Christian McCaffrey leads Stanford over Southern California, 41-22, to win Pac

Shaw went for a field goal with the Cardinal on the 1-yard line in the second quarter. Hogan missed Stallworth on the long third-and-goal. The game that will haunt Stanford is the November 14 home loss to Oregon.

Whatever drama awaits them, the Trojans are used to it by now. Remound Wright somehow managed to bust tackles and stay on his feet to pick up a first down on second-and-nine.

But, as good as USC’s defense looked, the offense looked equally as bad. He said the Stanford running back is his choice for the honor. Sanders set the mark in only 11 games, while it took McCaffrey until his 13th to break it. He scored two touchdowns, including a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter, and he threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Hogan on a throwback. Hogan pitched to Barry Sanders Jr., who then flipped it to McCaffrey, who had lined up as a receiver.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Run, pass and catch. Kessler got leveled by Joey Alfieri as he released another incompletion, forcing another punt from USC.

The other bit of suspense for Stanford revolved around McCaffrey’s Heisman prospects.

USC still held the Cardinal to one touchdown and two field goals and trailed only 13-3 at halftime.

What went wrong for USC?

USC came into this game with all the momentum in the world.

David Shaw perhaps said it best: “Here is the best player in the nation”. He ran the final 12 after faking a handoff to Justin Davis that beat the Stanford defense.

The Trojans averaged 5.3 yards per carry, 0.2 better than the Cardinal, but were still limited to 170 yards rushing.

Stanford was dominant through the first half. Then Smith-Schuster picked up a first down inside the red zone. They would get three points before the end of the half, and would go into the tunnels at Levi’s Stadium down 13-3.

Despite his record-breaking game, McCaffrey was quick to praise and credit his teammates, his offensive line and his quarterback. McCaffrey added a 10-yard run for a score with 1:38 left. This is the first the Trojans have led all game.

USC started moving again, and quickly got into Stanford territory. The Stanford secondary ended up charged with just 187 passing yards and only five yards per completion. Lineman Solomon Thomas scooped up the ball and returned it for a touchdown. Jake Bailey sent the kickoff out of bounds.

By the end of the third quarter, McCaffery was a full out savage.

Clemson and Stanford played at approximately the same time. Kessler took a keeper into the endzone.

Stanford immediately faced a third-and-four on its next drive.

Yes, McCaffrey contributed here too with a touchdown pass on a reverse to Hogan.

The Big Ten title game was hardly a scoring fest, but it didn’t matter. With all the action flowing left, Hogan tiptoed out of the pocket and then found McCaffrey sneaking into the weak side of the formation, which, consdiering no Trojans were there, was extremely weak. Solom Thomas sacked Kessler, setting up third-and-seventeen. While he didn’t throw an interception, he rarely made the big play through the air.

In his media address before Saturday’s contest, commissioner Larry Scott trumpeted the Pac-12’s top-to-bottom strength.

On Saturday, McCaffrey ran for a touchdown, threw a touchdown pass and caught a touchdown pass, and his 67-yard reception in the third quarter was the pivotal play of the game. The next USC drive ran out the clock. He threw for a touchdown, he caught a touchdown and rushed for 207 yards and a touchdown.

His 105 yards receiving were another team high. In case you were wondering, that’s 461 all-purpose yards!

Kevin Hogan played just like he needed to.

Stanford dominated play in the first two quarters, outgaining USC 209-80, with all but 16 of the Cardinal’s yards coming on the ground.

USC opens next season against Alabama and it will be a chance to see if Max Browne or Sam Darnold will be a quarterback who can win big games? The Pac-12 North is 5-0 in the conference title game, with Stanford winning three times and OR winning twice.