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Nov. 2, 1997
Cardinal Prepares to Travel to USC
Saturday, November 8, 1997
12:30 pm (pst)
Los Angeles Coliseum (92,000)
Los Angeles, CA
THE CARDINAL: Stanford has now lost three straight games after Saturday's 27-7 loss to UCLA ... The Cardinal is now 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-10 after beginning the season 4-1 and 2-0 ... Stanford was ranked 16th in the nation after beating Notre Dame 33-15 on Oct. 4, but has since lost to Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA ... Stanford has not lost three straight since the 1994 season when the Cardinal lost four in a row ... The Cardinal concludes the regular season with games at USC and Washington State before hosting Cal in the 100th Big Game ... Stanford must win two of those three games to be eligible for post-season bowl consideration.
TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Now in his third season at Stanford, Tyrone Willingham, the 1995 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 18-13-1 ... He has led the Cardinal to back-to-back bowl appearances and is only the third coach in school history to lead Stanford to bowl games in his first two years on The Farm ... Willingham was a pre-season choice as a Bear Bryant Award candidate and was also named the Best Coach in the Pac-10 one publication.
USC REDUX: The Trojans jumped out to a 20-7 lead in last year's meeting (Nov. 9 at Stanford), but a big second half, led by Mike Mitchell's 148-yards and two touchdowns,propelled the Cardinal to a 24-20 win ... Mitchell, who had minus-one yard rushing in the first half of the game, spearheaded Stanford's second half comback ... Trailing 21-20 with 2:48 remaining,, USC took over on their own 21-yard line ... But, Pete Swanson intercepted a Brad Otton pass to set up a Cardinal field goal to secure the win, which was Stanford's second of four straight to end th regular season.
DOWN TO THREE: For the Cardinal to be in contention for a post-season bowl berth, Stanford must win at least two of its final three games ... Last year, Stanford was 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-10 before winning its final four games to advance to the Sun Bowl ... The Cardinal will have to do the same in '97 if it is to become only the third team in school history to advance to three straight bowl games (the other time was the 1933-35 Rose Bowl) ... A year ago, Stanford beat the three teams it must still face this time around: 24-20 at home vs. USC, 33-17 at Washingtonn State and 42-21 against Cal ... Four Pac-10 teams are guaranteed bowl berths ... Stanford currently finds itself tied for fifth place with USC.
FINISHING STRONG: Despite last week's loss to UCLA, the Cardinal still owns a 20-7 record in the month of November in the last eight-plus seasons (1989-97), including a 6-2 record under Willingham the past two-plus seasons (1995-97) ... Stanford finished the 1996 season by beating UCLA, USC, Washington State and California in the month of November ... The Cardinal has had only two seasons (1993, 1994) during this time in which it did not post a winning record in November ... In 1995, Stanford lost at USC 31-30 on Nov. 4, then finished the regular season by beating Washington State and Cal ... In Willingham's three years as a Cardinal assistant coach (1989-91), Stanford was 9-1 in November, including a 4-0 mark in 1991, 3-0 in 91 and a 2-1 reading in 1989 ... In his five-plus seasons at Stanford, Willingham's teams are 15-3 in November.
ALL-TIME GREATS: Mike Mitchell and Anthony Bookman rank third and fourth, respectively, on Stanford's all-time rushing chart ... Mitchell has gained 2,317 career rushing yards while Bookman follows close behind with 2,292 ...Only Darrin Nelson (4,033 yards) and Brad Muster (2,940 yards) have gained more rushing yards in Stanford history than Mitchell and Bookman ... Both Bookman and Mitchell rushed for over 100 yards in three straight games (OSU, Oregon, Notre Dame), marking the first time in Stanford history that a pair of backs have each rushed for over 100 yards in three consecutive games ...Against Oregon State, Bookman gained 120 yards on 14 carries while Mitchell added 102 on 18 carries ... A week later vs. Oregon, Bookman gained 150 yards and scored two touchdowns o n 17 carries; Mitchell rushed for 109 and one TD on 24 carries ... Against Notre Dame, Bookman gained 142 yards on 14 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown run, while Mitchell carried the ball a career-high 29 times for 135 yards ... Each scored two touchdowns while leading Stanford to a 322-yard rushing day ... Combined, the duo has rushed for 1,037 yards and scored 10 touchdowns through eight games (569 yards, six TDs for Bookman; 468 yards, four TDs for Mitchell).
