As great as Christian McCaffrey was, as great as Kevin Hogan was, and as great as the offensive line was, an argument can be made that the defensive line was the key to Stanford's success this season. How can this be? Let's take a quick look back at the 2014 defensive line, a unit that was the anchor of that dominant defense.
Seniors David Parry and Henry Anderson were the leaders of that group, but both departed for the NFL, and Blake Lueders was also lost to graduation. Defensive line coach Randy Hart was starting from scratch this past summer, and the lack of experience was compounded by a lack of depth.
When the team travelled to Northwestern for the season opener, sophomore tackle Harrison Phillips was the only lineman who had logged significant playing time the previous season. Big things were expected of him, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury during that game, and the thin unit became that much thinner. All that remained were senior Aziz Shittu, sophomore Solomon Thomas, and graduate transfer Brennan Scarlett.
Against Oregon State, in only the fourth game of the season, there was another scare. Both Scarlett and Shittu left the game with injuries, and rumors that both were done for the season immediately began swirling. The thought of having to navigate the conference schedule without a single defensive lineman who had played a single high-leverage down of college football wasn't just frightening, it was crippling. As it turned out, both players started the next week and remained healthy for the rest of the season.
In years past the Cardinal has had the luxury of rotating several bodies along the defensive line to keep everyone fresh and ready to push upfield. This formula allowed Stanford to accumulate a conference leading 222 sacks from 2010 to 2014, finishing first, second, or third each season. This year, however, there were only three viable bodies along the defensive front, and the Cardinal dipped to eighth in the Pac-12 with only 27 sacks, their lowest total since 2009. After last year's elite defense allowed just 108.1 yards rushing per game, this depleted group allowed that number to increase to a still respectable 146.3, fourth best in the Pac-12.
Aziz Shittu was part of that historic recruiting class of 2012, and he had arrived at Stanford as probably the most highly-touted defensive lineman in program history. He wasn't able to break into the regular rotation until his junior year, but an injury robbed him of more than half of 2014. This season, obviously, he was indispensable. He led the team with 10.5 tackles for loss, and he became one of the emotional leaders on the defensive side of the ball. At Pac-12 Media Day in July, Kyle Murphy singled out Shittu as the most difficult player on the roster to block and predicted he'd be All-Pac-12. Shittu's play this season supported that confidence, and Murphy's all-conference prediction came true.
If Shittu was Stanford's most highly-touted defensive line prospect, Solomon Thomas isn't far behind. All of the recruiting services rated him as either a four- or five-star prospect when he signed in 2014, but he redshirted as a freshman, delaying his Cardinal debut until this season. He earned the starting position because of his ability, not the lack of depth on the roster, and he began impacting games almost immediately. His brightest moment was probably his 34-yard scoop and score in the Pac-12 championship game win over USC, but it's his relentless consistency and athleticism that bodes so well for the future.
Finally, there's Brennan Scarlett. Christian McCaffrey is obviously the team's Most Valuable Player, but Scarlett walks away with the Most Fortuitous Addition trophy. After toiling for four fruitless, Axe-less years on the other side of the Bay, Scarlett saw the light and took advantage of the NCAA's new graduate transfer rule and left Cal for Stanford. (Just another story of a boy overcoming hardship before gaining salvation.)
After injuries limited him to eighteen games over four years with the Bears, Scarlett played all thirteen games for the Cardinal and ended up tying for the team lead with five sacks. (Here's the GMC trivia question of the week: Who tied him? Unless you look it up, you won't get it, but here's a hint -- the answer will be revealed later this week.)
The good news for these three workhorses is that the Pac-12's preponderance of spread offenses meant that they didn't always have to be on the field at the same time, but they still logged an inordinate number of snaps. According to Stanford insider R.J. Abeytia, each of the three was on the field for more than 500 snaps. Seniors Jordan Watkins and Nate Lohn were the primary backups, but for the most part it was only the Big Three.
Even though the production was down from previous years, what this group accomplished cannot be overstated. Without the gritty effort of the Big Three, the Cardinal would not be playing in the Rose Bowl this week.
Overall Grade: B (But an A+ for effort.)