Tag: Stanford Cardinal

Three takeaways from Stanford’s 23-13 win over Cal in the 121st Big Game

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By: Ana Kieu

The Stanford Cardinal won their ninth straight Big Game at Memorial Stadium against the California Golden Bears on Saturday. With the win, Stanford (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) not only preserved bragging rights, but also kept the Axe away from Cal (7-5, 4-5 Pac-12). Congratulations to the 2018 Cardinal squad!

Now, let’s take a look at three takeaways from Stanford’s 23-13 win over Cal in the 121st Big Game.

Early bird gets the worm
Okay, the game wasn’t scheduled at 10:00 am or earlier than that, but its kickoff was set for noon, which was close enough.

Anyhow, Stanford jumped out to an early lead on their first two drives of the game to grab a 10-0 lead on running back Cameron Scarlett’s first score and held on against Cal to extend the longest winning streak in the Big Game, which was established in 1892.

The Cardinal took an early lead and never looked back. That’s the way the game should be played, especially against a rival or archrival.

The other PA 
No, we’re referring to the initials of Stanford cornerback Paulson Adebo, who’s a redshirt freshman.

Adebo may not be a household name in the Cardinal’s world. Well, at least not yet. But please keep in mind that Adebo tied the school record with 22 passes defended on the season–in both pass break ups and interceptions.

Vaughn Bryant also held that record with 22 passes defended with 18 pass break ups and four interceptions.

Almost perfect
Stanford kicker and punter Jet Toner has made 14-of-15 field goals this season. Toner currently owns the highest field goal percentage in school history in a single season with .929 and in a career with 34-of-40 and .850.

Toner ain’t perfect, but he’s almost perfect and that’s nearly the same thing, right? When there’s a healthy Toner, there’s likely going to be a higher chance of a Cardinal win in the end.

Stanford beats Cal 23-13 for ninth straight Big Game win

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By: Ana Kieu 

BERKELEY, Calif. — After a disappointing postponement due to the poor air quality from the Camp Fire in Butte County, the Stanford Cardinal paid a much-anticipated visit to Memorial Stadium to take on the California Golden Bears in the 121st Big Game on Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinal entered the game with an eight-game win streak in hopes of making it nine in a row. Both Stanford and Cal fans in attendance were fired up, dancing to hit songs such as “Tell Me When To Go” by E-40. The in-stadium DJ picked the perfect rapper to blast as E-40 is a Vallejo, Calif. native and Bay Area sports fan.

The Cardinal also welcomed free agent tight end and Stanford alum Coby Fleener as their honorary captain for the game. Fleener most recently played for the New Orleans Saints from 2016-17 after spending three years with the Indianapolis Colts from 2012-15. Fleener was a second-round pick of the Colts in the 2012 NFL Draft. 

The Cardinal opened the scoring as Jet Toner kicked in a 26-yard field goal to give his team a 3-0 lead with 9:15 left in the first quarter. 

K.J. Costello threw a pass to Cameron Scarlett for a 46-yard passing touchdown and Toner kicked in the extra point. The Cardinal made it a 10-0 game with 4:37 left in the first. 

The Cardinal was up 10-0 at the end of the first. 

The Bears, however, avoided a shutout, thanks to Greg Thomas’ 40-yard field goal. Stanford’s lead was reduced to 10-3 at the 10:14 mark of the second quarter. 

Thomas kicked in a 24-yard field goal to bring the Bears within six, cutting Stanford’s lead to 10-6 with 4:58 left in the second. 

Toner kicked in a 19-yard field goal to expand Stanford’s lead to 13-6 with just one second left in the second. The Cardinal brought a 13-6 lead to the locker room to end the first half. 

The PA announcer announced an attendance of 57,858 in the third quarter. 
The Cal fans made it very loud and clear that Memorial Stadium was Bears territory, but the Cardinal held onto a 13-6 lead at the end of the third. That helped the Cardinal fans feel better about their team. 

And the Cardinal fans had another reason to not fret about the possibility of a Bears comeback in the fourth quarter. Toner kicked in a 21-yard field goal to extend Stanford’s lead to 16-6 with 3:43 left in the fourth. 

As if the confidence level wasn’t already high enough, Stanford added a touchdown just 1:16 later. Scarlett rushed for a 3-yard rushing touchdown and Toner kicked in the extra point to expand Stanford’s lead to 23-6.

