Stanford should get extra manufacturing from its offense if it hopes to achieve bowl eligibility this season.
The Cardinal’s greatest points on offense had been on show in a 38-13 loss to No. 12 UCLA on the Rose Bowl – lack of depth at operating again, poor go safety, extensive receivers not getting separation, and unhealthy throws.
Quarterback Tanner McKee was 13 of 29 passing for 115 yards and an interception, posting season lows in completions, yards, and passer ranking.
McKee did full a 2-yard landing go to Benjamin Yurosek on fourth-and-goal with 4:11 left for the primary Stanford landing for the reason that opening drive on Oct. 15 at Notre Dame – a span of 33 possessions with out reaching the top zone for the Cardinal (3-5, 1-5).
Discipline targets had been sufficient to get previous the Preventing Irish and Arizona State the earlier two weeks, nevertheless it wasn’t practically sufficient in opposition to UCLA (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12), who scored 24 factors in its first 4 possessions.
“An enormous factor is diagnosing what the problem is,” Stanford coach David Shaw mentioned. “If it’s one man, you are taking that one particular person out. It was a myriad of issues right now.”
As soon as once more, Stanford wasn’t aggressive in opposition to the upper-echelon groups within the Pac-12. The Cardinal has beforehand been blown out by No. 8 Oregon, No. 10 USC and then-No. 18 Washington.
Fortuitously for Stanford, it solely has one ranked crew, No. 14 Utah, remaining on its schedule. The Cardinal can nonetheless make a bowl sport if it beats Washington State, Cal, and BYU, who’ve a mixed file of 11-14 (2-9 in opposition to Pac-12 groups). Stanford hosts Washington State (4-4, 1-4) Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
However first, the Cardinal wants to determine find out how to rating extra factors.
It didn’t assist that Stanford was beginning a walk-on, Caleb Robinson, at operating again. He was the fifth beginning operating again up to now 12 months as a consequence of accidents and transfers. Robinson had 10 carries for 36 yards earlier than showing to undergo an harm himself.
“We’ll retool, we’ll see who’s wholesome subsequent week,” Shaw mentioned. “Now we have to be balanced. We will’t simply have a straight dropback sport. Now we have to be balanced with the run to maintain folks trustworthy. However we have now some well being points with the operating again place so we’ll see the place we’re early subsequent week.”
UCLA had no such points. Zach Charbonnet, the Pac-12’s main rusher at 127.7 yards a sport, had 198 yards and three TDs on 21 carries. He put the sport away with a 37-yard landing run on fourth-and-1 with three seconds left within the third quarter that made the rating 31-6.
However the points on offense went means past the operating again place. McKee was sacked 4 occasions and hurried one other 4 occasions, and Shaw mentioned there have been two or three situations when receivers had been operating free downfield however McKee didn’t have time to throw to them.
When McKee did have time, receivers didn’t get good releases off the road, or McKee was inaccurate.
Stanford drove 61 yards for a discipline purpose on its opening possession however was held to 34 yards on its six different drives within the first half.
“The most important factor is we have now to guard our quarterback,” Yurosek mentioned. “If we don’t give him time to throw the ball, the passing sport gained’t be good. It’s fairly easy.”
However the remaining schedule gives a purpose for hope. Washington State, Cal and BYU have all misplaced a minimum of three video games in a row, and the Cardinal will face each Cougars groups at dwelling.
“We’ve confirmed that we’re resilient, that we are able to bounce again,” Yurosek mentioned Saturday evening. “It’s going to harm tonight – it ought to. It’s going to harm tomorrow. However Monday we simply have to return again to work.”
