Wednesday roundtable: Can Cardinal sustain success against Beavers?

Though the Cardinal looked nearly flawless against USC, in recent years Stanford has often come out slow in the games following its biggest wins. With a 600-mile trip to Corvallis looming with just five days rest, it seems likely that Stanford may not get a chance to fully recuperate after last weekend’s brawl in Los Angeles. Will the Cardinal be able to sustain their success against the Oregon State Beavers? We asked Daily Sports writers Andrew Mather, Sandip Srinivas and Neel Ramachandran to share their thoughts.

Sophomore quarterback Keller Chryst (right) may see playing time this Friday against Oregon State due to senior quarterback Kevin Hogan’s ankle injury that he sustained against USC last Saturday. (BOB DREBIN/isiphotos.com)

Andrew: While I could potentially see the short rest or recently-reported injury to Kevin Hogan making parts of the impending matchup against Oregon State a little ugly, I ultimately would be surprised to see too much of a “victory hangover.” For one, most of these sluggish performances after big wins have been due to an opponent’s defensive intensity interrupting the Cardinal’s rhythm, and Oregon State simply hasn’t shown that it can slow talent of Stanford’s caliber regardless of who starts at quarterback.

More importantly, however, I believe David Shaw has learned from the less-than-ideal 2014 season and has figured out how to better instill a winning mentality in his team. After the victory over the Trojans, multiple players cited Shaw’s prep talk (during which he made everyone who had been on a Pac-12 Championship team stand up) as impactful in affecting the team’s attitude toward the game, and the results could be seen as Stanford simply refused to second-guess itself, even when the Trojans appeared to be building momentum. This was a noticeable break from many of the team’s recent showings, in which early doubts seemed to cause uncertainty and a general lack of confidence. If this level mental intensity proves to be a theme going forward, it could separate the 2015 Cardinal from those of recent history and lead to a cleaner, more dominating season.

Sandip: As Andrew pointed out, there are still a few big question marks surrounding this game, the most notable being the status of Kevin Hogan. Should Hogan not be able to play come Saturday, the new Keller Chryst/Ryan Burns-led offense will be a big subject of scrutiny.

On the defensive side of the ball, however, the Cardinal are coming off a poor showing. Giving up 31 points, even to the likes of Cody Kessler, is something to be concerned about and something that the defense noted as an area of improvement following the USC game. I believe that in order to control this game, the Stanford defense needs to set the tone right away and provide some certainty and confidence at a time where the offense might be lacking it. Oregon State’s freshman quarterback Seth Collins is starting to come into his own. Last week, Collins was instrumental in a 21-point comeback against San Jose State, and the Beavers’ offense, with running back Victor Bolden and wide receiver Jordan Villamin, always plays well for the home crowd in Corvallis. If the defensive unit is able to avoid another shootout, then the Cardinal will be in a great position to extend the winning streak to three.

Neel: Frankly, I’m in awe that Kevin Hogan reportedly suffered an ankle sprain early in the second half and still completed one of the finest games of his career. Only two weeks removed from averaging just over 4 yards per attempt, throwing a pick and converting a measly 3 of 15 third downs against Northwestern, Hogan averaged over 12 yards per attempt, threw 2 touchdowns without an interception and converted 8 of 12 third downs. Perhaps most impressively, he led his team on four methodical touchdown drives of over 65 yards, something we haven’t seen recently from Stanford in big games.

The Cardinal offense is contingent on the fifth-year senior quarterback, and it would be a pity if Hogan were unable to play this Saturday, especially after what he’s shown he can do these past two weeks. His injury could make things tricky, given that the Beavers have a stingy pass defense that is currently giving up 150 yards per game (second in the conference), and that while extremely talented, Stanford backup quarterbacks Ryan Burns and Keller Chryst have very little real-game experience.

Stanford shouldn’t have too much difficulty on the defensive side of the ball, given that the Beavers are ranked last in the conference in total offense (322 yds/game) and pass offense (108 yds/game). While the Cardinal did give up 272 yards of passing offense against USC, the Oregon State offense doesn’t feature skill players nearly as talented as the likes of the Trojans.

Expect Stanford to have a party in the backfield and shut down OSU defensively. Meanwhile, the offense hinges entirely on Kevin Hogan. If he is unable to play, like Andrew said, things might get a little ugly, but Stanford still has enough talent and experience elsewhere to overwhelm the Beavers. But if he’s ready to go, I don’t foresee too much of a hangover after how sharp he and the rest of the offense looked against USC.

Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu, Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu and Neel Ramachandran at neelr ‘at’ stanford.edu.