Stanford football did what it needed to do against San Jose State and that was win. The final score was 42-17 in a game that really was not as close as the score would indicate. It was a big one win for Stanford who was rebounding from a very tough come from ahead loss at Wake Forest.
“As coach Harbaugh said, this is going to be a defining moment for our program this week in terms of getting over a loss to a team we feel we should not have lost too and bouncing back and getting back on the right track,” running back Toby Gerhart said before the game. “So this is going to be a huge week for this program.”
Consider the team rebounded.
RUN GAME: B+
It was a very solid running game. Toby Gerhart could not be stopped. He had some big runs and it was evident that the Cardinal needs to get him the ball at least once ever three plays. The Spartans defenders were no match for him. He ended up with 113 yards on 24 carries. Jeremy Stewart again did a good job off the bench and true freshmen Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney both had some nice runs in the closing moments. The knock against the run games were turnovers and penalties. Three fumbles from three different backs including the usually sure handed Gerhart, was a black mark against the squad and really prevented a huge blowout. Stanford also registered nine penalties on the day which cost Gerhart a few more yards on the ground.
PASS GAME: B+
There really is not too much to grade when your team only throws the ball 12 times. Granted Andrew Luck had some runs off scrambles but this was more of a bruising run it down your throat type of game. Luck was 9/12 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The interception keeps the grade from an A as it cost Stanford another score. Luck also missed Ryan Whalen on a deep throw. Other than that, he was right on target. With limited opportunity, both Whalen and Chris Owusu made the most of their receptions (3). It looked like Stanford could have done a lot more, but did not need to do anything more than hand the ball to Gerhart.
RUN DEFENSE: A-
It was certainly a big step up from last week for the run defense. They allowed 24 rushing yards for the game although that stat is very misleading since sack yardage is subtracted from rushing totals in college. There were a few nice runs given up but for the most part the run defense was untested as the Spartans spread the field and was forced to play from behind.
PASS DEFENSE: B+
Considering Stanford knew that San Jose State had to throw most of the game, it went pretty well. Tom Keiser was a man among boys on the pass rush. Tom McAndrew was also solid on the defensive line. The surprise of the day was Will Powers who had two sacks and easily played the best game of his Stanford career. The secondary did its job. There were a couple of mistakes, a couple of missed tackles, but for the most part no glaring weaknesses. Corey Gatewood was right place at the right time for the interception returned for a touchdown. Senior Kris Evans provided nice support rotating in at cornerback for his most extended playing time of the year. Delano Howell also looked good at safety.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A
Chris Owusu took the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Richard Sherman took a 48-yard punt return for a touchdown. This grade was easy! Along the way Delano Howell made to great tackles on kickoff coverage. The punters averaged 46.5 yards on their two punts. The only blemish was a missed field goal by Nate Whitaker. But even that blemish can not bring this grade down.
OVERALL: B+
Maybe this is a harsh grade for a team that needed a win and did so in convincing fashion. But the bottom line is the team did have four turnovers and nine penalties. Those are the types of numbers that got USC a loss at Washington. The Cardinal are not good enough to survive those types of numbers against a Pac-10 foe. They must clean up that part of their game. If they had done so on Saturday, they may have beat San Jose 62-3. That said though, it was a very convincing win against the Spartans. Stanford was in control from the get go. And as they head back into the Pac-10 schedule it was a must win game for them. And win they did!
PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
OFFENSE: TOBY GERHART, THE OFFENSIVE LINE
DEFENSE: TOM KEISER, WILL POWERS
SPECIAL TEAMS: CHRIS OWUSU, RICHARD SHERMAN, DELANO HOWELL
OTHER ARTICLES:
STANFORD VS WASHINGTON WILL BE TELEVISED
STANFORD VS NOTRE DAME ENDING?
STANFORD VS WAKE FOREST REPORT CARD
Comments
I was not happy with the four turnovers, but two of the fumbles were in "garbage" time by non-regulars, right? I can't remember when the 3rd (or maybe the 4th) one was. Hopefully that was a bit of laziness on the players that will not be there in the future. All in all they looked good I thought, it was exciting to see them live, but it's hard to tell what it actually means against SJSU.
I was thrilled to see Allen Smith playing, it's amazing to see him back. I didn't notice how he looked at that point in the game, but he played the whole 4th, correct? At least it means he was feeling ok!
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