First off what not to expect...the Stanford band at the half. The NCAA says no to all Stanford road games. I guess they have to ....perform only where they sleep.
There will likely IMO be over 85K there. Stanford isn't a great traveling team but better than most of our opponents, and if USC can get 73K to an Idaho game, then plan accordingly.
Secondly, this is not your Harbaugh Trees...they do play smash mouth and ball control, but they don't have the bearded one- Andrew Luck. They do have AAARP member Kevin Hogan, who was good down the stretch in 2014. Expect the same grind it out offense but maybe not the running game where they have a modest 3.2 yards per carry so far and a 7.9 yards per average on passing attempts. And the latter is exaggerated by a 93 yard TD pass/run. They still try to balance the plays with 68 runs to 65 pass plays so far.
The year before they lost a great deal of Offensive players it showed with a dip of 5 points per game average in scoring. This year it was loss of 7 defensive starters (almost all NFL drafted) including 5 of the top 6 tacklers. It may take them some time to coalesce.. Could it be a marked increase in opponent scoring? Get them early....which is what USC will try to accomplish.
Red Zone is still a disaster for Stanford after failing there last year in the Palo Alto game...So far they are scoring at 57% (not good) but only 27% on TD scoring (not good at all). Swapping FGs for TDS is a bad recipe.
They are also low average on third downs (9-30) but good on 4th downs (4 of 5 attempts).
It looks like this is a lesser defense version of last years model but they remain a physical, smart, and well coached team with a mostly winning system. I just think they need time to gel on D and the O can't be expected to handle a huge burden yet until the running game is straightened out. So I still Say USC 24-14, giving them respect...
There will likely IMO be over 85K there. Stanford isn't a great traveling team but better than most of our opponents, and if USC can get 73K to an Idaho game, then plan accordingly.
Secondly, this is not your Harbaugh Trees...they do play smash mouth and ball control, but they don't have the bearded one- Andrew Luck. They do have AAARP member Kevin Hogan, who was good down the stretch in 2014. Expect the same grind it out offense but maybe not the running game where they have a modest 3.2 yards per carry so far and a 7.9 yards per average on passing attempts. And the latter is exaggerated by a 93 yard TD pass/run. They still try to balance the plays with 68 runs to 65 pass plays so far.
The year before they lost a great deal of Offensive players it showed with a dip of 5 points per game average in scoring. This year it was loss of 7 defensive starters (almost all NFL drafted) including 5 of the top 6 tacklers. It may take them some time to coalesce.. Could it be a marked increase in opponent scoring? Get them early....which is what USC will try to accomplish.
Red Zone is still a disaster for Stanford after failing there last year in the Palo Alto game...So far they are scoring at 57% (not good) but only 27% on TD scoring (not good at all). Swapping FGs for TDS is a bad recipe.
They are also low average on third downs (9-30) but good on 4th downs (4 of 5 attempts).
It looks like this is a lesser defense version of last years model but they remain a physical, smart, and well coached team with a mostly winning system. I just think they need time to gel on D and the O can't be expected to handle a huge burden yet until the running game is straightened out. So I still Say USC 24-14, giving them respect...
