UCF embarrasses hapless Cardinal football squad in a 45-27 thrashing

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 15, 2019

Freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel went 22 for 30 with 347 yards, four touchdowns and no picks to lead UCF to a 45-27 rout of Stanford in Orlando on Saturday.

A week after USC went down by two touchdowns early before going on to win by 25, Central Florida scored three touchdowns in the game’s first nine minutes and was never in any serious danger. The Knights only had seven points in the second half, but that touchdown slammed the door on what were Stanford’s already slim comeback chances.

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Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 1-1 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 10, 2019

I returned to Tobacco Road on Saturday evening to view the Stanford football team’s debacle at USC. Suffice to say that the results were quite different from the previous week’s.

• The Bad

As you might imagine after a 25-point loss, there are plenty of candidates for this week’s The Bad. For instance, the Stanford secondary, which allowed a freshman quarterback making his first collegiate start to roll up 377 yards and three touchdowns on 28 of 33 passing. For another instance, the Stanford defensive front, which allowed a freshman quarterback making his first collegiate start to roll up 377 yards and three touchdowns on 28 of 33 passing. And for a third instance, the Stanford defensive coaches, who allowed a freshman quarterback making his first collegiate start to roll up 377 yards and three touchdowns on 28 of 33 passing. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

Trojans come back from a two-touchdown deficit to stomp Stanford, 45-20

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 9, 2019

USC scored five unanswered touchdowns in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to humiliate Stanford in the Pac-12 conference debut for both teams Saturday night.

The Cardinal (1-1, 0-1) took a 17-3 lead on the first play of the second quarter before suffering an epic collapse. Stanford’s backup signal caller, junior Davis Mills, turned in an adequate performance with 237 yards, a score and a pick while competing 22 of 36 throws. His favorite targets were a pair of juniors, tight end Colby Parkinson (seven catches, 89 yards) and wideout Conor Wedington (five catches for 67 yards). Redshirt senior Cameron Scarlett gained 82 yards on 17 rushes.

But USC’s freshman quarterback was the undisputed star of the game. Kedon Slovis was magnificent in his first collegiate start, racking up 377 yards, three touchdowns and no picks on 28 of 33 passing. Vavae Malepeai led the way for the Trojans on the ground with 42 yards and two scores, while Stephen Carr had 33 yards and a touchdown.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 1-0 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 3, 2019

I watched the season opener at Tobacco Road with my local Stanford sports buddy. The joint was hopping — a bunch of interesting college football games started at 3:30, about half an hour before the Cardinal kicked off against Northwestern, and the restaurant was doing a booming pregame business with Durham Bulls fans dining before a 6:30 first pitch on the final weekend of regular season play in the International League.

Stanford football offers mixed indications in 17-7 season-opening win

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 2, 2019

Stanford opened the 2019 college football season with a 17-7 victory over Northwestern that was not nearly as comfortable as the final score might suggest.

The Wildcats, who won the Big 10 West and beat Utah in a bowl game to finish 2018 with a 9-5 record, had the ball with the potential to tie or take the lead with 30 seconds to play when the Cardinal defense asserted its will. Redshirt senior outside linebacker Casey Toohill chased down quarterback Hunter Johnson and stripped the ball from behind. The pigskin bounded into the end zone and squirted out of the arms of a few players before being recovered by senior outside linebacker Jordan Fox for the game-sealing touchdown.

Stanford may ultimately consider this contest with a dismal air, despite being 1-0 on the young season. Quarterback K.J. Costello retired to the locker room near the end of the first half after junior defensive end Earnest Brown IV knocked off the Cardinal senior’s helmet as he was sliding to the turf at the end of an otherwise meaningless four-yard scramble. And late in the third quarter, junior tackle Walker Little left the field after apparently twisting one of his legs. If either player loses significant time in 2019, then the squad’s prospects will dim considerably.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 9-4 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Jan. 12, 2019

I viewed the 2018 Sun Bowl at a Stanford alumni watch party in Lower Manhattan. Afterward, I played for a few hours at Modern Pinball NYC.

