Stanford Football: 5 reasons the Cardinal defeats USC

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 27: Stanford Cardinal celebrate winning the College Football Sydney Cup match between Stanford University (Stanford Cardinal) and Rice University (Rice Owls) at Allianz Stadium on August 27, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

3. Stanford’s front seven is ready for Ronald Jones II

Stanford has Bryce Love to carry the offense. USC has junior running back Ronald Jones II to counter. Jones II not only rushed for nearly the same amount of yards as Love last week, he also racked up two more touchdowns.

However, Stanford has one of the best front sevens in the conference. Redshirt senior linebackers Peter Kalambayi and Mike Tyler lead the way for a defense that shut down Rice completely. Yet, the defensive line still needs to find some answers after the departure of Solomon Thomas.

If there’s any chance for the Cardinal front seven to prove their worth, it’s against USC. Darnold got rattled very easy last week, and that was facing Western Michigan. Kalambayi racked up his first sack of the 2017 season last week and could get more this week.

Jones II was the primary source of offense for the Trojans in Week 1. that means that Stanford will likely prepare for a run-heavy offense from the Trojans. However, they do still have to respect the ability of Darnold in the passing game.

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