Stanford football won convincingly in Week 2, and asserted itself atop the Pac-12, in a rematch of last year’s conference championship game.
In Week 2, the Stanford Cardinal hosted the USC Trojans in an early rematch from last year’s Pac-12 Championship game. The previous meeting between these two teams took place in Santa Clara, Calif., where Stanford clearly had the majority of the fans, and a significantly shorter distance to travel. Despite all external factors in support of the Cardinal, USC came away with the 31-28 win.
Only two games have been played since that conference championship game, yet the nature of the two teams has changed dramatically. Sam Darnold is no longer leading the Trojan offense. Now, there is true freshman, JT Daniels, under center for USC. Where USC lost their best offensive player, Stanford retained theirs.
As if Bryce Love wasn’t already dominant enough, he had another entire off-season to grow as a football player. This week, Love helped the Stanford Cardinal to a win against their biggest contender within the conference.
Stanford controlled the game from start to finish. With a final score of 17-3, the Cardinal are likely very happy with the performance, where the Trojans will be eager to improve in their areas of struggle. Here is what else we learned in this Week 2 matchup.
3. Bryce Love is a legit Heisman contender
A statistic was shown on the television during the game that 27 percent of Bryce Love’s rushes have gone for over 20 yards. Doesn’t that number sounds a little unbelievable? Well, Love is an unbelievable talent who doesn’t come around very often.
In 2017, Love was overshadowed by Penn State’s, Saquon Barkley, who was slightly more developed than Love was a year ago. This year, Love is competing with Wisconsin’s, Jonathan Taylor, for the country’s top running back.
Both Love and Taylor play for teams who are contenders in their respective conferences. In order to remain a Heisman candidate, Love will need to play exceptionally to keep Stanford undefeated for as long as possible.
Last year Love rushed for 19 touchdowns and averaged 8.1 yards per carry. In Week 1 against San Diego State, Love struggled and was limited to 1.6 yards per carry and no scores.
However, against USC, Love bounced back with handful of long speedy runs against a quick Trojans’ defense. Love ended the game with an average of 6.2 yards per carry for a total of 136 yards and one touchdown.
2. JT Daniels is talented, but still very young
When I say JT Daniels is young, I mean it in every sense of the word. Daniels is young in age and life experience. The Southern California native was 17 years old only seven months ago. Living on his own for the first time ever and learning the new routine of college life has been in place for about three weeks now. These seemingly small factors play a big role in the focus and performance of a young man.
Additionally, Daniels is an inexperienced college football player. Daniels is a true freshman, and now, has only two games under his belt. The quarterback competition he endured during training camp likely did not have much mentorship, but rather pure head-to-head battles. Therefore, Daniels is learning how to lead a top 25 offense on his own.
Often “youth” for a talented player, translates to inconsistency. The freshman’s youth was highlighted perfectly in today’s game, particularly after the start of the second half.
The Trojans started with the ball to open the third quarter. On the second play of the drive, JT Daniels takes the snap, stares down his slot receiver the entire play, then throws the ball into double coverage and nearly gets intercepted. The following play, Daniels feels the pocket collapsing, he steps up into the pocket, keeps his eyes down field, and recognizes nobody is open. He then slides out of the pocket to buy himself some time and nails a perfect throw to an open receiver.
Additionally, Daniels throws this pass in a position such that only his teammate could make the catch. The subsequent play, JT completes a 45 yard pass, deep into the Stanford red zone. However, the next set of downs, he completes no passes and the Trojans have to settle for a field goal.
Throughout that drive, JT Daniels showed glimpses of brilliance. Yet, the ball would have been intercepted if it weren’t for a Stanford player dropping the ball. Furthermore, should USC have scored a touchdown immediately after coming out of the locker room, the entire momentum and narrative of the game would have changed.
These moments are where experienced quarterbacks shine. Daniels will eventually develop into an incredible quarterback. But for now, he still has plenty of room to grow.
JT Daniels finished the game with 16 completions on 34 attempts for 215 passing yards. However, Daniels also had a fumble and two interceptions.
1. Stanford atop the Pac-12
Year after year, Stanford represents the Pac-12 very well to the rest of college football. This year is no different. Additionally, David Shaw is one of college footballs’ top coaches, who can keeps his team in a position to compete with any team in the country.
The Cardinal offense is well-balanced as usual, with a strong running game and big and athletics tight ends. On the other side of the ball, we saw the Stanford defensive lines’ ability to easily get pressure on the quarterback. And on special teams, the Cardinal were disciplined with a kicker and punter pair that are among the best in the country.
Side note: the Stanford kickoff kicker, who is also the punter, Jake Bailey, hit a kickoff 85 yards with a hang time of 4.48 seconds and hit the backstop out of the end zone. You probably won’t see a bigger kickoff than that in college football.
In a Pac-12 Conference that is still trying to find its identity this year, Stanford stands out as a reliable and consistent team. After a dominating performance against the next best team in the conference, the Cardinal will cruise to the Pac-12 Championship Game, for a likely rematch against the Trojans.