Category: Uncategorized

By Jeremy Harness

 

STANFORD – Big Game? Big Rout is more like it.

 

It took about a half of a quarter to really set in, but Stanford fulfilled the prediction for this year’s rivalry game between the Bay Area-based Pac-12 schools, stampeding a hapless Cal squad, 63-13, at Stanford Stadium Saturday afternoon.

 

It marked the fourth straight Big Game win for the Cardinal, but another game that was played earlier in the day proved to be even bigger and also swung in Stanford’s favor. Stanford appeared to be headed for a potential Holiday Bowl date after its loss to USC last week, but Arizona upended No. 5 Oregon on Saturday, 42-16, to give the Cardinal the Pac-12 North championship.

 

Stanford has no more conference games left – the Cardinal host Notre Dame next week – while Oregon has one more, against Oregon State next Saturday. Even if Oregon wins, both schools would have two Pac-12 losses with Stanford owning the tiebreaker.

 

“Our guys showed a lot of maturity all week about how hard they worked, about preparing for this football game, about coming out here and keeping the axe,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “This was about our conference, keeping the axe. Our guys did that.”

 

While the North division is ironed out, the Pac-12 South, however, is anything but.

 

At press time, the top two teams in the South – UCLA and Arizona State – were getting ready to lock horns at the Rose Bowl while USC, which has suddenly emerged as a challenger for the title and has broken into the Top 25, takes on Colorado.

 

As it stands, Arizona State sits atop the division, but all three schools have a realistic shot at the title. The Sun Devils and Bruins each control their own destiny; if Arizona State beats UCLA Saturday, it will wrap up the division since they own the tie-breaker over USC.

 

If Arizona State wins out, the title game will be played in Tempe, but if Arizona State beats UCLA but loses to Arizona in the finale, Stanford would host the conference championship.

 

However, if UCLA wins, the race becomes wide open.

 

USC can come away with the division title with wins over Colorado and UCLA in the regular season finale – coupled with Arizona State losing to Arizona – to set up a potential rematch with Stanford in the Coliseum.

 

If UCLA wins out, that would set up a repeat matchup of last year’s Pac-12 title game at Stanford Stadium Dec. 7.

 

However, Stanford would not have factored into the Pac-12 picture at all if it didn’t take care of its end of the deal against Cal. Ty Montgomery had a big hand in deciding that, as the Cardinal held a 42-13 at halftime.

 

The emerging star receiver-kick returner blistered Cal for five touchdowns in the first half, which tied him for the most scores in a game by a Stanford player with Darrin Nelson in 1981. He finished with 191 total yards while Stanford racked up 603 yards of total offense.

 

Montgomery’s sidekick, quarterback Kevin Hogan, threw for 329 yards and five touchdowns, connecting on 17 of his 26 passes.

 

Stanford got started with the offense right away. On the third play from scrimmage, Montgomery shot past the Cal defense for a 31-yard touchdown run to give Stanford a quick 7-0 lead.

 

The Golden Bears, however, didn’t seem to immediately get the memo that they were supposed to get blown out of Stanford Stadium. For their first possession, the Bears used their Air Raid offense to slice through the Stanford defense and get into the end zone to tie the game, a drive culminating in freshman Jared Goff’s 15-yard strike to Maurice Harris.

 

Stanford made sure they got it in short order. From there, the Cardinal stiffened up and stuck it to the overmatched Bears, with Montgomery doing most of the damage. Following an unsuccessful onside kick by Cal that gave the ball to Stanford at midfield, Hogan again connected with Montgomery for a 50-yard touchdown.

 

Montgomery scored three more times in the half, one of them coming on the second play of the second quarter, which saw him race away from the entire Cal defense for a 72-yard touchdown catch-and-run to give the Cardinal a 28-10 advantage.

 

“It’s awesome,” Hogan said. “Just getting him the ball, he makes me look good.”

 

His final score came with just five seconds left in the half, as he caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Hogan.

 

On the Cal side, Goff finished with 194 passing yards and a touchdown while completing 10 of his 19 throws. However, he left the game in the second quarter with an injury to his right throwing shoulder and did not return. His replacement, fellow freshman Zach Kline, completed eight of his 14 passes for 115 yards and was intercepted once.

By George Devine, Sr.

After a 41-24 loss at Colorado, the Bears prepare to end their 2013 season with a trip to Stanford for the 116th annual Big Game. Kickoff time has been announced for 1 p.m. PST on Saturday, November 23.

Stanford is coming into the contest somewhat humbled, after losing to USC, 20-17, at the Los Angeles Coliseum. This makes the Cardinal 8-2 for the year so far, and 6-2 in Pac-12 play, thus making a trip to the Rose Bowl doubtful. But Stanford’s record is on a totally different level from Cal’s 1-10, with the lone win coming against Portland State.

