By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD – Stanford has been carried in most part this year by its defense, but Saturday afternoon was much different.

In a game that coach David Shaw said afterwards was the first time that they “felt like us” offensively, the Cardinal started quickly and was relentless in erasing the memory of last week’s stinging loss to Arizona State, as it obliterated Oregon State, 38-14, before an announced crowd of 48,401 at Stanford Stadium but appeared to be half-empty.

Stanford gained 438 yards of offense compared to Oregon State’s 221, and the defense put the brakes on the pass-happy Oregon State attack, surrendering only 12 first downs. The Cardinal sacked Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, a Pleasanton native and a Foothill High grad, six times and held him to 122 passing yards.

“When we can support our defense with an offense, we have a chance, and outside of a late touchdown and a short field given to the defense, the defense was phenomenal.”

Stanford set the tone very early, scoring on its eighth play of the game, as quarterback Kevin Hogan hooked up with Christian McCaffrey for a 42-yard touchdown at the 11:45 mark of the first quarter.

Oregon State was able to tie it up later in the quarter, after (Oakland Tech grad Ryan Murphy) intercepted a Kevin Hogan pass and returned it to Stanford’s 5-yard line before running back Chris Brown, another Northern California product, punched it in to make it 7-7.

From there, it was all Stanford on both sides of the ball. The Cardinal were dominant in every category, and this time, that included the scoreboard, as they scored three unanswered touchdowns to close out the first half and give themselves a 28-7 advantage at the break.

There were a few mistakes along the way, though. Two Hogan interceptions in the half yielded those seven Oregon State points, but the other miscue is becoming more alarming and can become critical down the stretch. After Stanford got the ball to the Beavers’ 9-yard line near the close of the first half, it settled for a field-goal attempt by Jordan Williamson, which he missed wide to the right.

However, Williamson was given an opportunity to rebound early in the fourth quarter, and he was able to come through with a 33-yard field goal.

“It’s a big thing with Jordan,” Shaw said. “He’s really matured a lot. He doesn’t go through the ups and downs. He comes back, he works extremely hard, and we want to give him those opportunities because right now, he’s our guy.

“When he’s in rhythm as a field-goal kicker, he’s been good. It’s our job to keep him in rhythm.”

Otherwise, it was smooth sailing for Stanford.

Despite not having a clear No. 1 running back even at this juncture of the season, the Cardinal were able to run the ball effectively against Oregon State, amassing 83 yards on the ground in the first quarter alone and finishing with 151 yards.

Thirty-seven of those yards came on one play, as Hogan scooted away from the Beavers defense into the end zone with 34 seconds to play in the quarter to give Stanford a 14-7 lead.

Stanford didn’t take its foot off the gas pedal to start the second half, adding another touchdown after forcing a three-and-out. On the ensuing punt, Ty Montgomery zig-zagged his way to a 50-yard touchdown return to give the Cardinal a commanding 35-7 edge.

Midway through the third quarter, Oregon State got a big special-teams play to get its offense into the red zone. After a Stanford three-and-out, Ricky Ortiz shot up the middle and blocked the ensuing punt to put the Beavers in scoring position.

Once again, Stanford’s defense tightened up and kept Oregon State out of the end zone. The Beavers picked up a first down but then faced a fourth-and-goal at the Cardinal 5, when Mannion took one more shot at the end zone. Cornerback Alex Carter got in perfect position and knocked the pass away to turn the Beavers away.

The Cardinal did not allow a single point in the third quarter, which is really nothing new to this team. Stanford has only allowed two field goals in the third quarter thus far in the 2014 season.

Oregon State did not threaten after that, although the Beavers scored a late touchdown in the final minutes of the game.

NOTES: With Saturday’s win, Stanford improved to 10-0 following a loss with Shaw as the head coach. The Cardinal has also allowed fewer than 30 points in each of their last 31 games, which is the longest such streak in the nation.