Stanford will try to avoid losing 10 straight conference games for the first time in program history when it faces Oregon State Saturday night at Stanford Stadium (8 p.m., ESPN).
After losing its last six Pac-12 games last season, the Cardinal (1-3, 0-3) have opened conference play with losses to USC, Washington and Oregon, all by at least 13 points.
“A lot of the things you do are defined by how you respond to adversity and right now we’re in that moment,” fifth-year linebacker Ricky Miezan said. “This is a high-stress situation and at the end of the day you have to respond to that. We’re in an industry of results so we have to start getting results.”
After three straight games against top-20 teams, Stanford at least will face a fellow winless team in conference play in Oregon State (3-2, 0-2), which is coming off back-to-back losses against USC and Utah. Beavers starting quarterback Chance Nolan is also questionable to play after suffering a neck injury last week.
But the Beavers are still seven-point favorites due to the strength it showed in wins over Boise State and Fresno State, followed by a close loss to the Trojans. Stanford’s only win came against Colgate, an FCS team.
“We are 1-3. Can’t deny that. We own that and we take accountability for it,” senior right tackle Walter Rouse said. “But we know within the Stanford program that we are so much better than this. One-third of the season is done. We still have eight-plus more games to go. We know we can turn this around.”
The Cardinal also lost nine straight conference games in 2002-03, all by double digits. Here’s what will determine if Stanford suffers a record-setting 10th straight Pac-12 loss on Saturday:
QUICK START
Stanford needs to avoid an early hole. The Cardinal threw two INTs on its first two drives against USC and trailed 14-0; had two turnovers and two punts on its first four drives against Washington and trailed 17-0; and had two first downs total on its first four possessions and trailed 10-0 against Oregon.
“I don’t know if it’s nerves, I don’t know what the issue is,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “We gotta find a way to start faster in all phases to give ourselves a chance to stay competitive.”
The Cardinal has trailed by a combined score of 83-24 at halftime against FBS competition before outscoring those opponents 53-43 in the second half.
LATE START
This will be Stanford’s third straight game starting at 7:30 p.m. or later. For the previous two games, that has meant getting back to The Farm from the Pacific Northwest at around 3:45 a.m. Sunday. At least this time the Cardinal are at home, but it still means players need to regulate their emotions and energy as they wait all day to play.
For his part, Shaw said that games shouldn’t be allowed to start later than 7 p.m. on Friday or Saturday and 6 p.m. on Thursday.
“It’s just really difficult coming back for college students at three and four o’clock in the morning to have an opportunity to get some rest and then get some school work done,” Shaw said. “I know it sounds typical coming from a Stanford head coach but I think that’s the way it should be.”
TURNOVERS
After committing 11 turnovers in its first three games, Stanford only turned it over once last week against Oregon, but it was still costly.
Tight end Benjamin Yurosek fumbled on the Cardinal’s first play from scrimmage following an Oregon touchdown and it was returned to the Oregon 4. The Ducks scored on the next play and wound up with 14 points in 23 seconds.
“We haven’t really had a chance to see what we’re fully capable of,” Miezan said. “Because when you turn the ball over like that, the statistics do not point in your way.”
The Cardinal have also only forced two turnovers. As a result, their turnover margin of minus-2.5 is the worst out of 131 FBS teams.
But this might be Stanford’s chance to reverse that trend. Oregon State has thrown four interceptions in each of its last two games.
Source: www.mercurynews.com