• The Bad

Yikes, yikes, yikes — Stanford’s offense struggled against Pitt, and mightily. In my game writeup, I detailed the unit’s futility: The lowest points, passing completions, aerial yardage, overall yardage and third-down conversions for the season.

Stanford sends out 2018 with cringe-inducing 14-13 victory over Pitt in the Sun Bowl

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Jan. 11, 2019

The Stanford football team closed out its 2018 season with an ugly 14-13 New Year’s Eve victory over Pitt in the Sun Bowl.

It was the Cardinal’s closest contest of the season, with the team putting up its lowest point total of the year after a 17-3 win over USC. Junior quarterback K.J. Costello completed just six of 17 passes for 105 yards, and the offense gained just 208 yards while converting a single third down on 10 opportunities — all season lows. It seemed fitting that the winning touchdown came on an offensive fumble recovery.

Granted, Costello’s unit was missing a number of starters, including hobbled wonderback Bryce Love, who (wisely) opted out out of the game in order to prepare for the NFL draft. But the defense was also missing players, and it turned in a commendable performance. The Panthers offense rolled up a modest 348 yards, making only five of 17 first downs, and managed just one touchdown in three visits to the red zone.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 8-4 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Dec. 5, 2018

As has been the case a number of times in recent years, last weekend I attended the Big Game watch party that was jointly hosted by the local Stanford and Cal alumni groups. This time it was held at Woody’s, a sports bar in Cary that I’d never been to before.

Typically, the hosts hold drawings. This time I won a Stanford car magnet. Even better, the guy next to me won a 2013 Rose Bowl Champions hat. He got it and said, “Great, a five-year-old hat.” His wife didn’t want it; nor did the first person or two to which he offered it. I happily took it, having attended the game, which I fondly remember! I barely removed it from my head the rest of the day.

• The Bad

Oh, Stanford’s defense. The Cardinal allowed Cal to roll up 155 rushing yards and 197 passing yards. The Golden Bears also converted a semi-respectable seven of 18 third downs and a relatively dismal three of three fourth downs. Stanford managed but a single quarterback hurry and only recorded four tackles-for-loss, three of which were sacks.

Number nine: Cardinal extends Big Game streak with 23-13 victory in Berkeley

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Dec. 4, 2018

Stanford extended its historic Big Game victory streak to nine games on Saturday, beating Cal, 23-13, behind a pair of Cameron Scarlett touchdowns and two Paulson Adebo interceptions.

The Cardinal, who on Sunday accepted a Sun Bowl invitation to play Pitt on Dec. 31, finished the regular season 8-4 (6-3 in the Pac-12). Cal dropped to 7-5 (5-4) but demonstrated that they have taken significant strides in closing the talent gap that’s loomed between them and their archrival for much of the past decade.

Patrick Laird gained 116 yards on 19 carries and the Bears outrushed Stanford, 155 yards to 92. But the Cardinal, which controlled the ball for nearly 33 minutes, scored 10 points on three takeaways to maintain its hold on the Axe, the trophy that the two universities have contested for more than a century.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 7-4 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 27, 2018

I watched the Cardinal take on UCLA last Saturday by myself at James Joyce Pub. The game was well in hand except, um, for all the times that it wasn’t.

• The Bad

Stanford’s second-half defense against the Bruins left something to be desired. UCLA piled up 336 yards in the final two quarters, including 311 yards through the air.

Wilton Speight, the UCLA graduate transfer who played 21 games under center for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, shattered career highs with 29 completions in 47 attempts for 466 yards. The Richmond, Va., had never registered more than 26 successful passes, his previous high number of attempts was 38, and his next-highest yardage total was 362. (Rather astonishingly, this was only the third time Speight threw for more than 300 yards over a 28-game collegiate career.)

Stanford wins wacky shootout in Pasadena, 49-42, despite a wild late rally by UCLA

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 26, 2018

K.J. Costello threw for five touchdowns, three to J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, to lead a battered Stanford football team past a feisty UCLA squad in the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

The 49-42 win moved the Cardinal to 7-4 overall and 5-3 in league ahead of their rescheduled contest at Cal on Dec. 1. The Bruins finished 3-9 (3-6) in their first season under head coach Chip Kelly.

