Stanford broke one long losing streak last Saturday. Now it hopes to do it again.
After beating Notre Dame 16-14 to snap an 11-game winless streak against FBS competition, the Cardinal (2-4, 0-4 Pac-12) look to snap a 10-game conference losing streak when it hosts Arizona State (2-4, 1-2) Saturday at 1 p.m. (Pac-12 Network).
“I think (last week) was huge in showing us that we’re capable of playing a full game and I think it was very important for us to realize we have that potential and we’re good enough and capable of playing that well,” fifth-year cornerback Ethan Bonner said. “But also not being happy or content with the result and not being complacent, and understanding that this is our standard moving forward and this is what we need to do week in and week out.”
Stanford will have to do it without senior Michael Wilson, who leads the team in catches (26), yards (418) and receiving touchdowns (four) but suffered a potentially season-ending injury against the Fighting Irish.
But that’s nothing new for the Cardinal, who lost starting running back E.J. Smith for the season in Week 2, saw top corner Kyu Blu Kelly miss time with a concussion and was down to its third-string left tackle, freshman Fisher Anderson, in the fourth quarter at Notre Dame.
“That’s just a part of part of big-time college football and nobody’s going to feel sorry for you,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “If guys get hurt you gotta get guys ready and put them out there and trust them to go play. The biggest difference for us is we have better depth this year than we’ve had in years past.”
Casey Filkins has taken the place of Smith and ran 32 times for 91 yards and the team’s only TD against Notre Dame, the most for a Stanford running back since Cameron Scarlett had 33 in 2019. Shaw said he was shocked when he saw the number of carries and hopes to get more backs involved going forward.
But it was nothing new for Filkins, who as a prep star in Oregon had 45 carries in a game and had a training regiment that included weekly visits to physical therapists, chiropractors and acupuncturists.
“I definitely felt it after the game and still feeling a little bit of minor stuff,” Filkins said on Tuesday. “But overall I’m feeling great.”
Filkins scored his TD on Stanford’s opening possession, a critical step in Stanford’s victory after slow starts hampered the Cardinal earlier in the season.
And unlike against Oregon State two weeks ago, when the Cardinal allowed a game-winning 56-yard TD with 13 seconds left, the Stanford defense maintained its lead when Notre Dame took over at its 10 with 2:30 to play.
“We went back on that field, two minutes left, we kind of all knew that we weren’t going to let that same thing happen as we did with Oregon State,” Bonner said.
The Fighting Irish only got to its 25, and safety Jonathan McGill broke up a fourth-down pass with 1:04 remaining. McGill won Pac-12 defensive player of the week honors.
Now bowl eligibility is in play with home games against Washington State and BYU and the Big Game at Cal still to come. But it starts with beating Arizona State at The Farm. The Sun Devils are playing under interim coach Shaun Aguano after Herm Edwards was fired following a 1-3 start, though they are coming off a 45-38 win over Washington and then an open week to rest up.
“We’re in no position to look past anybody or down on anybody because of their record,” Shaw said. “We believe we’re better than our record. We believe Arizona State’s better than their record. So this should be a good game.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com