Stanford football won its second consecutive game in the PAC-12, with a 10-point victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils at home.
The Stanford Cardinal have had some confusing trends so far in the 2017 college football season. A convincing defeat at the hands of the USC Trojans and an upset at the hands of the San Diego State Aztecs are puzzling for this team.
Meanwhile, the Arizona State Sun Devils are coming off an upset win over the Oregon Ducks. A win would have put Arizona State’s winning streak at two games and would have put them in good position to at least make some noise in the PAC-12 South.
However, Stanford’s 34-24 win allows them to get back on track after a quality win before they take on Utah in Week 6. As long as Stanford wins out in the PAC-12, they would still have a chance to win the North division. Washington is the favorite to win the division title, though.
One of the more impressive parts of this performance from Stanford is the way the defense played. Arizona State quarterback Manny Wilkins struggled to get anything going as he tossed two picks and was held without a passing touchdown.
Arizona State running back Demario Richard led the way on offense for the Sun Devils with 80 yards and two scores. Yet, Stanford held all other ASU running backs without a touchdown and to less than 5.0 yards per carry.
Junior wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside is quickly emerging as the top target for Stanford. He caught four passes for 63 yards and one touchdown (the only passing touchdown for the Cardinal on the day). Every game that Arcega-Whiteside has played in has seen him amass at least 62 receiving yards.
Now, let’s take a look at three takeaways from Stanford’s win over the Arizona State Sun Devils in Week 5.
3. Starting K.J. Costello is the right move
Stanford looked have somewhat of a sure thing at quarterback to start the year with senior Keller Chryst. Not only was Chryst efficient with the football last year, he helped the Cardinal dominate the Rice Owls in the season opener.
We are now seeing that Rice is not that good of a team after the way they lost to the Pitt Panthers in Week 5. The pattern that Chryst had against quality opponents would not have meant a successful season for Stanford.
Chryst tossed two touchdowns and two interceptions against San Diego State and USC. However, Chryst would not see anymore action after three passing attempts against the UCLA Bruins. That is when sophomore quarterback K.J. Costello took over.
Both Costello and Ryan Burns got some reps during the first few weeks. Costello would ultimately win the starting job. And, it’s not like head coach David Shaw had much of an option with Chryst going through concussion protocol.
2. What Bryce Love is doing is historic
PAC-12 running backs do not get the love (excuse the pun) that they should on the national level. Whether you look at Bryce Love, Oregon’s Royce Freeman, or USC’s Ronald Jones II, this could be the best conference for running backs in the country.
The best of those running backs is proving to be Love. Setting the single-game rushing record (301 yards) was not the only thing that he accomplished against ASU. Love also rushed for three touchdowns and kept his yards per carry above 10.0.
Love’s efficiency has been unprecedented through five games is nothing short of incredible. He needed more than 210 rushing yards to get above 1,000 already and he was able to blow that out of the water.
San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny was second behind Love in the nation in rushing yards before the start of the week, at 716. There’s no telling who will be behind Love after this week. But that player is sure to be far behind the leader in rushing yards.
1. Arizona State will not make a bowl game
The schedule that Arizona State has gone through so far is extremely though. The only inferior opponent they really had to face was in the season opener against the New Mexico State Aggies. Even NMSU presented a challenge for the Sun Devils.
However, they have significantly improved over the last four weeks as they have faced one very good Group of Five team in San Diego State and three other Power Five opponents. A close loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders and now Stanford could really help them during the rest of the PAC-12 slate.
Yet, things do not get any easier for the Sun Devils moving forward. Coming off a bye week in Week 6, Arizona State gets three straight AP Top 25 opponents in the Washington Huskies, Utah Utes, and USC. Things do get easier to end the year. That might be too little too late.
Next: 5 reasons Love is nation's most underrated RB
The PAC-12 is not a forgiving conference this year. The top of the conference has some great teams like the Washington State Cougars, Washington, Utah, USC, etc. The middle tier teams are not much worse.