Stanford opened with another characteristically bad first possession, which saw the team lose a yard on three snaps. After Costello threw an unwise pass that Adarius Pickett returned for 22 yards to the Cardinal 23-yard line, Kelly sent out freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback to run a trick play. He tossed the ball to Wilton Speight, the redshirt senior starting quarterback, but his pass fell incomplete. The Bruins were only able to gain two yards before sending out junior kicker J.J. Molson to hit a 38-yard field goal.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 6-4 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 14, 2018

I watched football by myself at James Joyce last Saturday and found myself quite gratified by the Cardinal’s performance.

Truth be told, I was also a bit relieved by the win.

• The Bad

Through 10 games, Stanford’s total defense has been rather alarming. The Cardinal is allowing 410.7 yards per contest, which ranks 74th out of 129 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. That’s the most that the Cardinal defense has surrendered since 2007, when the team let up 435.5 ypg en route to a 4-8 record in Jim Harbaugh’s first year.

Yikes. The Cardinal is about to meet two offensively challenged teams, Cal and UCLA, the latter of which is rivaled only by Oregon State for being the worst team in the conference. With a bit of luck, Stanford’s total defense will improve slightly — but this week, it is still worthy of being labeled The Bad.

Stanford pounds Beavers, 48-17, on senior night

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 13, 2018

Granted, Stanford’s opponent on Saturday night was just Oregon State. The Beavers have the worst conference record in the Pac-12 at 1-6, and are tied with UCLA for the worst overall record in the league at 2-8. (The Bruins are 2-5 in league.)

On the other hand, a win’s a win, especially in a Power Five conference. Stanford’s 48-17 victory over the orange and white did more than lift the Cardinal to 6-4 on the year (4-3 in league); it also broke a two-game losing streak, the sixth in Shaw’s eight seasons as head coach, and gave the senior class a win in their final game at Stanford Stadium.

The Cardinal scored on its opening drive for just the third time in 2018. Following a short Bryce Love run on the first play from scrimmage, junior quarterback K.J. Costello completed passes of 26 and 18 yards to sophomore tight end Colby Parkinson and senior wideout Trenton Irwin, respectively. Two snaps later, Love took the ball in from the 28-yard line with one of his best runs of the year; the touchdown was just his fifth of the year.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 5-4 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 10, 2018

Last Saturday, I went to a friend’s house to watch the Stanford-Washington football game. We were both extremely discouraged by the Cardinal’s abysmal first-half ineptitude, particularly in the first quarter. Neither of us suggested turning off the game.

I did not take a long walk after the contest ended. But man oh man, I could have used one.

• The Bad

Yeah, there are a lot of candidates for this week’s The Bad. As mentioned, Stanford’s everything was lousy in the opening half. The defense was bad, allowing three touchdowns and 225 yards. The offense was arguably worse, compiling a grand total of no (zero!) points, 142 passing yards, 11 (eleven!) rushing yards and a pair of interceptions.

Winless in Seattle: Cardinal rally comes up short in 27-23 loss to Washington

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 9, 2018

Washington defeated Stanford last weekend, 27-23, to hand the Cardinal their fourth loss in five games. The Huskies, now 7-3 overall and 5-2 in conference, winnowed down the field of potential Pac-12 Northern Division champions to either themselves or Washington State. Stanford fell to 5-4 (3-3) after beginning the season 4-0; the team is still searching for bowl eligibility with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

The Cardinal showed off some of its worst tendencies on Saturday night in Seattle. The team turned in another scoreless first quarter, its fifth of the season, and another disastrous first half.

The offense opened with a trio of three-and-outs that saw Stanford hold the ball for less than five minutes. The last of those drives ended in a Byron Murphy interception on a fifty-fifty ball that K.J. Costello attempted to throw to Trenton Irwin. The pick led to Washington’s third touchdown, giving them a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter that the hosts would take into intermission.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 5-3 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Nov. 3, 2018

Because Stanford’s game against Washington State was broadcast on the Pac-12 Network, I went to James Joyce to watch. After the Cardinal’s loss, I wandered the streets for nearly 45 minutes.

