Pac 12 Power Rankings and Stockwatch for Week 2
Saturday Blitz Pac 12 Power Rankings Week 2
The Jim Harbaugh Division
When Washington State out-gains a team by a huge margin and loses anyway, it’s easy to make sense of. Teams that throw the ball that much tend to have more turnovers and struggle in the redzone. It’s unusual, but it happens.
Stanford on the other hand, is NOT supposed to out-gain an opponent by well over 100 yards and lose. The ultra-efficient, ball control Cardinal should never net 10 points on 9 trips inside of traditional field goal range.
But on Saturday, the Cardinal’s missed field goal on their opening drive was a harbinger of what turned out to be a season’s worth of untimely mistakes in USC territory.
On Stanford’s 2nd possession, they drove to the USC 13 before losing 16 yards on a 3rd down fumble. David Shaw’s 4th down decision: A punt from the USC 29.
You did not read that last sentence incorrectly.
In the 3rd quarter, things got worse. The Cardinal drove to the USC 9 before missing another field goal that was only 7 yards longer than an extra point. On their next possession, they lost a fumble at the USC 28.
In the 4th quarter Stanford had a drive stall at the USC 32 and Shaw sent out the punt team a 2nd time inside the 35. USC responded with a 58 yard drive for the game winning field goal.
The season is young and the errors of Saturday are correctable. But this loss looks like a huge one for Stanford. USC was the only “big” game of the season that Stanford had at home. Now the Cardinal must gear up for road trips to Washington, Notre Dame, ASU, Oregon, Cal and UCLA. If they aren’t mentally tough, the defending Pac-12 Champs could find themselves sliding downhill fast.