With Its Conference Gaining Buzz, Stanford Relies on Its Brawn
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Stanford may reside out West, out in the Pacific-12 Conference, where sunshine and technology and an abundance of speed beget offenses that play football on fast forward. Where the scores often match the temperature, 50s and 60s and 70s all around.
Except here. As Stanford became a mainstay in the upper echelon of college football, it won with strength, its style more potatoes than sushi, more Big Ten than Pac-12.
That continued Saturday against the U.C.L.A. Bruins, a previously undefeated team that Stanford bullied and overpowered and pushed around in a 24-10 victory that saved its season, at least for another week. It was the Cardinal's 13th straight win at Stanford Stadium.
It was the kind of victory that left a mark.
'It's been a staple of ours for a long time,' Coach David Shaw said.
Stanford (6-1, 4-1) stymied Brett Hundley, the Bruins' star quarterback. Stanford protected Kevin Hogan, its own signal caller. And Stanford handed the ball 36 times to Tyler Gaffney, a baseball player turned power back, who thumped U.C.L.A. (5-1, 2-1) for 171 rushing yards and 2 scores.
So went another weekend of Pac-12 football, and that meant something different from the past. The conference has long fielded elite teams (Southern California, Oregon and Stanford, to name a few) but seems this season to have top-to-bottom depth to challenge the Southeastern Conference for college football supremacy.
If that sounds like blasphemy outside the West Coast, consider that seven Pac-12 teams resided in the Associated Press top-25 poll this week or were among those receiving votes. That included the Bruins, ranked ninth, inside the top 10 for the first time since 2005.
The reward for their best start in nearly a decade? A trip to Stanford, followed by a trip to Oregon. Before Stanford tripped at Utah, those were both top-five teams.
'Every week is going to be a challenge,' Shaw said.
Stanford's stumble a week ago in Salt Lake City left the Cardinal zero margin for error if it wanted to remain in contention for the Bowl Championship Series, even as its coming schedule featured U.C.L.A., Oregon State and Oregon. Shaw said he was encouraged last Sunday, when more players showed up after the defeat for voluntary workouts than at any point in the last two seasons.
All week, all the analysis started with Hundley, a Heisman Trophy contender. Hundley had scored 15 touchdowns during the Bruins' 5-0 start. He filleted California's secondary for 410 passing yards the week before. This left Shaw the opposite of speechless. He called Hundley 'dynamic' and 'big' and 'strong' and predicted he would start in the N.F.L. 'before too long.'
He also said that Hundley had not ever looked uncomfortable this season.
Until Saturday, at least.
All week, the analysis focused on Hundley and his teammate Anthony Barr, the conference's consensus best defender, and Ty Montgomery, the Stanford receiver and electric return specialist. If anyone mentioned Hogan, it was out of concern for his struggles in October and for a Cardinal team on the brink of losing consecutive games for the first time since 2009.
Instead, the first half featured three times as many punts as points, and it was Hogan who helped deliver the points. He drove Stanford down the field late in the first quarter. He scrambled for a first down. He threw for first downs. He even recovered a fumble to prolong the possession, which ended with the first career field goal for Conrad Ukropina, the backup place-kicker.
Stanford led, 3-0, at that point and at halftime.
The game opened up in the third quarter when the teams went from super-conservative to simply conservative. Stanford held U.C.L.A. to 84 yards in the first half, but Hundley ripped off a 30-yard run after halftime, which he followed with a 14-yard run, which the Bruins followed with a 38-yard field goal from Ka'imi Fairbairn.
The Cardinal countered. They countered with a touchdown pass from Hogan to receiver Kodi Whitfield, who leapt for the ball, leaned into two defenders and came down with a one-handed catch in the end zone that was sure to make the highlight shows. They countered with an interception from safety Jordan Richards and another drive and a 1-yard scoring plunge from Gaffney. Richards sealed the outcome with another interception.
Of the acrobatic catch, Hogan said, 'I can't wait to see it on 'SportsCenter.' '
And it countered with defense: stout, athletic, formidable defense. Linebacker Shayne Skov helped bottle Hundley, even rattled him with one hit. U.C.L.A. had outscored opponents by 71-0 in the third quarter this season, but Stanford won that period, 14-3, on Saturday.
It took the Bruins most of three quarters to move the ball against the Cardinal, but they eventually did. Hundley dipped and darted and found receivers in open space downfield, and on the first play of the fourth quarter, his touchdown strike to Shaquelle Evans cut Stanford's advantage to 17-10.
Stanford missed a field goal to extend its lead, but its defense made stop after stop, and the Cardinal held on. All seemed possible again. Until next week at Oregon State. Or the week after that against Oregon.
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