Week 3 - #8 Sac State at Stanford
The Hornets (2-0) hit the road to face off with the soon to be former Pac 12 Stanford Cardinal (1-1, 0-1 Pac12) and former Hornet Head Coach Troy Taylor in their home opener. It will take some time for Coach Taylor to stock up with talent to get his new program where he wants it to be, but there is still plenty to work with against the Hornets. Stanford opened up the season with a well rounded
37-24 win at Hawaii and then took a beating in Los Angeles against a 6th ranked USC,
10-56, this past weekend.
The Cardinal under Troy Taylor are running the same offense we witnessed first hand here at Sacramento. Same formations, same plays so we can expect to see the motion fly sweeps, curls into the gaps in the zones, read options, short yardage power formations and the like in this one. Two quarterbacks have seen action, but I am not sure of that is due to injury as Ashton Daniels (27/43, 267 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 14 car, 51 yds) started both games but Justin Lamson (8/18, 121 yds, 16 car, 36 yds, 1 TD) saw the bulk of the action this past weekend. The top receiving target is future NFL tight end Benjamin Yurosek (13 rec, 192 yds, 1 TD) who will be a matchup nightmare for the Hornet defense. Nine other players have at least one catch with John Humphries (5 rec, 71 yds, 1 TD) being the most prominent of the bunch. In the backfield, running back Casey Filkins (11 car, 130 yds), is a solid runner alongside EJ Smith (9 car, 64 yds, 1 TD, 3 rec 18 yds) who is coming off of a season ending injury from a year ago.
Defensively, the Cardinal run a 4-2-5 and have had their struggles thus far in the season. Hawaii was able to move the ball with their run and gun offense, and to the surprise of no one the Trojans completely steamrolled this defense behind Heisman hopeful Caleb Williams. Safety Alaka’i Gilman (12 tak) leads the defense in tackles with linebacker Tristan Sinclair (11 tak, 1 TFL) anchoring this unit. Defensive end David Bailey (9 tak, 4 TFL, 3 sac) has hounded opposing quarterbacks all season. The Cardinal defense has yet to force a turnover this season.
On special teams Stanford’s kicker Joshua Karty (4/4 FG, 5/5 PAT) is one of the best in the FBS and punter Connor Weselman (8 pnt, 50.1 ypp) has a booming leg as all but 2 of his punts have been over 50 yards. Stanford has only returned 3 kick-offs and 1 punt on the season so there is not much to comment on there.
Position Advantage
- Quarterback: Cardinal. If healthy, Ashton Daniels will be the best quarterback on the field.
- Running Backs: Cardinal. Casey Filkins and Marcus Fulcher are very comparable, but the edge goes to Filkins.
- Wide Receivers: Push. John Humphries will be the best all around receiver on the field, but the Hornets are more proven as a group. Hard to give the nod in either direction.
- Tight Ends: Cardinal. Benjamin Yurosek is a tougher match up than Marshel Martin, but not by much.
- Offensive Line: Push. Hard to get a read on this one. I think both lines will perform well enough to allow their respective offenses to operate efficiently.
- Defensive Line: Cardinal. Stanford’s lineman have more sacks against tougher competition.
- Linebackers: Hornets. The stats indicate that the Hornet linebackers are better at finding the ball.
- Defensive Backs: Hornets. The Hornet secondary has made more plays on the ball compared to the Cardinal secondary. However the Cardinal secondary looks to play the run better than the Hornets.
- Punters: Push. Connor Weselman has a bigger leg but Cal McGough has pinned opponents deep in their own end every time he’s been called upon this season.
- Kickers: Cardinal. A proven kicker in Joshua Karty vs an unproven kicker in Zach Schriener.
- Kick Returners: Hornets. Elijah Tau-Tolliver is the better returner, largely because Stanford’s return game has been non-existent so far this season.
- Timeout Usage: Hornets. No explanation needed.
This will be an emotional game for many, and it is a winnable game for the Hornets. However, I think Stanford will have enough to get by the Hornets in this one. While the Hornet offense should be able to move the ball against the pedestrian Cardinal defense, I think the Cardinal offense will have enough to give them the edge, especially if Ashton Daniels is healthy. Unfortunately, I think our 21 game regular season win streak will come to an end.
Stingers Up!
Stanford at Hawaii Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4V6WE6klHQ
Stanford at USC Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV2zZuZu9sM