QUARTERBACK / PITCHER: Junior Chad Hutchinson (two years of eligibility remaining after the '97 season),is one of the top two-sport athletes in the nation ... As a quarterback,,Hutchinson is already among the top-10 all-time passers in Stanford history in only his second year as the starter ... In baseball, he is 15-6 as a starting pitcher (114 strikeouts, 106.1 innings pitched) ... His 95 mph fastball isone of the reasons he is projected to be a first round draft pick in June, 1998 ... Hutchinson has thrown for 3,966 yards in his 19-game career (Sun Bowl stats do not count), placing him eighth on the school's all-time list ... After a 214 yard passing game vs. Arizona State on Oct. 18, Hutchinson moved past Mike Cordova (1973-75), John Brodie (1954-56) and Dick Norman (1958-60) ... He is 116 yards shy of Mike Boryla (1970-73) for seventh on the all-time list (Boryla passed for 4,082 yards) ... 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 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 - the second 300-yard effort of his career ... He threw his third 300-yard game against Oregon (Sept. 27) when he completed 21-of-31 for 340 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions ... The four TD passes were a career-best and tied him with several others for eighth place on Stanford's single-game TD passes list ... 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.
KAILEE'S CORNER: Senior DE Kailee Wong, who is among the final 12 for the 1997 Lombardi Award, turned in another outstanding performance last Saturday vs. UCLA ... Wong recorded eight total tackles, seven unassisted, three tackles-for-loss and one and a half sacks against the Bruins ... He was named among the final 15 for The Football News Defensive Player of the Year award ... Wong, a First-Team All-Pac-10 selection last season, is attempting to become the first Cardinal defensive lineman since Duncan McColl in 1976 to earn All-America honors ... Through eight games, Wong has recorded 35 total tackles, nine quarterback sacks and 17 tackles-for-loss ... He curently leads the Pac-10 in both tackles-for-loss and quarterback sacks ...He recorded a safety in consecutive games - vs. Oregon and Notre Dame - when he sacked the quarterback in the end zone late in the game ... In his last 19 games, he has accounted for 20 sacks and 38 tackles-for-loss ...He has at least one tackle-for-loss in all eight games and at least one sack in six of the eight games in '97.
TROY'S TALE: Junior flanker Troy Walters is on pace to break the Cardinal's single season reception record, currently held by Brad Muster (78 in 1985) ... Walters, who has 61 receptions for 779 yards, is also just behind record-setting pace for season receiving yards ... His 61 receptions place him tied for eighth on Stanford's single season receptions list - just 17 behind the record ... His numbers project to a season total of 84 receptions for 1,071 yards, which would eclipse Muster's 12-year old record ... The single season record for receiving yards in 1,117 set in 1968 by Gene Washington ... Last Saturday against UCLA, Walters was once again Stanford's leading receiver with eight catches for 81 yards ...Walters ranks first (tied) in the Pac-10 andfourth (tied) nationally in receptions per game (7.6) and third in the conference and 14th in the country in receiving yards per game (97.4) ... Earlier in the season, Walters had 13 catches vs. Oregon, which left him one shy of the school's single game record of 14, held by four players ...A reserve player in '96, Walters finished the regular season by catching 21 balls for 291 yards in the final four games ... In his last 12 regular season games, he has caught 82 passes for 1,070 yards and five touchdowns ... Walters is also fifth all-time at Stanford in punt return yards (524) and sixth in punt return average (10.9).
BY THE NUMBERS: During Stanford's current three-game losing skid, the Cardinal has rushed the ball 88 times for 91 yards, turned the ball over 14 times and averaged 296 yards in total offense ... The Cardinal netted 11 yards rushing at Arizona, 114 vs. ASU and minus-34 vs. UCLA ... Stanford had rushed for 706 yards (235 per game) in winning all three games prior to its current three-game losing skid ... In the last three games, Stanford has scored just 43 points (14 ppg) compared to the 118 (39 ppg) it scored in the three games prior.
