by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal returns home to meet the Oregon State Beavers in a Pac-12 contest Saturday

at Stanford Stadium. Game time is at 12:30 pm and will be televised on ESPN2.

Both teams will be looking to rebound from defeats last week. The Cardinal was beaten 26-10 by the Arizona State Sun Devils. The defense played well but Stanford’s offense could not get untracked as they took their third loss of the season and the second in conference play. Overall the Cardinal is 4-3 and 2-2 in the Pac-12. The Beavers (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) are looking to rebound from a double overtime loss to Utah.

The Cardinal defense has been outstanding again this year. The defense leads the Pac-12 with just 153 yards allowed per game and is first in run defense allowing just 101.9 yard per game.

The Cardinal has a solid defensive line led by Henry Anderson, Blake Lueders and David Perry.

The linebackers are again led by A.J.Tarpley. Kevin Anderson and James Vaughters. The Cardinal ranks third in the Pac-12 with three sacks per game and the front three dominate the point of contact allowing the linebackers to swarm to the ball.

The Stanford secondary has performed well again this year. Strong safety Jordan Richards has 44 tackles to his credit. Alex Carter and Wayne Lyons are dependable corners and have contributed

mightily to Stanford’s strong defense.

The Cardinal offense, on the other hand, is struggling. The offensive line had to replace four starters and their lack of experience and depth have contributed to the offense’s woes. Stanford coach David Shaw took the blame for Stanford’s problems and refused to pin the blame on Kevin Hogan. Shaw said

that Stanford will try to rework the offense so that Hogan and the running backs and receivers can get it into gear once again. Running back by committee has not worked well for Stanford at all so far. The receivers led by Ty Montgomery, Devon Cajuste, Michael Rector, Francis Owusu and Jordan Pratt has produced 235 yard of passing yardage which is ranked 10th in the Pac-12 and have not produced as well as they thought they would.

The Beavers’ offense is led by quarterback Sean Mannion who thrives in OSU head coach Mike Riley’s

pro style offense. Mannion owns double-digit OSU passing records including the career passing mark he set last month. Mannion needs 315 yards to pass former USC quarterback Matt Barkley for the Pac-12 passing record. However, Mannion has failed to meet expectations this year as he has thrown five interceptions and just seven touchdowns. The Beaver running game is led by Storm Woods and Terron

Ward but Woods was hurt last week against Utah and is questionable for Saturday’s game. The edge,however, goes to Oregon State in that department. The OSU receivers have yet to prove themselves and Stanford holds the advantage in receiving.

The two teams are definitely evenly matched. The Stanford offense must come to life if they expect

to beat OSU while the Beavers offense will be sorely tested by the Stanford defense. They will win if the can find a way to beat the pass rush and get the running game going. The game is just too close to call.

Jerry Feitelberg
jyf1938