It is perhaps a sign of the current state of college football, of supercharged revenues and demanding fan bases, that in only his fifth season atop his alma mater’s football program, Stanford coach David Shaw is the second-longest-tenured head coach in the Pacific-12.
Under him, Stanford has been predictable, but in a good way, with a 46-13 record. Arizona (3-2, 0-2 Pac-12) may have known what was coming Saturday night, but it could not stop the Cardinal offense, which gained 570 total yards and concluded all but two drives with scores as Stanford (4-1, 2-0), now ranked 16th, stomped the Wildcats, 55-17. The Cardinal scored 40 or more points for a third consecutive game.
Shaw’s beefy linemen and pro-style offenses have occasionally been criticized as conservative. It is certainly not the kind of space-age scheming one might expect from the semiofficial university of Silicon Valley. However, the fans who streamed into Stanford Stadium on a crisp evening may seek innovation in their day jobs, but they most likely understand that in football, sometimes the oldest things work best.
“We want to run the ball, we want to be physical,” quarterback Kevin Hogan said on the Pac-12 Network. “Ground-and-pound style. That opens up the passing game. The O-line played a great game, opening holes. Once we get into a rhythm on offense, we’re hard to stop.”
The game plan played to Hogan’s strengths and around his weaknesses as he has been nursing a sore ankle the past couple of weeks. Stanford ran most of the time, fueling the offense with several direct snaps to running backs.
Sophomore Christian McCaffrey topped last weekend’s 206-yard effort at Oregon with 156 yards and the first rushing touchdown of his college career on 17 carries. Hogan was asked to throw only 19 times, and he completed 17, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Asked after the game whether there had been any surprises, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez told reporters, “Nope.”
Saturday’s full schedule of games made it fair to wonder whether, unlike the attacks of high-flying, pass-happy recent seasons, the most successful offenses in 2015 will be those most efficient at those between-the-tackles runs associated with the great coaches of a half-century ago, from Vince Lombardi to Woody Hayes, whose Ohio State offense was described as “3 yards and a cloud of dust.”
Two weeks after quarterback miscues contributed to the first loss of the season for Alabama (4-1, 1-1 SEC), then ranked No. 2, the Crimson Tide asked Jacob Coker to throw only 16 times in a 38-10 thrashing at Georgia (4-1, 2-1), which plummeted from No. 8 to No. 19.
Throwing the SEC into further disarray, Ole Miss (4-1, 2-1) fell to Florida (5-0, 3-0), 38-10, as the Gators leapt from No. 25 to No. 11, and Ole Miss dropped from No. 3 to No. 14.
Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly threw 40 times for 259 yards and one touchdown, while redshirt freshman Will Grier had a breakout day for the Gators, completing 17 of 20 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns.
LSU improved to 4-0 and No. 7, from No. 9, even as quarterback Brandon Harris had only four completions for 80 yards. It helped to have the Heisman Trophy favorite Leonard Fournette running for 233 yards and three touchdowns. No. 1 Ohio State (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) escaped with a 34-27 win against Indiana in Bloomington after junior running back Ezekiel Elliott ran for 274 yards and three touchdowns.
The Big 12 refused to obey the football laws of gravity — not to mention the actual laws of gravity.
On the strength of top-notch passing, Texas Christian (5-0, 2-0) put up 50 points and was rewarded with a No. 2 ranking, Baylor (4-0, 1-0) scored 63 and moved to No. 3, and Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0) further suggested it is for real in a 44-24 thumping of West Virginia and reached No. 10.
TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin rejoined the Heisman discussion with 332 yards and five touchdowns against downcast Texas. Perhaps the clearest instance of the importance of the run came in then-No. 7 UCLA’s game against Arizona State.
Although the true freshman quarterback Josh Rosen did have a good game statistically, throwing for 280 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, UCLA (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) failed to establish the run early and was upset by the Sun Devils at home, 38-23.
The Bruins dropped to No. 20.
In an especially symbolic play, a few Arizona State linemen pushed running back Kalen Ballage 20 yards through a scrum of Bruins defenders for a game-sealing touchdown. It was a pure display of power.
Coming a week after Oregon was beaten by Utah, which improved to No. 5 (with seven first-place votes) during its bye week, the slate indicated that the days of big-name quarterbacks throwing for big-game blowouts might be coming to a close.
The Arizona-Stanford clash was especially symbolic in this regard. Arizona’s Rodriguez was one of a handful of coaches who helped innovate the spread offense that, in various guises, is now run throughout much of the Pac-12, Big 12 and elsewhere. It is philosophically the antagonist of ground-and-pound, literally spreading out players, including offensive linemen, prizing speed over brawn and spacing yardage rather than fighting over inches.
Shaw and Rodriguez are connected in one more way. Rodriguez tried to install the spread at traditionalist Michigan several years ago, with little success. Shaw, meanwhile, came up, at both San Diego and Stanford, under current Michigan coach, Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh’s offense is much more pro style.
On Saturday, the Wolverines shut out Maryland, 28-0, moving up to No. 18 from No. 22. They averaged nearly 5 yards per carry and held Maryland to just above 1 yard per carry.
Sometimes, it is the simple things.
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