Cal took its third and final timeout with 48 seconds left in the fourth. Guess what happened next? Cal scored to pull within 10, cutting Stanford’s lead to 23-13 with 10 seconds left. Chase Garbers threw a pass to Jordan Duncan for an 11-yard passing touchdown and Thomas kicked in the extra point.

The Bears’ down-to-the-wire effort didn’t work today. The Cardinal won 23-13 to extend their Big Game win streak to nine games. 

Stanford Cardinal basketball podcast with Joey Friedman: Young team finding each other scrapped to get last win; Face Kansas Saturday

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photo from Kansas.com: Kansas Jayhawks Senior guard Lagerald Vick lines up during a Tennessee free throw in the NIT Season Tip-off tournament in Brooklyn, New York. Kansas defeated Tennessee 87-81 in overtime to win the tournament. The Jayhawks host the Stanford Cardinal this Saturday night. 

#1 The Stanford Cardinal got only one win in three games in the Bahamas during last week’s Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Stanford got a second win in their last four games on Wednesday night back home at Maples Pavilion in a 79-69 over the Portland State Vikings.

#2 Down by four 14-10 with 12 minutes left in the first half the Cardinal rallied with a lay up by Lukas Kisunas, Cormac Ryan’s three-pointers, and Jaiden Delaire on a dunk for a 17-14 in the first half.

#3 The bench helped out for Stanford in the last five minutes of the first half to get the Cardinal up 30-23. It didn’t last long as the Portland State Vikings moved the ball on a 12-2 run and took a 35-34 one point lead at half time.

#4 In the back and forth game, the Cardinal were able to manage a 79-67 win.

#5 It’s off to Kansas for Saturday, Dec. 1st game against the Cardinal’s third meeting against a ranked school. Stanford is 0-2 against ranked opponents this season.

Join Joey each Friday for the Stanford Cardinal podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com 

 

Stanford Cardinal podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Cardinal aim to keep Big Game win streak going; Game resumes after postponement on Nov. 17th

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On the Stanford Cardinal podcast with Jerry:

#1 The long anticipated Big Game with Stanford (7-4) Cal (7-4) has finally arrived after the originally scheduled date Nov. 17th was canceled due to the Camp Fires smoke that impacted Berkeley’s air quality. This Saturday’s Big Game kicks off at 12 noon.

#2 Sophomore tight end Colby Parkinson is second in the nation with seven touchdowns amongst tight ends.

#3 The Cardinal have clinched for it’s tenth straight bowl appearance. The last time Stanford had a 10-bowl streak dating back to 1933-35 with three straight Rose Bowls and an 11-year run in 1968-78.

#4 The Cardinal have won eight consecutive Big Games as they go for their ninth Saturday.

#5 Senior wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside tied a Stanford record that ranks third with 14 touchdown catches.

Jerry does the Cardinal podcasts every Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Stanford handles Portland State to the tune of a 79-67 win

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By Joey Friedman

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Stanford came off a disappointing the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament (during which they could only pull off a single win) to face the Portland State Vikings on Wednesday Night at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal beat the Vikings by a final score of 79-67.

Stanford’s return to their home court got off to a slow start; despite how they held Portland State scoreless of the first four minutes, their own offense was slow to act. The Vikings quickly regained momentum and jumped out to a 14-10 lead with 12 minutes left to play in the first half. Momentum swung back the Cardinal’s way out of a timeout with a Lukas Kisunas layup, Cormac Ryan three-pointer, and Jaiden Delaire dunk on consecutive possessions to give Stanford a 17-14 lead.

With 5 minutes left in the half, Stanford would grind out a 7 point lead with the score 30-23 thanks to some scrappy basketball from bench players of the likes of Kodye Pugh and Lukas Kisunas. However, the Vikings would go on a 12-2 run to crawl back to a three-point lead with a minute left. Viking junior guard Michael Nuga did most of the damage; He would finish the first half with 17 points. Nobody else on either team would finish with more than seven. The Vikings took a 35-34 lead to the locker room at the break.

Stanford and Portland State shot 46% and 34% from the field, respectively, in the first half. In the same time frame, both teams combined to shoot 3-24 from beyond the arc, while Stanford was out-rebounded 28-16 overall (specifically 14-13 on their own defensive boards). Stanford turned the ball over 11 times, while PSU did so 5 times. KZ Okpala, Stanford’s team leader in both minutes and points per game this, only received 5 minutes of action in the first half, despite making the expected appearance in the starting lineup.

