score a touchdown. You work very hard to get one of those opportunities. So any time that you have it, I feel like it’s OK to show a little bit of excitement, and Michael’s enabled me to learn that it’s OK with showing a little bit of excitement.”
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Stanford’s 41-31 victory over USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Sept. 19, was a turning point for the Cardinal. Two weeks after the season-opening Northwestern loss, the victory boosted Stanford’s confidence, proved it was indeed a Rose Bowl contender, and ignited a near-perfect run through conference play.
Among the lasting memories of that game are quarterback Kevin Hogan’s courageous second-half performance while playing with an injured ankle while leading a Stanford rally from an 11-point deficit. Other lasting impressions were the pain and the soreness that came against the only other conference opponent that chooses to play smash-mouth power football.
On Saturday at 4:45 p.m., the Cardinal (10-2) again faces USC (8-4), this time in the Pac-12 Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium.
“I remember it was a physical game,” Stanford safety Dallas Lloyd said. “It was a battle. That’s what’s going to happen this week. It’s going to be head-to-head physical football, which is exactly what we live for. That’s what we train for all year.”
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David Shaw, Stanford’s Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, laid out Stanford’s keys to victory:
“We’ve got to run the football with efficiency,” he said. “If they load the box, we have to make plays outside. And we have to be able to change field position with the passing game. Kevin Hogan’s got to play a great game as a decision maker, as a thrower, and as a runner.
“Defensively, we’ve got to limit the explosive plays. I know USC’s been watching our last couple of games and is getting excited because we’ve given up a lot of explosive plays. We have to limit those and, at the same time, recognize that they’re going to have to run the football. They’ve got a big front, they’ve got good backs.
“It’s going to be an older-school USC-Stanford game to where we’re playing a similar style. It’s a physical style with play-action passes, two every efficient quarterbacks who are well-traveled and been through a lot, and two defenses with a lot of young players who can make some great plays and can give up some plays.”
From the defense’s perspective, “You have to stop the run,” Lloyd said. “But the biggest thing we need to do is eliminate big plays. If we can do our job, and make offenses work to move the ball incrementally down the field on us, we can have more success. That’s what we’ll be working on.”
Shaw said, “It’s shaping up to be a really exciting game.”
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On the injury status of Stanford cornerbacks, Shaw is optimistic that Alijah Holder can return this week, but Ronnie Harris remains questionable.
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USC took the interim tag off Clay Helton and named him head coach Monday. Helton had led USC to a 5-2 record as a replacement for Steve Sarkisian.
“I’m happy for Clay,” Shaw said. “It’s much deserved. He’s been very well respected among the coaching circles. I’m glad USC made that decision. It’s good for them and it’s good for the coaching profession. Stability is always good for the coaching profession.”
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If Stanford wins and is considered for a College Football Playoff berth, at least one stat is in its favor: strength of schedule. To this point, Stanford has played five teams in the CFP Top 25 -- the most of any team in the rankings.
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In other head-coaching news, Bill Cubit had the interim label lifted at Illinois. Cubit, who signed a two-year contract, was quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator at Stanford in 2003-04 under Buddy Teevens.
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Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey will have two games (and possibly three?) to break two significant records.
The FBS season all-purpose yardage record is held by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders, who gained 3,250 in his Heisman-winning year of 1988. McCaffrey has 3,035 and sits at No. 3 on the all-time list, with Western Kentucky’s Antonio Andrews next at 3,161 from 2012.
The Stanford season rushing record is held by Toby Gerhart, who ran for 1,871 yards in 2009, a season in which he was second in the Heisman balloting in the closest vote ever. McCaffrey has 1,640, with Tyler Gaffney second with 1,709 from 2013.
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As Notre Dame drove downfield to take a 36-35 lead with 30 seconds left against Stanford last week, Shaw purposefully held off on using any timeouts during the Irish drive. There was discussion on the Stanford sideline and the Cardinal was ready if the situation called for it, but Shaw wanted to keep them for his offense if at all possible.