STANFORD INDIVIDUAL STAT RANKINGS (NCAA top-50 only) Name Category Avg. Pac-10 NCAA Chad Hutchinson Total Offense 205.3 4th 38th Troy Walters Receptions 7.63 t1st t4th Troy Walters Receiving Yards 97.38 3rd 14th Troy Walters Punt Returns 10.67 2nd 30th Troy Walters All-Purpose Yards 134.50 4th 25th Kevin Miller Punting 43.15 3rd 28th Kailee Wong Quarterback Sacks 9.0 (total) 1st Kailee Wong Tackles-for-loss 17.0 (total) 1st STANFORD-USC STAT COMPARISON (ncaa rank) Stanford USC 25.8 (55th)..........Points/game...................17.6 (t97th) 26.8 (70th)..........Pt.s. Allowed/game............22.6 (50th) 988..................Yards Rushing.................942 123.5 (81st).........Yards Rushing/game............117.8 (88th) 148.4 (61st).........Yards Allowed Rushing/game....87.5 (7th) 15...................Rushing TDs...................9 167..................Pass Completions..............130 290..................Pass Attempts.................243 9....................Passes Had Intercepted........7 10...................Touchdown Passes..............8 1993.................Yards Passing.................1505 249.1 (30th).........Yards Passing/game............188.1 (70th) 121.7 (57th).........Pass Defense Rating...........133.1 (80th) 372.6 (54th).........Total Offense/game............305.5 (t90th) 364.4 (60th).........Total Offense Allowed/game....369.3 (63rd) 25-152...............QB Sacks By...................39-255
GAME FACTS
TV and Radio Information
TV Live, ABC (regional)
Brad Nessler (play-by-play)
Gary Danielson (color)
Radio - KSFO (560 AM)
Ted Robinson (play-by-play)
Bob Murphy (color)
KZSU (90.1 FM) - student
USC (4-4, 2-3 Pac-10*)
9/6 Florida State L, 7-14
9/13 Washington State* L, 21-28
9/27 at California* W, 27-17
10/4 UNLV W, 35-21
10/11 at Arizona State* L, 7-35
10/18 at Notre Dame W, 20-17
10/25 Oregon* W, 24-22
11/1 at Washington* L, 0-27
11/8 Stanford* 12:30 pm
11/15 at Oregon State* TBA
11/22 UCLA* TBA
Stanford (4-4, 2-3 Pac-10*)
9/6 San Jose State W, 28-12
9/13 at North Carolina L, 17-28
9/20 at Oregon State* W, 27-24
9/27 Oregon* W, 58-49
10/4 Notre Dame W, 33-15
10/11 at Arizona* L, 22-28
10/18 Arizona State* L, 14-31
11/1 UCLA* L, 7-27
11/8 at USC* 12:30 pm
11/15 at Washington State* 2:00 pm
11/22 California* 12:30 pm
Pac-10 Standings
Pac-10 Overall
Washington 5-0 7-1
Washington State 5-1 7-1
UCLA 5-1 7-2
Arizona State 4-1 6-2
Stanford 2-3 4-4
USC 2-3 4-4
Oregon 1-4 4-4
Arizona 1-4 3-5
California 1-4 3-5
Oregon State 0-5 3-5
Next Week (Nov. 15)
Stanford at Washington State
Martin Stadium, 2:00 pm
TV schedule TBA
Radio Network
KSFO (560 AM in San Francisco) serves as the flagship radio station for Cardinal football in 1997 ... The network includes KYPA in Los Angeles, KPLS in Orange/Riverside, KTOM in Salinas, KKXX in Chico, KPSI in Palm Springs, KTIP in Porterville, KBUL in Modesto/Stockton and KTKZ in Sacramento.
On-Line
Information and current press releases on all Cardinal athletic teams can be found on the Stanford homepage on the internet at www.gostanford.com. All Stanford football games are broadcast live on the internet through AudioNet. The broadcasts can be accessed through the Stanford homepage.
Photos Available on the Internet
Black and white head shots of all Stanford football players are available via the Stanford Athletic homepage at www.gostanford.com ... To access the files, go the the Stanford Athletics homepage, click on "Sportsfinder" then "football" and locate the requested player/coach.
Stanford Sports Magazine
Stanford Sports Magazine airs weekly throughout the football season on SportsChannel Pacific in the Bay Area ... Hosted by Stanford graduate Brian Webber, Stanford Sports Magazine is an inside look into Cardinal football, complete with game highlights, interviews and features with coaches and players and a look at the upcoming game.
