A THIN RUNNING back depth chart was stretched even more with the news that starter Casey Filkins could be out for the season with an injury.
With Filkins missing for much of last week's 15-14 victory over Arizona State, quarterback Tanner McKee threw 57 passes. That was the fifth-most in school history and the most since T.C. Ostrander fired 59 against UCLA in 2007.
David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, does not intend for McKee to pass as often against UCLA on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, even with the backfield shortage.
"That's not the game we want to play," Shaw said. "I was still surprised by that number when I saw the stats at the end of the game. We're not going to get pass-happy around here. We still want to be balanced. We want to run the football."
The game dictated the number of passes, Shaw said. Many came on run calls, or run-pass options, or from the slow mesh where McKee holds the ball in the carrier's belly and looks for keys by the defense before determining whether to run or pull the ball back.
It worked. The Cardinal won its second consecutive game and owns a 3-4 record.
The only other Stanford victory among games in which quarterbacks were in the top five in attempts came in a 23-20 upset of Ohio State in 1982 when John Elway completed 35 of 63 for 407 yards. In perhaps his greatest game in a Stanford uniform, Elway threw a 12-yarder to Emile Harry with 34 seconds left for the winner at the Horseshoe.
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Caleb Robinson. Photo by Al Chang/ISIphotos.com.
TAKING STOCK OF the running back position, there are four available running backs listed on the roster. Only three have been at the position: scholarship player Brendon Barrow and walk-ons Caleb Robinson and Danny McFadden. The fourth, sophomore Mitch Leigber, switched from safety this week.
Barrow, a sophomore from Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, shares the No. 1 spot on the depth chart with Robinson, a junior from Silver Spring, Maryland.
Robinson had five carries for 26 yards against Arizona State, including a long run of 20. He has 16 carries for 55 yards this season. Barrow has eight carries for 28 yards.
Of Robinson, "We definitely gained a lot of confidence in him in the spring, which carried over," center Drake Nugent said. "It was huge for him, and us as a unit to be able to trust him."
Other options? Shaw said that during practice this week, he would look at a few who played running back in high school, which presumably is how he identified Leigber. At Laguna Hills (Calif.) High, Leigber rushed for 963 yards on 148 carries as a junior, and 324 yards on 37 carries during the five-game COVID-delayed spring season as a senior.
Third-string quarterback Ashton Daniels has been a running threat in special packages and starting fullback Shield Taylor – "a great athlete," Shaw said – will probably get some carries as well.
Beyond that, look for reverses or sweeps. For instance, tight end Benjamin Yurosek carried on a reverse for 50 yards against USC.
"Caleb and Brendon are ready to go," Shaw said. "We're going to lean on them quite a bit."
* * * STANFORD HAS WON its past two games despite scoring only one touchdown.
"It's definitely been frustrating, for sure," Nugent said. "We've been moving the ball pretty well. We just have not finished in the end zone.
"We had that holding penalty against ASU that brought back a touchdown. Then I had my personal foul (in the red zone) and both of those drives probably would have ended up scoring touchdowns. That's 14 points off the board right there.
"We definitely have got to score more points and help our defense. Because they've been playing great lately."
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Ernest Cooper. Photo by Karen Hickey/ISIphotos.com.
A REVELATION FROM the Arizona State game was the play of 6-foot-4, 245-pound true freshman edge Ernest Cooper. In his first collegiate appearance, Cooper had five tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack.
The sack came in the fourth quarter on Arizona State's first play from scrimmage after Stanford went ahead on Josh Karty's fifth field goal of the game. On every series in which Cooper had a tackle, Arizona State failed to score.
After the game, Shaw had this to say about Cooper:
"A lot of kudos to our defensive staff for getting Ernest Cooper ready to play, having him know what to do. He's been working extremely hard. A couple of injuries, we had to put him out there.
"He pressured the quarterback, he got sacks, he ran some stuff down from the back side. He plays with energy and passion and fire. I'm fired up about what he showed today.
"He's been working on the scout team … It didn't surprise us because of what we've seen every single day at practice. He's gotten better and better throughout the year.
"His length, his speed, his athleticism. We knew he was going to be a superstar. We knew that when we recruited him. We just didn't know how soon. In our locker room, he became a superstar today."
This week, Shaw added, "I said it on signing day last year, this freshmen group is going to be special."
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THE LINE HAS been a big reason for Stanford's improved play in the secondary, safety Kendall Williamson said.
"Especially in those late-game situations, like Notre Dame with Stephen Herron coming up with great pressure. It completely changes how we were able to play and limits the ability of the quarterback to sit in the pocket. They get a little more ansy, a little more eager to throw. And those throws typically are not as accurate. The wide receivers and tight ends don't get the perfect ball in the perfect situation.
"It definitely helps us on the back end and gives us a better chance."
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From left: Desmond Howard, Chip Kelly, and David Shaw at Stanford's 2016 Pro Day. Photo by Casey Valentine/ISIphotos.com.
AS OPPOSING HEAD coaches, Shaw is 3-3 against UCLA's Chip Kelly, going back to Kelly's years at Oregon. Their first meeting in 2011.
"You prepare by watching film, but you have no idea what you're going to see until gameday," Shaw said. "They have a different approach every single week.
"It takes a while to realize, 'That's what they're doing. But the combinations of formations and motions, and the run game and things that come off the run game … Every single game, there's going to be something you're going to have to adjust to.
"There's going to be something that he saw on film that he's going to try to exploit. If you don't shore it up, you'll see it over and over again. Once you stop that, now you've got to be ready for his other adjustments.
"That's the cat and mouse game for Chip on offense. That's gone on for years. And that's why he's one of the best."
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BEFORE THE GAME against USC on September 10, Shaw expressed the desire for Stanford to continue its rivalry with USC and UCLA even after they leave for the Big Ten in 2024.
On Tuesday, with UCLA next, Shaw repeated those sentiments.
"I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that I still hope that we'll have games against UCLA and USC in the near future, even after this change happens," he said.
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Kendall Williamson. Photo by David Elkinson.
WILLIAMSON IS WORKING on his master's in sociology while also working toward his B.S. in product design, as part of a co-term program. The fifth-year player was turned on to sociology through a summer class before his senior year, in social psychology.
"I was surprised at how interested I was," he said. "I've been interested in social sciences, but my strong suits are math and science. I came in knowing I would be going into medicine or engineering, or something along those lines.
"Being exposed to sociology definitely opened my eyes. I felt a lot of the coursework I've done has been in numbers. Now, I'm actually looking at people, and seeing how those things interact and how they interplay. That's why I took that path."
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ON THE CENTER-QUARTERBACK partnership, "It's a very trustworthy relationship," Nugent said of McKee. "We're always on the same page. He's coming up to the line asking me what the protection is and I feel like I definitely know what the kills are on the plays. Mentally, the game moves a little bit faster for us."
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STANFORD AND UCLA will play each other for the 76th consecutive year, matching the length of Stanford's other longest uninterrupted series, against Cal. Stanford did not play an official football schedule from 1943-45 because of World War II, thus halting those series. Therefore, the only schools Stanford has played every year since 1946 has been Cal and UCLA.
Cal has been Stanford's oldest annual opponent, since 1892. UCLA is next, playing each other in each season Stanford has played football since 1928.