After Stanford’s 41-38 loss to Washington State, I took a meandering walk for nearly 45 minutes.

Cheeps and Chirps for Oct. 31, 2018

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 31, 2018

 

Chirping from the hip.

• Politics, Supreme Court edition

Let’s peek at CNN’s website to see how the Kavanaugh nomination is going, shall we? pic.twitter.com/Xx7Hm8vJrz

— ((( Matt Milliken ))) immigrant’s grandson, VOTER (@memomoment) October 2, 2018

A Supreme Court nominee walks into a bar.

‘I like beer. I like beer. I don’t know if you do. Do you like beer, Senator, or not? What do you like to drink?’

— ((( Matt Milliken ))) immigrant’s grandson, VOTER (@memomoment) October 3, 2018

Benjamin Wittes painstakingly details the reasons why his friend Brett Kavanaugh should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court. https://t.co/fPJDNFRGmi

— ((( Matt Milliken ))) immigrant’s grandson, VOTER (@memomoment) October 3, 2018

Homecoming heartbreak: WSU Cougars snatch a dramatic 41-38 victory on the Farm

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 29, 2018

A 42-yard Blake Mazza field goal with 19 seconds remaining lifted Washington State to a 41-38 victory over Stanford in the Cardinal’s homecoming game late Saturday afternoon.

WSU’s third straight victory over Stanford moved the streaking Cougars to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-12. In losing consecutive games at Stanford Stadium for only the second time under head coach David Shaw, the Cardinal fell to 5-3 (3-2).

The Cougars trailed by two touchdowns, 28-14, after K.J. Costello threw a one-yard touchdown pass to sophomore fullback Houston Heimuli with 1:04 remaining in the second quarter. But WSU roared back; after recording a 23-yard Mazza field goal to close out the half, they went on to outscore Stanford 24-10 following intermission.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 5-2 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 26, 2018

After having lunch with a friend in Northern Virginia, I wrapped up an eight-day trip by driving back to Durham on Thursday, Oct. 18. Since it was late in the afternoon when I arrived and I wanted to get in some exercise, after hurriedly unloading my car I headed back out and hit the pavement. Ultimately, I walked more than 3.5 miles before coming back home to shower, groom myself and dress in Cardinal apparel.

I’d hoped to get in a little bit of pinball action before the football game, but the walk and doing some overdue shaving ate up most of the time available to me before kickoff.

I headed down to my usual Durham Stanford-watching spot but left before the final gun because the place was nearly empty and preparing to close. However, when ‪ASU‬ scored a fourth-quarter touchdown with several minutes remaining in the contest, I realized that I needed to get to a television. I wound up at the same establishment where I’d watched the Cardinal’s disastrous loss to Washington State in 2016. Fortunately, this time the result was much happier for me and other Stanford faithful.

• The Bad

Stanford netted 127 rushing yards on 43 carries against the Sun Devils, which works out to a hair less than 3.0 yards per attempt. Remarkably, for a team that returned the nation’s second-leading rusher and four-fifths of its starting offensive line, this was only slightly worse than the Cardinal’s season-long average of nearly 3.1 yards per carry.

Cardinal outlasts ‪ASU‬, 20-13, on Thursday night

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 25, 2018

Stanford scored two third-quarter touchdowns and did just enough in the fourth quarter to get past a scrappy Arizona State team last Thursday night in Tempe.

Fans hoping to see the Cardinal put together a consistently solid 60 minutes of play probably came away disappointed from the nationally televised matchup; still, the conference road victory broke a two-game losing streak for coach David Shaw’s club. Stanford, now 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-12, has a chance to seize control of the conference’s Northern Division with consecutive games against Washington State (6-1, 3-1 in league) and Washington (6-2, 4-1) staring this weekend.