THE OPPONENT
About USC
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Founded: 1880
Enrollment: 28,190
Nickname: Trojans
Colors: Cardinal and Gold
Conference: Pacific-10
Stadium (Capacity): Coliseum (92,000)
Chancellor: Dr. Steven B. Sample
Director of Athletics: Mike Garrett
Head Coach: John Robinson
Record at USC: 102-34-4 (12th Year)
Career Record: Same
1997 Record: 4-4 (2-3 Pac-10)
1996 Record: 6-6 (3-5 Pac-10, t5th)
SID: Tim Tessalone (213) 740-8480
Noting the Trojans
USC has won four of its last six but is coming off a 27-0 loss at Washington ... The Trojans have struggled offensively this season, ranking last in the conference it total offense (305.88 yds/g) ... The Trojan ground game features senior Delon Washington (302 yards rushing) and freshman Malaefou MacKenzie (292 yards) ... Redshirt sophomore John Fox started the first seven games at QB, but was replaced by freshman Mike VanRaaphorst last week against Washington ... Fox has completed 118-of-213 passes for seven touchdowns and 1,390 yards while Van Raaphorst is nine-for-25 on the season for 90 yards and two interceptions ... Jr. Billy Miller leads the wide receiver corps with 47 receptions while soph. wideout R. Jay Soward is averaging 17.9 yards/catch ... Defensively, the Trojans rank first in the conference and seventh in the nation in rushing defense, allowing opponents just 87.5 yds/g on the ground ... The Trojans also lead the conference in quarterback sacks with 39.
Head Coach John Robinson
Robinson is now in the fifth season of his second stint as USC's head coach and 12th overall ... His first assignment was from 1976-82 - a span in which he accumulated an impressive 67-14-2 record ... Since his return in 1993, the Trojans have captured two Pac-10 co-championships and three bowl victories ... Ten of Robinson's 11 teams have won at least eight games ... He began the season as Division I-A's seventh winningest active coach ... Robinson compiled a 79-74 record in nine years as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams from 1983-91..
Series History
USC leads the all-time series, which began in 1905, 50-24-3 ... The Cardinal has beaten the Trojans just three times since 1975 ... All three of those wins have come in the last six games (24-21 in 1991, 23-9 in '92, 24-20 in '96) ... USC had won three consecutive meetings prior to last season's 24-20 victory by Stanford ... Stanford is 14-22-1 all-time in the Coliseum and have won just once in its last nine games (1-7-1) ... The Cardinal's last win at USC came in 1991, a 24-21 victory.
NOTEBOOK
- QB Chad Hutchinson is not only among the school's all-time top-10 in passing yardage,but he currently ranks seventh all-time in career completions (350) and completion percentage (.597) and ninth in career attempts (587) ... His 19 TD passes leaves him two shy of number-10 on Stanford's career list.
- ILB Jon Haskins led the Cardinal with 10 tackles vs. UCLA and has now taken over the team lead with 49 stops on the season ... He led the team in tackles last year and is attempting to become the first player since Jono Tunney (1989-90) to lead Stanford in tackles in back-to-back seasons.
- Records dating back to the 1968 season indicate that Stanford's -34 yards rushing vs. UCLA was the lowest in the last 29 years ... The next lowest total was a -33 net yards rushing day on Oct. 17, 1992 vs. Arizona.
- RB Anthony Bookman has scored four TDs on runs of 58, 60, 67 and 70 yards ... A year ago, his longest run was 27 yards ... Bookman rushed for 274 yards and no touchdowns in '96, but has gained 569 yards and scored six TDs this season.
- P/PK Kevin Miller now has 15 punts that have landed inside the opponent's 10-yard line, including four at the one ... He had a 42-yard punt to the UCLA one-yard line last Saturday ... In 46 punts this season, Miller is averaging 43.2 ypp, has had 21 inside the 20 and only three touchbacks ... His average has improved from 37.4 in 1995 to 40.1 in '96 to 43.2 this season.
- RB Mike Mitchell is currently eighth all-time at Stanford in career touchdowns with 22 - just one behind No. 7 Mike Dotterer (1979-82) and two behind No. 6 Glyn Milburn (1990-92).
- Stanford leads the Pac-10 in fewest penalties (54) and fewest penalty yards (479).
- The 100th Big Game on November 22 is a sellout ... All 85,500 seats in Stanford Stadium have been sold, marking the first Big Game sellout at Stanford since 1991.
- DE Kailee Wong has been selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game at Stanford Stadium and the Hula Bowl in Maui while WR Damon Dunn has also accepted an invitation to play in the Hula Bowl.
- ILB Chris Draft, who missed three games earlier in the season with a pulled hamstring, had eight tackles, one tackle-for-loss, one fumble recovery and one pass break-up vs. UCLA ... He leads the team with 8.0 tackles per game average.
- In the last three games, the Cardinal is averaging 17 first downs and 25:45 in time of possession compared to the three previous games when it averaged over 27 first downs and 32:47 in time of possession.