Stanford at Oregon State
This became the Davis Mills show up in Corvallis last Saturday evening as the Stanford Senior QB completed over 70% of his passes for just under 300 yards and 1 TD in the air in addition to picking up another couple of scores on the ground, finally putting them ahead early in the 4th Qtr 24-21. It wasn’t the last of the scoring as both teams put three more points a piece up on board for a final of 27-24. But it did create the margin of victory as Oregon State QB Chance Nolan unfortunately fumbled the ball in a run to the Stanford 16 in the last minute of the game that would have put the Beavers in a position to possibly win but tie for sure and send the game into overtime on their own turf. This marks the ninth consecutive game that Oregon State has been within one score of the lead during the fourth quarter.
That late turnover aside, Oregon State’s back-up QB (in for Tristan Gebbia who had season-ending hamstring surgery) played well in only his second career start completing 17 of 30 for 221 yards and 3 TD’s in addition to picking up 50 additional yards on the ground. Afterwards head coach Johnathan Smith said, regarding Nolan’s play; “I think he made a huge jump. You could just feel his comfort level grow.” Having a resurgence with their third win in a row on the road prompted head coach David Shaw, who has to be breathing a bit easier, to say; “For this team to come back, being on the road these last few weeks and be on a three-game winning streak, facing all kinds of odds . . . our calling card is effort, and even when we don’t play perfectly, we’re going to fight you to the end.”
Stanford RB Austin Jones had another good night on the ground picking up 126 yards on 22 carries giving the Sophomore 349 yards and 4 rushing TD’s over the last three games. On the other side of the ball for the Cardinal their run defense will need a lot of work between now and next year if Shaw’s team is going to become a perenial power again in the north. They gave up 237 yards on the ground in this game and have allowed an average of over 200 per game for the season which puts them in the bottom third of all FBS Division 1 schools and only above Arizona in the PAC-12 who ranks a dismal 125th out of 130.
Having played only one game at home all season, even spending an entire week before this game practicing in Corvallis due to a Public Health Department order in their home county that prohibited training and competition, Stanford will stay on the road to play UCLA in the Rose Bowl this coming Saturday at 5:00pm on ESPN2. Oregon State will stay at home to host Arizona State at 7:30 on ESPN.