The Trojans dominated both on offense and defense against the Cardinal on Saturday night at the LA Coliseum. Here are a few of the statistics that stood out from the game and from the young season:
623: Number of yards of total offense the Stanford defense gave up. That was the most yards given up by Stanford since giving up 626 to Oregon in 2010. The defense had trouble stopping both the Trojans run and pass. USC running backs Ronald Jones II and Stephen Carr ran all over field with a combined 235 rushing yards. Sam Darnold carved up the Cardinal defense for 316 passing yards and 12.2 yards-per-attempt. Definitely a game the defense wants to forget.
4: Number of games started and number of consecutive games over 100 rushing yards for Bryce Love. Junior running back Love has been sensational when he steps foot on the field with a career yards-per-carry over 7.8. He had 141 rushing yards in the first half against the Trojans including a 75-yard touchdown carry in the first quarter.
0: Number of returns by the USC special teams on junior punter Jake Bailey’s kickoffs or punts. Bailey was special against the Trojans as every single one of his kickoffs went for a touchback. His punts were even better as three of his four punts pinned the Trojans inside their own 10. His punts went on average 51.3 yards with a long of 59.
2: Number of interceptions picked off by the Cardinal defense. Even though Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold was lighting it up, whenever he made mistakes, the Stanford secondary made him pay. Senior cornerback Alijah Holder and junior safety Justin Reid both made great plays on a couple of long throws by Darnold to pick them off.
6: Number of consecutive games Stanford has finished without a turnover. The number marks the program’s best streak in its history. Stanford certainly doesn’t shoot itself in the foot by turning the ball over.
56: Percentage of pass completions by senior quarterback Keller Chryst this season. Chryst hasn’t been very accurate to start the year. He completed 14-of-24 against Rice and 15-of-28 against the Trojans. First downs have not been kind to Chryst as he has only completed 47.6 percent of his passes and has been sacked three times. Hopefully, head coach David Shaw and offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren can integrate quick and high-percentage plays for Chryst on first downs.
83.3: Percentage of third downs converted by the Trojans offense. Obviously, the USC offense was efficient and explosive but it didn’t see many long third downs because of the offense’s ability on the other downs. When the Trojans did reach third down, they faced an only average of 3.33 yards needed for first downs.
10: Number of passes defended by the Trojans defense including three batted down at the line of scrimmage. The USC pressure forced Chryst to pass to covered receivers where the defender could knock the ball away.
Contact Jose Saldaña at jsaldana ‘at’ stanford.edu.