Following Stanford’s 38-14 win over the Oregon State Beavers, the Cardinal are able to take away some positives from the huge victory and were able to rekindle the flames of Stanford’s offense and stoke the flames of the defense. Here’s a look at how they did that:
1st: Career receiving touchdown for Jordan Pratt
The senior wide receiver and former minor league baseball player picked a tremendous time to come up with a highlight-reel worthy 37-yard TD reception against Oregon State. Pratt caught the ball on the right side of the field, sidestepped three defenders and then turned on the jets in one of the best plays on offense this season.
6: Number of sacks by the Cardinal defense of OSU QB Sean Mannion
While Stanford’s defense has been one of the top units in the entire country, the Card turned in perhaps its best performance of the season. Mannion, who stands to become the all-time leader in career passing yards in Pac-12 conference history by the end of the season, was running for his life most of the afternoon. Junior Blake Martinez partied three times in the OSU backfield — to the tune of 2.5 sacks — while senior Kevin Anderson was once again one of the best players on the field for the Cardinal, notching yet another sack to add to his total. Anderson is now tied with sophomore Peter Kalambayi for the team lead in sacks at 4.5.
8: Quarterback hits on Sean Mannion
While the previous statistic highlighted Stanford’s sack total against Oregon State, the Cardinal’s defensive performance was so dominant that the unit deserves another statistic. Mannion had to leave Stanford Stadium with a lot of ice, while his offensive line will have to burn the film of this performance. Henry Anderson recorded three quarterback hits to go along with a batted down pass. Remarkably, 33 of OSU’s 67 plays on the Farm went for no gain or negative yardage, as Mannion completed only 14-30 passes for 122 yards. In short, the Cardinal defense turned in an A+ performance on their Oregon State midterm.
147: Number of All-Purpose Yards for Ty Montgomery
The senior wide receiver had an outstanding day for the Cardinal, catching six balls for 73 yards to go along with 16 rushing yards. However, Montgomery saved his biggest heroics for his speciality: special teams. Montgomery’s patient 50 yard punt return for a touchdown against the Beavers electrified the 48,000 fans in attendance. Montgomery followed his blockers perfectly, strolling into the end zone to cap off Stanford’s rout of the Beavers — its best performance of the campaign.
Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.