Cardinal focus Cardinal focus (September 29, 2004)on Washington after tough loss

by Rick Eymer

By now, members of the Stanford football team have been able to resolve any lingering issues stemming from its 31-28 loss to top-ranked USC on Saturday in Stanford Stadium. After all, there's another Pac-10 contest coming up this week which requires the Cardinal's utmost attention.

While Stanford (0-1, 2-1) played a tremendous game in a losing effort against the defending national champion Trojans (1-0, 4-0), the performance won't mean anything if Stanford stumbles this Saturday in a 2 p.m. home game against winless Washington.

Stanford can slam the door on mediocrity with a win over the Huskies, which would put the Cardinal squarely on the path of returning to a bowl game.

Stanford will be looking to snap a six-game losing streak against Washington. Bill Walsh was still coaching the Cardinal when they last beat the Huskies, a 46-28 decision in 1994. Buddy Teevens can do something not even Tyrone Willingham was unable to accomplish by beating Washington.

The Huskies have won 16 of the past 17 against the Cardinal since 1983, and 20 of 22 since 1977.

It becomes another hallmark game, a chance to judge how the Teevens era has progressed. Perhaps how Stanford reacted to its loss to the Trojans is the most telling. Coming close wasn't enough for this Cardinal team.

"No matter how well we played it's still a loss," Stanford running back J.R. Lemon said. "A loss is a loss. It's another one in the loss column and we don't want any in the loss column."

Lemon, of course, stunned the Trojans with his 82-yard touchdown romp on the final play of the first half to give Stanford a 28-17 lead heading into the locker room.

Lemon finished with 96 yards on 10 carries, and the Cardinal out-rushed USC, 144-99, for the game. The Trojans came in averaging 238 yards (to Stanford's 102) on the ground.

"There are a lot of things in which we can take solace," Teevens said. "But there's no point in coming close. In the second half we didn't move the football productively."

The USC defense and special teams play took the game over in the second half, giving the Trojans a chance to pull out the victory, much to their relief.

"It's humbling to be trailing and give up a big play at the end of the half," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "We just had to go back to basics. They came out of their bye week flying and we were reeling in the first half. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. It's hard to do what we're doing."

It was even harder for Stanford to deal with the bittersweet loss. On one hand, the Cardinal played the best college team in the country to a near standstill. On the other hand, it was a lost opportunity.

"I felt like we gave everything we had," Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards said. "It's still frustrating. It's hard to play a game like that being on an emotional rollercoaster. To come out on the bottom of a game like that is not what you want. This whole team expected to win that game."

How Stanford responds to the disappointment and the missed opportunity will determine if this becomes a turnaround season or another season of promise yet to come.

"It hurts," Teevens said of the loss. "There's no elation in coming close. We had the opportunity and we let it go. We're getting better but when you don't win, you don't notice it."

This time, the 55,750 fans in Stanford Stadium and the national television audience did notice the Cardinal are getting better.

To put things into perspective, in the 85 football games played between the two schools, Stanford has never scored more than 35 points against the Trojans, and that happened just twice. Stanford has scored 30 or more points against USC on just six occasions.

That's how close Stanford came to achieving a milestone. Getting shut out in the second half, on just 36 offensive yards, shows how far Stanford still has left to travel.

"Deep in our hearts we knew we could beat this team, and should have beaten them," Lemon said. "That hurts more than anything."

Stanford realized it wasted an opportunity to place itself back on the football map. The Cardinal knew they could influence pollsters with an upset.

"We had an opportunity to make a statement nationally," Edwards said. "I think, as a team, we have to build on this loss. Right now it's just going to take a few days to realize that. Washington is another opportunity to step up and play well again. We can't take them lightly."

Last year, the Cardinal averaged 16.9 points per game, 187 passing yards, 96 rushing yards and 283 yards in total offense per game. Through three games, Stanford is 36 points, 116 rushing yards, 271 passing yards and 387 yards in total offense. In 2003, Stanford scored 28 points or more twice in 11 games as compared to scoring at least 28 in each of its first three games.

Senior inside linebacker David Bergeron was suspended for the game for violating unspecified team rules. He started the previous 23 games.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]