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It was not good, but Stanford coach David Shaw did not care. His ultra-conservative game in the fourth quarter ended with a 20-13 victory over Arizona State, preventing the first set of three consecutive losses of Shaw's 7 years with the cardinal and preserving hope for the title Pac-12 from Stanford.
"It's a formula that wins football games," Shaw said. "I can not worry people who call me, I can not worry about that stuff."
Here are the four biggest takeaways from Thursday night's game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe:
WINNING FORMULA
Stanford (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) ran 12 times – including twice in the third and 12th – and was successful only once in the last 15 minutes. Although the pass was completed by 13 yards and the points totaled only 20 yards (with a penalty of 10 yards for good measure), Shaw defended his philosophy of the end of the game.
"People call it conservative or not, the goal is to make them use their wait times, and you see why in the end," Shaw said. "I congratulate our guys for playing the formula."
Arizona State (3-4, 1-3) had a touchdown return, but had no downtime for his final possession, which started at the starting line of the 15-yard run of the season. ASU with 2.20 minutes to go. The Sun Devils made it to Stanford 20 with 12 seconds to go, but they then started a 2-yard pass in the middle of the field, which left the time running out.
SCREWDRIVER
Stanford continued his slow, routine start – he was beaten 41-14 in the first quarter of the season after being beaten 3-0 by the Sun Devils.
But he came back into the game thanks to the turnarounds. Faced with a team that led the country with only two gifts in six games, the Cardinal caused two turnovers in the second quarter – a forced fumble by Bobby Okereke and an interception by Sean Barton on a wide pass.
Both races led to goals, allowing Stanford to move to half-time with a 6-3 lead.
Redson cornerback Paulson Adebo, who was second in the country with 12 fumbles, earned two more fumbles on Thursday and added his first career interception in the fourth quarter, as Stanford won 3-0. .
Stanford did not impose turnovers in his previous defeats against Notre Dame and Utah.
RUSHING EDGE
For a proud team to run and stop the race, the cardinal achieved mixed results on Thursday.
Eno Benjamin of the Arizona State played three straight games in a 100-yard run – and Stanford's defense allowed the riders 100 yards in three straight games – but Benjamin finished with 38 yards in 11 runs.
For his part, Stanford was unable to run in the fourth quarter and averaged less than three yards out of a total of 43 races. Bryce Love, who had missed the previous match due to an ankle injury, racked up 11 points for a 21-yard lead before losing momentum early in the third quarter. Shaw later said that Love wanted to come back after transplanting the ankle, but the coach did not let him do it.
The substitutes for Love did well. Trevor Speights had a huge blitz in the first touchdown pass, while Cameron Scarlett ran 25 yards and scored 1 on the other hit from Stanford.
THE GREAT ARM OF STANFORD
With Love mostly alternating between content and injury this season, senior receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside has become Stanford's leading playmaker. He scored the first touchdown of the match on a 28-yard catch in the third quarter – his nine touchdowns were tied for the second goal of the FBS – and he finished with seven catches for 91 yards. He also obtained three interference penalties to hold or pass, and showed that he was not only a great player playing against two ASU defensemen in a game.
N'Keal Henry, the receiver of the first team in the ASU qualifying season, also scored 91 shots on goal, but was targeted five more times than Arcega-Whiteside (14-9) and made a costly interception in the red zone.
The credit also goes to Stanford QB KJ Costello, whose right hand (pitcher) was bloodied after being stomped by an ASU tackler twice in the second quarter, but still finished with 22 29 passes for a total of 231 yards.
With this victory, Stanford continues to control his own destiny in the North-12 Pacific region, where everyone suffers at least one defeat. The Cardinal also rests before welcoming Oct. 27th Washington State No. 25.
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