Go Mighty Card

Video Highlights: Stanford vs. USC

Yes, I know the Washington game kicks off in just a few hours, but here at Go Mighty Card we just can't get enough of Stanford's win over USC, otherwise known as the team Under Stanford Control. (I really wish I had made that up, but I didn't.) Anyway, just click play...

"You Gotta Let that Front Seven Hunt"

Here's the fifth episode in the Cardinal Channel's Stanford Football series, "How We Do It." Focusing on game day last Saturday, this week's episode takes viewers inside the locker room for pregame speeches, interviews the principals involved in the game's pivotal plays, and shows the postgame celebration. Spoiler alert: you will get goosebumps.

Stanford 21, USC 14

If once is an aberration, twice is a trend, and three times is a pattern, what is four times? We'll talk about that important question a bit later, but for now let's focus on what happened on Saturday night.

Blogging With the Enemy: USC Trojans

I believe that the Mighty Card will beat USC this weekend. After navigating what amounts to the preseason portion of the schedule, Coach David Shaw has given his new quarterback confidence and an increasing amount of responsibility within the offense, the offensive line has coalesced, and the defense has regained its leader.

Stanford has beaten USC three years in a row and four of the past five, and that trend should continue. Even though the Trojans have a clear advantage at the offensive skill positions and overall team speed, there's a sense that Stanford simply matches up well against USC. Coach Shaw's NFL experience prepared him well to design a game plan and call plays against USC's Tampa 2 defense, a scheme that was all the rage during Shaw's various stints with Philadelphia, Oakland, and Baltimore, and the defense has always performed well enough against Matt Barkley and company to secure the win. (Oregon, on the other hand, a team similar to USC in many respects, is a decidedly bad matchup for the Cardinal. Coach Shaw still hasn't figured out how to compete with them, but we've got a couple months before we have to worry about that.)

The problem with this analysis, of course, is that it's far from unbiased. If you were to travel across the country and ask a thousand randomly selected college football fans with no connection to Stanford University about this Saturday's game between the Cardinal and the Trojans, I'm guessing that about 995 of them would pick USC to win.

But I am connected to Stanford University, and the people I talk to about football either lived in my freshman dorm or populate a message board focused on Stanford sports. There's a possibility that I lack the proper perspective to offer an accurate preview of this game. In an effort to provide a more balanced opinion, I sought out someone with a strong bias in the other direction. Enter Will Robinson of the USC blog, Conquest Chronicles, who was kind enough to answer some of my questions. It's a great read, even if he did dodge a couple of my more insightful questions. Enjoy...

Forecasting Stanford Football in 2012, One Game at a Time

Remember in Back to the Future II when Biff stole Marty's copy of Grays Sports Almanac and used the DeLorean to give it to his 1955 self so that he could win every sports bet for the next fifty years? Well, here's the next best thing.

We here at Go Mighty Card have never condoned gambling, but we noticed something recently that caught our attention. Sure, it might be fun to put down some cash on an individual game, then bite your nails to the nubs for three hours before hopefully claiming your winnings, but we've always been more intrigued by the long-term bet, especially because it always looks so easy to make a fistful of money.

One of the earliest reports from Las Vegas has the over/under for the 2012 Stanford Cardinal set at 7.5 wins. On the surface, eight wins seems like a gimme, so I thought I'd take a look at things game by game, putting each match-up into one of three categories: Guaranteed Lock, Toss Up, or Likely Loss.

This is hardly scientific, and by no means a recommendation on how to spend your hard-earned money, but it gives us an excuse to analyze the schedule a bit. As always, feel free to agree or disagree in the comments section. Could it be possible that Stanford could win only seven games this fall? Let's take a look...

Gametime: Stanford at USC

Because we just can't get enough of this game, let's take one more look back (courtesy of the Cardinal Channel) before we look forward to Oregon State. Enjoy.

 

Post Game Interviews

Courtesy of the Cardinal Channel, we present eight minutes of on-field player interviews following Saturday's victory. Proof that it really happened. Enjoy...

Stanford 56, USC 48 (3OT)

Matt Barkley handed the ball off to running back Curtis McNeal at the Stanford thirty-yard line with just over ten and half minutes to play in the third quarter. McNeal took off through a gaping hole on the left side of the line and sprinted untouched to the corner of the end zone to give USC a commanding 20-10 lead over the Cardinal.

Given the amount of time left in the game and the typical efficiency of the Stanford offense, the ten-point lead was far from insurmountable, but with the way the game was going, I was concerned. Only moments earlier the Trojans had capped off their opening drive of the second half with a sixty-one yard McNeal touchdown, giving them their first lead of the game and Stanford's first deficit of the season. The Cardinal offense had responded to that taste of adversity with a three-and-out, and now Andrew Luck took the field amidst a sea of uncertainty.

Could the Cardinal respond in the face of adversity? Would the team's national championship aspirations evaporate in the heat of the Coliseum? Would Luck's season end without a Heisman Trophy? Most importantly, was the 2011 Stanford Cardinal just a good football team, or a great football team?

Game Preview: Stanford at USC

I had a dream about this game two nights ago. The Cardinal had just scored late in the game to pull within a touchdown of victory, but Coach Shaw eschewed the onside kick, choosing instead to trust that his defense could get the ball back for him.

Matt Barkley and the Trojans needed only one first down to essentially ice the game, but when they found themselves stuck in a third and long, they were forced to pass. Barkley dropped back and was almost immediately hammered by Chase Thomas from the blind side. The ball popped up out of his hands, and Matt Masafilo plucked it out of the air like low-hanging fruit. Masafilo easily rumbled twenty yards into the end zone, and the Cardinal came away with the victory.

Even in my sleep, I was fired up.

Pac-12 Summer Preview: USC Trojans

Even though the season won't kick off until early September, I thought it would be fun to take a look around the conference for a quick preview of the other eleven teams -- in no particular order. We'll get more in depth during the week before the Cardinal plays each team, but for now we've got a quick overview of how the team looks at this point as seen through the eyes of a blogger who knows that team best. Enjoy.

USC Trojans (Pac-12 South)
Head Coach: Lane Kiffin (40-45)
2010: (8-5, 4-5, T-3rd)
Lost to Stanford, 37-35

Allen Bradford rushed the ball into the end zone from three yards out, giving USC a 35-34 lead over Stanford with only a minute and eight seconds to play. It was only the second Saturday of October, and both teams were still looking to establish themselves, not only within the conference, but on the national scene as well. Both teams had entered the game with identical records, 1-1 in the Pac-10 and 4-1 overall. The winner would continue on towards its goals, while the loser would be forced to reevaluate things.

We know how the game ended. Andrew Luck and the Cardinal drove down the field for a game-winning field goal and didn't lose again.

USC, on the other hand, was mediocre the rest of the way, winning four of their final seven games en route an 8-5 record. Good enough for most teams, but not quite what Trojan fans have come to expect. NCAA sanctions kept them out of a bowl game for the first time in ten years.