Instant Analysis: Stanford, Christian McCaffrey win Pac-12 title over USC

No matter what happens during championship weekend, the Pac-12 Championship could also wind up being a play-in for the Rose Bowl.

“I always felt like the loser of the first game has the advantage”, Bowden said.

In a first half claimed 13-3 by Stanford, McCaffrey provided the game’s only touchdown with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Hogan on the first play of the second quarter. And his 67-yard reception in the third quarter was the pivotal play of the game.

The Trojans can also hold their own on defense and could keep the Cardinal offense in check, with the likes of Suá Cravens, Porter Gustin, Delvon Simmons and Scott Felix, who are as strong opposition as any other quality defensive unit. Watch Stanford vs USC online free live streaming as a champion will be crowned. It might be hard to remember for younger fans that have only seen Bush’s largely lackluster National Football League career, but for a lot of the players on the current USC roster, Bush was electrifying during his time at USC and a big reason some of them chose to play there. “I know he did it in a few less games, but he’s the guy I had a poster on the wall of when I was growing up”. Under Helton, the Trojans went on to finish the season 6-2, and earned their interim coach a permanent job in the process.

“His ability to break tackles is what stood out today”, USC coach Clay Helton said of McCaffrey.

The Cardinal is 10-2 and coming off a massive win over Notre Dame; and the victor of the Cardinal-Irish game was going to have a shot at making it into the four-team playoffs.

“It’s so fun when we get out in situations where we have to go through adversity”, McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey turned this entire game into a Heisman pose, rolling up 461 all-purpose yards.

Stanford was dominant through the first half. Stanford controlled the ball for over 12 minutes during the first.

This may be disrespectful to the Cardinal, but that game was a fluke.

If the Trojans can get the ground game going early it should open up the field for quarterback Cody Kessler and his go to receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.

On a night where Christian McCaffrey played Batman, it was Kevin Hogan’s Robin act that kept the Cardinal even keeled.

Stanford put its best foot forward on Saturday and it probably won’t be enough at least as far as the College Football Playoff goes.

“Everybody’s on this thing about Mount Rushmore”, Shaw said with the quarterback to his right.

Blake Martinez, playing in a bum ankle, then sacked Kessler and caused a fumble on the next possession that Thomas scooped up and ran in for the score that made it 27-16. 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.

Hogan marched his squad 75 yards for a score. Last chance for tailback Christian McCaffrey to impress Heisman Trophy voters.