Stanford would start the second half reenergized and they would jump to a 7-point lead and an 8-0 run with the starting lineup of Cormac Ryan, Daejon Davis, KZ Okpala, Oscar da Silva, and Bryce Wills leading the way. The Vikings tied the game at 46 points each when a free throw fell with just over 11 minutes to play, but Stanford would inch their way forward, eventually edging out an eight-point advantage over the next 3 minutes. At the five minute mark, Vikings’ junior forward Sal Nuhu and Stanford traded contested slam dunks to settle the score at 63-53. Stanford’s lead lasted to a 79-67 final.

For the Cardinal, sophomore Oscar da Silva finished with 12 points while freshman Bryce Wills had a career-high 10 points. Jaiden Delaire and Josh Sharma each finished with 9. Josh Sharma also had 7 rebounds. 

For the Vikings, Michael Nuga finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds, Sal Nuhu had a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Holland Woods had 18 points and 5 assists.  

Stanford finished with a 54% field goal percentage, they shot 2-16 from beyond the arc, turned the ball over 9 times, collected 36 rebounds, and blocked 9 shots. Portland State finished by shooting 32% from the field and shooting 2-24 from beyond the arc. They also had 9 turnovers and 51 rebounds. 

What’s Next?
Stanford will be back in action on the road on December 1st against the #2 Kansas Jayhawks. It will be their third time playing against a ranked opponent thus far in the non-conference schedule. They are 0-2 against ranked opponents this season.

Portland State will face Portland Bible at home on December 1st.

Stanford heads to Cal for rescheduled Big Game on Saturday

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By: Ana Kieu

The Bay Area air quality levels had improved, so the smoke and haze shouldn’t be issues in rescheduled 121st Big Game between the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears inside Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s what you need to know about the Big Game.

By the Numbers
Stanford Cardinal (7-4, 5-3)
Cal Bears (7-4, 4-4)
Dec. 1, 2018 at Noon PT
Memorial Stadium (63,000) in Berkeley, Calif.

Television
Live national broadcast on Pac-12 Network with Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play), Yogi Roth (analyst) and Jill Savage (sideline).

Radio
Live coverage on Stanford’s flagship station–KNBR 1050 AM–with Scott Reiss ’93 (play-by-play), Todd Husak ’00 (analyst) and Troy Clardy ’97 (sideline). The broadcast begins one hour before kickoff with the Cardinal Tailgate Show and concludes with the postgame Cardinal Locker Room Report.

The game can be heard on Stanford student radio–KZSU 90.1 FM–and online at kzsulive.stanford.edu.

On the Web
GoStanford.com • CalBears.com • #GoStanford

Other Stats to Keep in Mind
1 • Stanford is 7-0 this season when forcing at least one turnover, and 0-4 when not forcing a turnover.

2 • Sophomore tight end Colby Parkinson is second in the nation among tight ends with seven touchdown receptions.

3 • Stanford football players have conducted interviews in three foreign languages this season–JJ Arcega-Whiteside (Spanish), Jesse Burkett (Japanese) and Osiris St. Brown (German). All other Stanford football interviews this year have been done in English.

3 • Junior Kaden Smith is one of three finalists for the John Mackey Award, joining T.J. Hockenson (Iowa), Albert Okwuegbunam (Missouri). The winner will be announced on Dec. 5.

3 • The Cardinal vie for a sweep of its in-state rivals UCLA, USC and Cal for the third time in four years. The Cardinal most recently swept all three in 2015 and 2016. Under Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw (2011-current), Stanford is 28-5 vs. in-state opponents, including 22-4 against USC, UCLA and Cal. This season, Stanford is 4-0 against Californian opposition.

4 • Stanford’s four losses this season have come against the AP’s curent No. 3, No. 10, No. 12 and No. 17th-ranked teams in the nation (Notre Dame, Washington, Washington State, Utah). Those four teams have a combined record of 40-8 (.833) this season.

5 • Costello’s five touchdown passes at UCLA on Nov. 24 were second-most in school history (Elway, 6 vs. OSU in 1980) and the most since Kevin Hogan had five in the 2013 Big Game.

8 • Stanford has won a series-record eight consecutive Big Games.

10 • Stanford has clinched its 10th straight bowl game appearance, extending the program record. The previous best streak was three–when the Cardinal went to three straight Rose Bowls from 1933-35. The 10 straight winning seasons is the longest streak since an 11-year run from 1968-78.

10 • Stanford clinched its 10th straight winning season in conference play, extending the school record. The previous best streak was seven straight years under Pop Warner in the Pacific Coast Conference from 1924-1930.

