Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey breaks Barry Sanders’ all-purpose yards record

McCaffrey was also 1-for-1 on pass attempts, connecting on an 11-yard touchdown throw to quarterback Kevin Hogan in the first quarter. Much like McCaffrey, Hogan was doing it all.

“What doesn’t he do?”

“I mean what doesn’t he do is what you could ask me”, OLB Su’a Cravens said about McCaffrey.

The Heisman candidates have all played their final game before the presentation ceremony, so now all we can do is analyze their performances and rank them from there.

In doubt, that is, to everyone but Martinez and Stanford head coach David Shaw. Shaw said his running back was the best player in the nation. He said. “It’s not even a debate”.

Defending national champion Ohio State is in the mix, along with Big Ten Championship Game loser Iowa. The Trojans’ chief problem was that they could not control McCaffrey.

He also broke Barry Sanders’ single-season record for all-purpose yards (3,250) set in 1988. That’s a guy I have posters on my wall growing up.

McCaffrey’s importance was demonstrated in the third quarter.

Stanford leads USC, 13-3, at the half. McCaffrey has been the difference maker down the stretch for Stanford and he is a large reason why the Cardinals were still in the hunt for the playoff during championship weekend. “Second of all, really…the biggest difference…was just the knowledge of all the blocking schemes, of all the plays, and knowing who he is reading”, Shaw said. The selection committee, and a few Heisman voters, may have knocked off early to get some sleep. It’s a huge honor, ‘ McCaffery said of breaking Sanders record.

USC took a 16-13 lead on Jahleel Pinner’s one-yard touchdown catch from Cody Kessler and freshman tailback Ronald Jones II’s 27-yard touchdown run and appeared poised to possibly deal Stanford its first loss in three conference title-game appearances. He threw for a touchdown, caught a touchdown and ran for a touchdown. That setup a 7-yard touchdown by Hogan giving the Cardinals back the lead 20-16. He just made a great play there, and we’re in man coverage.

The Trojan offense had one possession in the first quarter and failed to score any points on their lone drive. Stanford later was stopped at the 1-yard line, leading to another short field goal by Conrad Ukropina and Hogan got sacked on a fourth down from the 1.

After taking over at its 6, USC drove 71 yards to set up Alex Wood’s 40-yard field goal 10 seconds before halftime. He catches the ball in the backfield, makes the guy miss and takes it to the house.

Series history: USC leads the all-time series 60-30-3, but Stanford won 41-31 when these teams last met, at USC in September.

According to USC Trojans on Twitter, USC elected to let go of defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, defensive backs coach Keith Heyward, offensive line coach Bob Connelly and defensive line coach Chris Wilson Sunday.

Helton remained the Trojans’ play-caller this year upon being named head coach, but said he will not call plays next season. USC C Khaliel Rodgers (ankle) did not play and fourth-string C Nico Falah started in his place…. They rebounded from a tumultuous situation with Steve Sarkisian and fought their way back into the PAC-12 title game when nobody gave them a chance.