McCaffrey leads Cardinal to title

After an injury-plagued career at Cal, Scarlett moved across the bay to the Bears’ biggest rival this spring as a graduate transfer and will play for the 15th-ranked Cardinal (8-2, 7-1 Pac-12, No. 11 CFP) against Cal (6-4, 3-4) in the Big Game on Saturday.

Goff was Cal’s most unsafe weapon and for much of the game he picked apart the Stanford defense, completing 37 of 54 passes for 386 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Head coach Sonny Dykes of the California Golden Bears argues with back judge Joe Johnston during their game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 21, 2015 in Palo Alto, California.

The Bears twice in the first half drove into the Stanford red zone and both times were forced to settle for field goals.

McCaffrey didn’t throw against the Bears, but he did just about everything else in leading the Cardinal to a 35-22 win over their rivals, their sixth straight win in the Big Game, extending their all-time series lead to 61-46-11. Stanford winds up its regular season next Saturday with a home game against Notre Dame. If Stanford had lost to Cal, OR would have been in position to represent the North Division in the conference title game with a win over Oregon State next week. This could be the final Big Game for Cal junior quarterback Jared Goff, who will decide after the season whether to enter the National Football League draft.

The Beavers would track quickly down field and Mitchell would cap off the three-play 72-yard drive with a quick scramble for four-yards and the score. Take Stanford coach David Shaw, for instance.

The Big Game was a little sweeter for Stanford. The Bears ran for 307 yards last week, led by Tre Watson (110) and Vic Enwere (89). They played well defensively. This week, however, three of these drives ended in Matt Anderson field goals, who has now made eight consecutive kicks this year.

McCaffrey rolled up a school record 389 total yards, as the Cardinal (9-2) kept their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive. “We needed him. He’s shown how important he is”. Borrayo is ready for more of that, even with the likelihood that senior running back Daniel Lasco (ankle) will be at less than full strength.

However, the Bears were not efficient in the red zone, scoring just one touchdown and three field goals on five trips inside the Stanford 18-yard line.

Stanford took a 20-19 lead with 4 seconds on the clock thanks to a late drive by Cardinal quarterback John Elway.

“We’ll certainly find out Saturday”, Dykes said.

McCaffrey could become just the fifth Pac-12 player since 1978 to average 200 or more all-purpose yards.

Shaw gets to see it firsthand, but talking about McCaffrey with those outside of the Pac-12 is similar to discussing a myth – he’s the best player that everyone in college football knows, but haven’t actually watched. The Rose Bowl will take the victor of the Pac-12 Championship game which will be Stanford and USC/UCLA. Aside from Stanford with seven wins, this means that either five- and six-win or six- and seven-win teams will be chosen. And against the better teams, they’ve played much better. “We’ve got a few games left this season … and Arizona State will be a big one and the bowl game will be a big one”.

Most memorable game? Maybe 1968, when Montana State quarterback Dennis Erickson rallied the Bobcats from a 15-point, fourth quarter deficit to a 29-24 win, capped by Paul Schafer’s dive into the end zone with 12 seconds left. Alyssa Jensen leads the team with 10 assists per set on the season.