11 • Stanford has won a series-record 11 consecutive games over the Bruins, dating back to 2009 and including the 2012 Pac-12 Championship Game. It is the all-time longest winning streak by any opponent against the Bruins.

14 • Senior wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside tied a school record and ranks third nationally (first among Pac-12 players) — with 14 receiving touchdowns. That ties Pro Football Hall of Famer James Lofton’s school record set in 1977. He is four away from matching Mario Bailey’s Pac-12 record set in 1991.

16 • In addition to his 55 receptions and 860 receiving yards this season, Arcega-Whiteside has drawn 16 penalties this year—13 pass interference and three holding calls for 210 penalty yards (1.6 penalties/game and 21.0 penalty yards/game).

17 • Sophomore cornerback Paulson Adebo ranks second nationally with 17 pass breakups and fifth in the NCAA with 19 passes defended.

20 • Junior quarterback K.J. Costello ranks among the Top 20 nationally in completion percentage (16th), completions per game (14th), passing efficiency (13th), passing touchdowns (9th), passing yards (14th), passing yards per game (12th) and yards per attempt (14th). He leads the Pac-12 in efficiency (159.1) and is second in the conference in yards (3,198), touchdowns (28) and yards per attempt (8.71).

21 • Stanford’s seniors finished their careers 20-5 (.800) at Stanford Stadium. In the last four years, the Cardinal has won 37 games, three Big Games, two Pac-12 North titles, a conference championship, and has played in the Rose Bowl, Sun Bowl and Alamo Bowl.

28 • Only Andrew Luck has thrown more TD passes in a season at Stanford than Costello’s 28 in 2018. Luck set the record with 37 in 2011 and had 32 in 2010.

100 • Arcega-Whiteside is the first Stanford player with four 100-yard receiving games in a season since Luke Powell in 2001. His eight career 100-yard receiving games ranks third in school history.

121 • The 121st Big Game was rescheduled due to poor air quality caused by the devastating wildfires in Butte County (Dec. 1 is Stanford’s latest calendar kickoff for a regular season game since the 2007 Big Game was played on the same date). Cal is Stanford’s most common opponent (next is USC with 98 all-time meetings), while Stanford’s 63 wins over the Bears are also its most against any opponent.

300 • Costello is the third Cardinal with seven 300-yard passing games in a season, joining John Elway (1982) and Steve Stenstrom, who set the school record with nine in 1993. He is the first Cardinal with four consecutive 100-yard passing performances since Steve Stenstrom had five in a row in 1994.

1,000 • The last Cardinal to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season was Troy Walters in 1999. Arcega-Whiteside is just 140 yards away from that milestone.

3,201 • K.J. Costello’s 3,201 yards of total offense ranks fifth in school history. He needs 198 yards to move into third which would place him behind only Andrew Luck, who set the school record with 3,791 in 2010 and had 3,667 in 2011. In addition, Costello’s 3,198 passing yards this season are fifth-most in school history and is just 429 yards away from the school record set by Steve Stenstrom in 1993.

Cal Bears football podcast with Morris Phillips: Only 211 yards needed to beat Colorado, Cal Bears need more to top Stanford this Saturday

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On the Cal Bears football podcast with Morris:

#1 Cal has won four of their last five games and got a huge victory over the Colorado Buffaloes last Saturday.

#2 The Bears got 211 yards, not too impressive; but got 33 points and a 12 point lead good enough in the 32-21 win.

#3 With 211 yards against the Buffaloes and now with Stanford coming in this Saturday for the Big Game at Memorial Stadium. The Cardinal are coming off a win at UCLA the Bears are going to have to shore up better yardage against a team like Stanford.

#4 Head coach Justin Wilcox did say that Cal did take care of the ball.

#5 Big Game is Saturday a reschedule game from the original Nov. 17th date, which was canceled due to the camp fires in Butte County smoke. How do these two teams matchup?

Join Morris for the Cal Bears podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cardinal air attack sparks come-from-behind win over UCLA 49-42

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, November 24, 2018

One of the big keys to Stanford’s Pac-12 football win over UCLA Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., was its proficiency in the big play.

The Cardinal won 49-42, thanks to an attack that included nine pass plays of 15 or more yards — four of them resulting in touchdowns.

Quarterback K.J. Costello had a big day for the Cardinal, completing 23 of 37 passes for 344 yards and a career-high five TDs. In the process, Stanford extended its winning streak over UCLA to 11 games.