On the touchdown play, a short run by quarterback DeShone Kizer, a Stanford offside penalty was nullified. That penalty would have stopped the clock. Shaw said he was ready to call one after Notre Dame’s next play if there was no score.
As it was, with three timeouts, Stanford needed only 25 seconds – the time left after McCaffrey’s kickoff return -- to drive into field-goal range and set up Ukropina’s winner.
Shaw added that he didn’t consider intentionally allowing Notre Dame to score in an effort to get more time for Stanford’s final possession, though that’s what then-Irish coach Charlie Weis did in 2009 to allow Gerhart to score the winning touchdown.
“We had an opportunity to try to have a goal-line stand there,” Shaw said. “And we were trying to give the defense a chance to win the game.”
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How has Hogan improved the most this season? “Maturity,” Shaw said. “Kevin’s always been pretty mature, but when you go through difficulties in football and in life, and you come out the other side of it, there’s a depth that you earn, and that comes across whenever you talk to Kevin. You just feel it.
“He speaks from a position of experience. The guys listen to him. He doesn’t have to yell or scream, and guys listen. He’s seen it, he’s done it, and he out there fighting and scrapping with the rest of them.”
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The 10-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Austin Hooper on the first play of the fourth quarter against Notre Dame was a season in the making. On the play, Hogan rolled right, along with the entire offense. The Irish followed, looking for an option pitch to McCaffrey or a Hogan keeper to the strong side. Suddenly, Hogan stopped and threw across the field to Hooper, who was alone on the left side of the end zone.
“That’s one of those plays where you build a tendency for 12 weeks and then you break that tendency,” Shaw said. “I’m all for building tendencies and breaking them when we want to break them. In that formation, we’ve been very strongside-run oriented for the entire year. That was just a play off of that. We did it a year ago against Utah for a touchdown. It’s one of those you keep in your back pocket until you really see the time is right to call it.”
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Ukropina felt a sense of calm when he went out on the field to take the decisive kick. First of all, he had faith in his long snapper, C.J. Keller, and his holder, Dallas Lloyd. But he also kept in mind the thought that special teams coordinator Pete Alamar has taught him.
“The thought I keep with me that keeps me calm is every kick is the same kick -- at a practice field in my hometown, or in Stanford Stadium to beat Notre Dame,” Ukropina said. “It’s the same kick every time.”
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As for the extra attention to his social media accounts, Ukropina said, “Probably the coolest thing was Richard Sherman followed me on Twitter and Instagram. I had to screenshot that one. That was pretty cool, to send that to my buddies. That was exciting.”
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Ukropina grew up in Pasadena amongst an extended family of USC fans, though he rooted against the Trojans, per his father’s wishes. Conrad’s father, Bill, graduated from Washington State.
“I love beating the Trojans,” he said. “Will it probably come down to something like that? Absolutely. I’ll run out there and give it my best shot.”
One thing Ukropina learned from his predecessor, Jordan Williamson, is that he was able to move on from kick to kick by having a short memory. “Kickers need to have a short memory.”
Ukropina was a freshman walk-on and not on the travel squad when Williamson made the field goal to beat Oregon in 2012. Ukropina drove nearly nine hours to Eugene to watch that game. Williamson texted congratulations after Ukropina’s winner last week.
As for Ukropina’s USC family, “All the Trojans are definitely going to be rooting for USC,” he said. “It’s a running joke they have. They root for the Trojans 98 percent of the time and, strictly when the ball is leaving my foot, then they root for Stanford.”
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Final words on Hogan, from Lloyd, his former understudy at quarterback before switching to safety:
“Words can’t even describe how I feel for Hogan,” Lloyd said. “Spending my first two years in the quarterback room with him and being able to follow in his footsteps, I saw how he approaches games and his calm demeanor and his smooth confidence.
“He’s a stud. I know that if he’s hurt, he’s going to play through it for the team, because he’s not about himself. He’s always been a person about the greater good and everyone else. We love him. He’s the greatest leader I’ve ever been around.”