September 15, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Passing marks in 2-0 start

by Rick Eymer

The game is still 10 days away, but Stanford football players don't mind saying Southern California has been on their minds for a long, long time.

The Cardinal took care of business on Saturday, beating visiting Brigham Young, 37-10, as Trent Edwards threw for a career-high 297 yards, the best single-game performance since Chris Lewis threw for 390 yards in the 2001 Big Game. Edwards also threw for three touchdowns.

Rest assured Cardinal fans, this year's team isn't satisfied with starting the season 2-0 as it did last year. With an extra week to prepare, Stanford has set its sights squarely on the '1' painted in the middle of the bulls eye which represents the top-ranked Trojans, who visit Stanford Stadium on Sept. 25 for a 4 p.m. game.

"I started thinking about USC before the game was over," Stanford tight Alex Smith admitted. "We have two weeks to prepare and that's the one we want. It's the first week of school and we'll be ready to get after them."

Ignited by T.J. Rushing's 99-yard kickoff return, the Cardinal clicked in their passing game to help run off 37 unanswered points against a BYU defense considered among the best in the West.

"I honestly thought we would complete a lot of short passes and maybe get a few yards after the catch," Menlo-Atherton grad Greg Camarillo said of the Stanford game plan. "We knew from an offensive standpoint that with their blitz, it would be a test for our offensive line, and they stepped it up."

If BYU was a test, then USC will be the final exam. Stanford got a few votes in this week's Top 25 polls, likely because of BYU's win over Notre Dame in Week 1 and the Irish's win over Michigan over the weekend.

The Trojans manhandled Stanford last year, outgaining the Cardinal by a 413-91 margin in the first half alone en route to a convincing 44-21 victory. USC held a 41-13 lead at halftime.

"When the schedule came out, we were all pointing to USC in the back of our minds," Camarillo said. "We were already talking about it. This was a nice win and we'll enjoy it, but we're ready for USC."

Camarillo was one of six receivers who caught passes from Edwards. Smith grabbed six for 87 yards and a touchdown, and Mark Bradford caught four for 91 yards, including a 76-yard reception that showed off Bradford's athleticism as he brushed off at least six tackle attempts while crisscrossing the field.

"Bradford made it look like a high school game," Camarillo said.

Bradford caught a 71-yard pass from Lewis last year, the longest play from scrimmage.

"It happened all the time in high school," Bradford said of his long run. "I was surprised BYU missed so many tackles, but I did get some good blocking too. It seemed like guys were coming from nowhere to block."

There have been only 15 passing plays for touchdowns in Stanford history that went for more yardage than Bradford's catch.

"USC is something to look forward to," Bradford said. "They're No. 1 and it will be a big challenge for us."

Bradford, who led Stanford with 587 receiving yards last year, is just one of three receivers - Smith and Evan Moore are the others - who have shown big-play capability this season. That has been missing the last couple of years. Throw Justin McCullum into the mix and this could be the best receiving group since the days of Troy Walters, Damon Dunn and DeRonnie Pitts.

Smith, Bradford and Luke Powell tied for the team lead with three receiving touchdowns last year. Moore already has caught three touchdown passes this year, and Edwards has thrown for five, one more than he threw in eight games last year.

"When you put the ball in Mark's and Alex's hands, you know they can make people miss once and can extend the field," Edwards said. "It's definitely great to start 2-0 with two good offensive games."

Stanford's offense was stalled in the first quarter, gaining a total of five yards in 11 plays as compared to BYU's 123 yards in 29 plays.

Rushing's kickoff return seemed to jolt the Cardinal into action.

"We were down 10-0 at the time," Edwards said. "When he ran that ball back it helped us a lot. It got the offense going; you could see it in everybody's eyes. We were ready to play after that."

Stanford gained 203 yards in the second quarter alone, and limited the Cougars to 65.

The last time a Stanford defense held consecutive opponents to a combined 13 points or less to open the season was in 1972.

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