Stanford (7-4 overall, 5-3 Pac-12) needed those big plays, trailing 42-41 midway through the fourth quarter. A 52-yard scoring strike from Costello to Osiris St. Brown put the Cardinal in front, with Bryce Love’s 2-point conversion run.

Then, it was the Cardinal defense’s turn, as the Bruins (3-9, 3-6) drove to the Stanford 43 with under one minute to play. But UCLA’s drive stalled and they turned the ball over on downs.

Stanford receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside caught seven passes for 106 yards – three of those catches for touchdowns. Arcega-Whiteside has 14 touchdown receptions on the season, tying a team record first set by James Lofton in 1978.

Trenton Irvin, who caught seven passes for 103 yards, also had a TD reception. Love, meanwhile, gained 85 rushing yards on 22 attempts with a touchdown.

Noteworthy was the attendance, or lack of it. An announced crowd of 38,391 watched the contest, the lowest crowd for the Bruins since 1997.

Next week, the Cardinal visits California at Berkeley after the Big Game was postponed on Nov. 17 due to the wildfires

Three takeaways from Stanford’s 49-42 win over UCLA in the Southland

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Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By: Ana Kieu 

The Stanford Cardinal made it 11 straight wins against the UCLA Bruins with a 49-42 victory at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles on Saturday. 

Here are my three takeaways from Stanford at UCLA. 

Cardinal offense steps up 
Cardinal wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside had himself a day with his eighth 100-yard receiving game. As a result, Arcega-Whiteside tied for third most in Stanford history as well as the most since Mark Bradford from 2003-07. 

Also, Arcega-Whiteside became the 14th Cardinal with 2,000 receiving yards. Arcega-Whiteside’s injury was a blow to the Cardinal offense, but he had to put his recovery first. Arcega-Whiteside’s recovery was extremely disappointing, but Cardinal fans were relieved to see him back in action.

Party in the backfield 
The Cardinal jumped for joy, thanks to the party in the backfield. 

After a coverage sack took the Bruins off the field, Cardinal safety Malik Antoine helped the Cardinal to a first down away from a victory in LA. Antoine’s sack happened just moments after Bruins quarterback Wilton Speight held the ball a little too long, like, say, 10-12 seconds. The Cardinal got the ball on a turnover on downs. 

Keep the streak going
No, I’m not talking about the 11-game winning streak against the Bruins (though, that would be lovely if the Cardinal made it 12). I’m talking about Cardinal quarterback K.J. Costello’s touchdown pass streak. Costello was locked in against UCLA to say the least. Costello entered the road game with a TD pass in 15 straight games, and this game was the 16th in his book.

Costello’s TD pass early in the game tied him with John Elway for seventh most in a season in Stanford history with 24. Only Andrew Luck and Kevin Hogan have thrown more in a Cardinal season in the last 25 years. 

Costello also became the sixth Cardinal with 3,000 passing yards in a season, joining Elway, Luck, Steve Sandstrom, Jan Dils and Todd Husak. In addition, Costello became the eighth Cardinal with 40 career TD passes. 

Fun fact 
The Cardinal are 53-3 when leading after three quarters, dating back to 2012.

Cardinal beat the Blue Raiders 67-54, salvage seventh place in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, November 23, 2018

Stanford salvaged the third game of their participation in the Battle 4 Atlantis, defeating Middle Tennessee 67-54 in the seventh-place contest at Imperial Arena in The Bahamas.

Earlier in the tournament, Stanford lost to No. 25 Wisconsin and Florida.

KZ Okpala led the Cardinal (3-3) with 22 points, with Daejon Davis adding nine points, four assists and 10 rebounds. Cormac Ryan contributed nine points and eight boards. Bryce Wills added five assists.

The Cardinal took a permanent lead midway through the first half, and held a 32-23 advantage at the half. Stanford shot 48 percent from the field in the second half when the Cardinal built an 18-point lead.

Stanford outscored Middle Tennessee 35-31 in the second half.

Antonio Green led the Blue Raiders (3-4) with 21 points, and Jayce Johnson added 14 points and five rebounds. James Hawthorne grabbed eight rebounds and scored eight points for Middle Tennessee, which shot 36 percent from the field.

Middle Tennessee was a 6.5 point favorite.

Stanford’s demanding road schedule continues when the Cardinal travel to Lawrence, Kan., to face No. 2 Kansas on Saturday, Dec. 1.