To get to that point, however, Stanford had to erase a first-quarter deficit — its sixth in seven games this year — and survive a shaky string of offensive series over the final 17 minutes of its bout with ‪ASU‬ (3-4, 1-3).

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 4-2 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 14, 2018

I spent the weekend of the Utah-Stanford football clash participating in a two-day Scrabble tournament in Wilmington, N.C. (More on that in future posts!) Come kickoff time, I was prowling Wilmington’s downtown entertainment district, seeking a good place to watch the game. I wound up at a wonderful bar called Rebellion, which I stayed at until late in the third quarter.

Once I’d finished walking back to my hotel and taking the elevator up to my room and figuring out how to turn on the television and tune into the game just in time to see Stanford rally late in the third quarter.

Unfortunately, that rally wilted in the final period…

• The Bad

After the game, I tweeted a screenshot showing the game’s team statistics on which three clusters of numbers were circled in red. My accompanying caption was “Statistically speaking: Yikes, double yikes and triple yikes.”

Utah humbles Stanford, 40-21

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 13, 2018

Stanford played its worst game of 2018 last Saturday in a 40-19 home loss to the Utah Utes.

Although the Cardinal’s 38-17 road loss at Notre Dame the previous weekend was by a larger margin, the team’s second defeat may have been more demoralizing. For one thing, it happened at home; for another, it was probably the squad’s all-around worst performance. It was as if coach David Shaw’s gridders took the worst elements from their uninspired first half at Oregon and their fourth-quarter collapse against the Fighting Irish and amplified them.

The contest’s first play from scrimmage was promising: junior quarterback K.J. Costello threw to senior wideout J.J. Arcega-Whiteside for 15 yards. But the drive stalled there, and Stanford punted. Utah soon did the same.

Bad-Ugly-Good: Taking stock of 4-1 Stanford

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 6, 2018

Last Saturday’s football-watching took place in Durham with my pal Jim, but at Tyler’s Taproom rather than at our usual spot. I may have been thinking of Stanford’s 2010 visit to Notre Dame, a game that the Cardinal won as I watched in that establishment. At any rate…

• The Bad

Well, there are a lot of candidates for this category this week. But let’s zero in on one thing: Third down.

The Cardinal offense converted only three of 13 third downs. Partly as a result, the Stanford defense had to spend more than 34 minutes on the field.

Dominant Irish fourth quarter sparks a 38-17 Notre Dame victory

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 5, 2018

The late American comedian is supposed to have once said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” When Notre Dame hosted Stanford last Saturday evening in a primetime battle of top-10-ranked unbeaten teams, both teams had plenty of chances to grab a win. Unfortunately for the road team, the Fighting Irish not only built a door but charged through it during a lopsided fourth quarter that saw Stanford repeatedly drop lumber on its toes and hammer its own hapless fingers and thumbs.

The Cardinal opened the game with a three-and-out that saw them gain no yards. The Irish drove 20 plays in response but saw running back Tony Jones Jr. turned away with one yard to go on third and fourth downs at the Stanford 47-yard line.

The ensuing play was a seven-yard Bryce Love run, his first gain after being held to no yards on two carries. But Stanford couldn’t convert third and 2 and had to punt.

After two opportunities to put their mark on their game, the Cardinal offense had come up empty twice.

Cheeps and Chirps for Oct. 1, 2018

By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Oct. 1, 2018

Chirp shots from the peanut gallery.

• Politics

It’s never a problem when one of the world’s most powerful men chooses the people who regulate his business, is it?

— ((( Matt Milliken ))) grandson of an immigrant (@memomoment) September 1, 2018

Oh, so Papadopoulos lied to the FBI out of loyalty *and* self-interest. That ought to be worth, what, a few hours off his prison sentence?

— ((( Matt Milliken ))) grandson of an immigrant (@memomoment) September 1, 2018

tw SPICY RED HOT TAKE

Trump is trash, but he wasn’t invited to any of the ceremonies honoring McCain. Who cares if he went golfing as the nation mourned?

— ((( Matt Milliken ))) grandson of an immigrant (@memomoment) September 3, 2018