In Saturday’s disappointment, one of the two cellar-dwelling teams in the conference was destined for its first league win, and Colorado got it. Among the Bears’ weaknesses was inability to tackle. This bodes ill for Sonny Dykes’ charges, who have become known for weak defense all year. It will be even more of a problem than usual at Stanford, where a consistently strong offense has put the Cardinal among the top-ranked teams in the country. Bear defenders will be up against tailback Tyler Gaffney, who rushed for 158 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns against the Trojans, and the characteristically needle-threading quarterback Kevin Hogan, who had his rough moments against USC but has been solid throughout the year.

Cal’s quarterback this year, freshman Jared Goff, has racked up impressive stats for passing yardage, but in vain so far as wins and losses are concerned. At the Coliseum he was yanked for two series in favor of Zach Kline, but it seemed to make no difference. Dykes was found at game’s end promising more practice, more thinking about approaches, and the return of some injured players. Only a win against Stanford and the resultant reclamation of the historic Axe could save this season from being a total disaster for Old Blues, and most are already worrying about 2014.

By Morris Phillips

After an afternoon of heartache and frustration, the 49ers have revised goals: hope to get healthy and if so, sneak into the playoffs.

The 49ers capitalized on some timely turnovers and led in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell to the Saints, 23-20, who were aided by a controversial roughing the passer call.

“The game could have gone a totally different direction than what it went,” Ahmad Brooks said of the play with three minutes remaining in which he sacked the Saints’ Drew Brees and forced a fumble, but was flagged for using excessive force to the neck and head.  “I was just mad that was a big play in the game.  We lost, and that’s probably the reason why.”

While the 49ers made big plays and converted them into points, they were outdone statistically and made numerous mistakes and one big mental error that contributed to their second straight loss after five wins in a row.  And while the normal dissection of the tense, winnable ballgame unfolds, the underlying theme of the season can’t be understated: minus Michael Crabtree or another capable receiving threat, offensively, the 49ers haven’t been near good enough to merit a return trip to the Super Bowl.

The 49ers fell to 6-4 on the season, and instead of competing for a division crown with the Seahawks, the 49ers find themselves competing against a group of 6-4 and 5-5 teams for a playoff berth as fifth or sixth seed.

Leading 20-14 early in the fourth quarter, the 49ers failed on two possessions to stretch their lead.  Instead the Saints got three Garrett Hartley field goals, the final one at the final buzzer to win it.

The 49ers managed just 196 yards in offense and ran just 56 total offensive plays, allowing the Saints and Brees to enjoy a healthy edge in time of possession.  And while Colin Kaepernick didn’t play poorly, he struggled to incorporate different players into the attack, which left the 49ers few credible options outside Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis, especially when running plays in the red zone.

Kapernick finished 17 for 31 totaling 127 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception.  Frank Gore made several big runs but finished with 48 yards on 13 carries.    Boldin and Davis were on the receiving end of 10 of Kaepernick’s 17 completions and both of his touchdowns.

But with time running out, Kapernick made the major mental gaffe: on third and 19 with 1:56 remaining and the game tied at 20, the third-year quarterback scrambled left for 16 yards, but ran out of bounds, allowing the Saints to preserve their final timeout, and have enough time to fashion the winning field goal.  Afterwards, Kaepernick explained that he was attempting to get a first down, but with several Saints’ defenders bearing down, a first down appeared unlikely.

On the next play, special teams’ gunner Kassim Osgood failed to see Darren Sproles signaling for a fair catch and ran through the punt returner, drawing a 15-yard personal foul that set up the Saints at their own 40-yard line with 1:41 remaining.

Mike Iupati and Tarell Brown suffered injuries in the contest and were unable to finish.  Davis and safety Eric Reid were both cleared to participate following concussions suffered in the Panthers’ game, and assumed their normal starting positions.

              Next week, the 49ers travel to the nation’s capital to face the Redskins on Monday Night Football.

 

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, November 17, 2013

Stanford earned its third men’s basketball victory of the season Sunday with a 66-57 non-conference decision at Denver University.

Chasson Randle led the Cardinal (3-1) with a game-high 29 points – 14 of them in the second half – on 10 of 14 field goal shooting. Anthony Brown added 12 points for Stanford, which, after a slow start, finished the game shooting 52 percent from the floor.

Denver, which plays in the Summit Conference, trailed Stanford 41-39 in the second half, until the Cardinal built a 13-point lead to pull away. Chris Udolfia led the Pioneers (0-2) with 20 points. DU hurt its own cause with 18 turnovers combined with a 15 of 25 effort from the free throw line.

Nate Engesser hit a 3-pointer eight seconds before halftime gave the Pioneers a 25-24 lead at the break, building a six-point lead early in the second half. But Denver’s shooting cooled off while Stanford regained the lead for good one minute into the second half on a basket by Dwight Powell.

The Cardinal returns home Thursday to host Texas Southern. Game time is 7 p.m.

(TAGS,Stanford,Cardinal,men’s basketball)