Stanford’s McCaffrey breaks Sanders’ yards record

“What doesn’t he do?” Trojans linebacker Su’a Cravens said.

The Heisman race may be for second place, even on a night when McCaffrey darted, dashed and passed his way into the history books.

“We knew it was going to be a battle”, Stanford coach David Shaw said. “They had a ideal play call for their defense”. USC feels fortunate to be in this game while the Cardinal are still after a College Football Playoff berth. The victor of the Iowa-Michigan State game is a lock to go so the Cardinals must hope either Alabama or Clemson slip up in their championship games to open a space for them to move in.

McCaffrey’s 3,496 all-purpose yards set a new NCAA, single-season record, coincidentally breaking the record previously held by the father of one of McCaffrey’s Cardinal teammates: Barry Sanders Jr.

“The guy I had posted on my wall growing up”, McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey’s importance was demonstrated in the third quarter.

Stanford has now scored 82 points in two wins over USC, which is the sort of doubt-removing dominance that takes the bitterness away. Stanford ran an end-around play for McCaffrey were he lightly tossed a touchdown to quarterback Kevin Hogan. On the next play, Hogan rumbled in from the 7-yard line for a touchdown that put Stanford back on top, 20-16. He danced through the lines, juked a safety, and took the ball all the way to the USC 15.

The Castle Rock, Colo., native said he’s never before been to NY, where the Heisman is presented.

The Trojans overcame a Stanford defensive touchdown by tackle Solomon Thomas on the old sack-and-run play to stay within one score into the fourth quarter, and then they got Stanford into another third-down situation with a little over 12 minutes to go.

“We got some hurt kids in that locker room, they gave a tremendous effort to get to this point”, said Helton. Quarterback Cody Kessler completed 22 of 37 passes but struggled to make big plays in the passing game in throwing for only 187 yards. Kevin Hogan passed for 279 yards and Remound Wright rushed for three touchdowns as the Cardinal rallied from an early 11-point deficit to beat the Trojans, who fired coach Steve Sarkisian three weeks later. Justin Davis is looking strong averaging 17.5 carries per game. While McCaffrey was showing out on the west coast, Clemson QB Deshaun Watson is putting on a clinic with 5 total touchdowns and over 400 yards passing and rushing in the ACC title game.

“We have to limit the explosive plays”, Shaw said. There are also one loss teams out there that the selection team may have to decide before Stanford. However, USC’s goal-line stand followed by a late scoring drive kept the Trojans in the game.

In the Pete Carroll era, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart were the stars but their defense was arguably the best in the country every year and even after Bush and Leinart left, USC had a great defense under Carroll.

USC trailed 13-3 at halftime, but a different team came out in the third quarter.

Earlier in the week, Shaw said he he wasn’t losing any sleep worrying whether the Cardinal would make the final four. Watch Stanford vs USC online free live streaming as a champion will be crowned.

That victory over UCLA not only put them in the championship game it got their interim head coach Clay Helton the permanent job for the next five years.