Stanford Football: 3 bold predictions in the Pac-12 Championship

Stanford Football: 3 bold predictions vs. USC in Pac-12 Championship

PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 18: Head coach David Shaw of the Stanford Cardinal stands with his team during a time out of their game against the California Golden Bears at Stanford Stadium on November 18, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

2 of 3

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

2. Stanford will stop the run

When you look at the last meeting, one thing stands out over everything. The Trojans had two rushers over 100 yards. Ronald Jones II and Stephen Carr just took turns stomping this Cardinal defense.

Jones had 116 yards on 23 carries and also had two rushing touchdowns and Carr, a freshman running back, had 119 yards on 11 carries and busted a 52-yard run.

Even though football as whole is becoming a quarterback’s league, the best teams still can run the ball and stop the run. In that first meeting, USC outrushed the Cardinal 307-170. The Trojans had a better time of possession and they had more rush attempts.

And that’s one of the big reason Sam Darnold had a good game. If the Cardinal defense can stop the run, they have a great chance to beat USC. I predict that USC will not have one rusher over 100.

Note: Every game Stanford has lost this year, it lost the time of possession and had less rush attempts than the other team.

Home/Stanford Cardinal