B4
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Stanford looks to bounce back vs. No. 16 Oregon
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
STANFORD, Calif. —
Stanford coach David Shaw
believes he speaks for most
of the rest of the Pac-12
coaches when he talks about
his lack of excitement over
the fact that Oregon quarter-
back Justin Herbert decided
to return to school rather
than enter the NFL draft as a
probable first-round pick.
Instead of getting to
enjoy watching Herbert play
on Sundays, Shaw now must
contend with him on the
field once again when his
slumping Cardinal (1-2, 0-1
Pac-12) host the 16th-ranked
Ducks (2-1, 0-0) on Saturday.
“I think he got some
bad advice to come back to
school,” Shaw joked. “There
are 11 other coaches in the
conference who would say it.
I love watching the kid play.
He has a sweet stroke. We
call it a repeatable motion.
It’s a very smooth throwing
motion. He’s such a good
athlete, moves so well in
the pocket, can escape the
pocket, throws the deep ball
with ease. You can see why
he’s so highly touted by NFL
scouts.”
Herbert showed that last
year against Stanford when
he completed 26 of 33 passes
for 346 yards in a 38-31
overtime loss at home. Now
he gets to face a defense that
has struggled to stop big
passing plays the past two
weeks in losses to Southern
California and Central Flor-
ida, who both lack a quarter-
back as capable as Herbert.
If that happens again, the
Cardinal could be looking at
their first three-game losing
streak since 2008 — three
years before Shaw took over
for Jim Harbaugh.
“They got explosive plays
and we didn’t,” Shaw said
of last week’s 45-27 loss to
Central Florida. “In three
games, we’ve given up 18
plays of 20 or more yards.
That’s not us. It’s missed
tackles, missed alignments,
letting receivers run free.
We’ve got to play better from
No. 19 Washington
State seeks 3rd straight
win over UCLA
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
AP Photo/Chris Pietsch
Oregon’s Justin Herbert drops back to pass during the first quarter of an NCAA college foot-
ball game against Montana on Sept. 14, 2019, in Eugene.
the top down on defense.”
The Ducks have been out-
standing defensively the past
two weeks at home against
lesser opponents, allow-
ing just nine points against
Nevada and Montana and no
TDs in the past 27 drives.
Now they have to con-
tend with their first true road
game, after losing a neutral
site game to Auburn to open
the season.
“You have to understand
that you’ve got to pack your
toughness, your resiliency,
you’ve got to pack your per-
severance, all the stuff that
goes with being a tough foot-
ball team on the road, know-
ing that when you leave your
home and you go do it on
the road there’s the factors
that are outside the football
game itself,” coach Mario
Cristobal said. “They can’t
matter, they cannot be rele-
vant and it requires a certain
type of mindset. With young
players or older players, it’s
always going to be a huge
point of emphasis”
Here are some other
things to watch:
first time since 1995-97,
with last year’s 38-31 over-
time loss at home partic-
ularly painful. Oregon led
by 17 points at halftime but
allowed Stanford to tie the
game after C.J. Verdell lost a
fumble in the final minute of
regulation. Cristobal doesn’t
believe there will be any
hangover for Verdell head-
ing into the rematch.
“I don’t think that exists
with our guys and the way
our guys are built up and the
way we train. If there’s any-
thing lingering it’s nothing
but motivation.”
BAD MEMORIES
Oregon has lost its last
four conference openers,
including last year’s col-
lapse against the Cardinal.
The Ducks have lost three
straight in the series for the
Round-Up
BANGED-UP LINE
The Cardinal entered
the season with little depth
on the offensive line and
that has been tested early
this season. Star left tackle
Walker Little went down
with a season-ending knee
injury in the opener. Guard
Dylan Powell is doubtful
this week but right tackle
Foster Sarell is probable to
return.
ROUGH STARTS
With trips still remaining to
No. 22 Washington, No. 24
Arizona State and USC, as
well as home games against
No. 23 California and No.
19 Washington State, the
Ducks can ill afford an early
slipup if they want to win the
North.
PICKING ON
PAULSON
Stanford
cornerback
Paulson Adebo established
himself as one of the top
cover cornerbacks in the
nation last season. But he
has been beaten a few times
early this season, most nota-
bly on a 38-yard TD catch
last week by Central Flori-
da’s Gabe Davis. Adebo also
got beat a couple of times the
previous week against USC.
“I don’t know if it’s called
struggling or just playing
against really good receiv-
ers,” Shaw said. “That’s the
hard part for a corner. It’s
a little bit like an offensive
lineman. If you keep the guy
covered for the whole game
they don’t say your name,
you must be doing a pretty
good job, but if you give up
two plays, which is what
Paulson gave up, two plays
now you have a bad game.”
Washington
State
coach Mike Leach appre-
ciates that quarterback
Anthony Gordon doesn’t
get all moody when
things go bad.
Of course, things have
yet to go bad for Gordon
or the Cougars.
Thanks to Gordon’s
stellar start, the Cougars
are off to a 3-0 start head-
ing into Saturday night’s
Pac-12 opener against
UCLA.
Gordon has twice been
named Pac-12 offensive
player of the week. He’s
thrown for at least 400
yards in each game.
And one more big
game against the Bruins
will set up a major show-
down at No. 10 Utah next
week.
“He certainly wasn’t
perfect last game, but
if something doesn’t go
right he doesn’t beat him-
self up,” Leach said. “He
doesn’t go through some
of that pouty, mopey
stuff, which really drives
me crazy when players do
that.
“He’s able to get back
on track really fast, which
I think is an incredible
strength. And also I think
it rubs off on the other
players.”
While Gordon and the
19th-ranked Cougars are
flying high, especially
after last week’s 31-24
win over Houston in their
first test of the season,
UCLA is at the other end
of the spectrum.
The Bruins have scored
just 14 points per game in
each of their three losses,
and were blown out 48-14
last weekend by Okla-
homa. If the offensive
woes aren’t enough, the
Bruins allowed more than
600 yards of offense to
the Sooners.
“There are times that I
thought we were good on
offense and we moved the
ball,” UCLA coach Chip
Kelly said. “We’ve got to
strive for consistency.”
The task won’t get any
easier with the numbers
Washington State is put-
ting up.
Gordon spent three
years backing up current
NFL starters Luke Falk
and Gardner Minshew
before winning the start-
ing job in fall camp.
His work leading
Leach’s offense is made
easier because the Cou-
gars have a typically deep
and talented receiving
corps.
The leading receiver is
Brandon Arconado, who
has caught 23 passes for
308 yards in three games.
Last year, Arconado did
not have a single recep-
tion, but he is tied for the
Pac-12 lead in catches
this season.
Leach said Arconado
benefited from play-
ing behind past receiv-
ers Kyle Sweet and River
Cracraft.
“It’s been kind of
rough watching for the
past three years,” Arco-
nado said. “Finally we’re
getting our opportunity
to shout out.”
Kelly would like to see
more out of quarterback
Dorian Thompson-Rob-
inson for the Bruins.
Thompson-Robinson
threw for 201 yards and a
pair of TDs against Okla-
homa and also gained 48
yards on 10 carries.
“He does have that
ability to effect the game
with his legs,” Kelly said.
“That is an aspect of his
game that will continue to
grow for us.”
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