September 14, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Stanford off and running

by Rick Eymer

For the Stanford football team to be successful this year, first-year coach Walt Harris said they had to run the football effectively.

Using guys who were at different positions last year, the running game worked well enough for the Cardinal to operate their offense effectively and efficiently in their 41-38 season-opening win at the Naval Academy last Saturday.

"It was encouraging just to run the ball," Stanford left guard Josiah Vinson said. "To see a running back flash past you is always a good feeling. We live vicariously through the running backs and quarterbacks so it was great to break some long runs."

Fifth-year senior wide receiver Gerren Crochet scored his first career touchdown - on a running play. Redshirt freshman Anthony Kimble, who came to Stanford as a wide receiver, also scored his first touchdown at his new position as a running back.

Junior Nick Frank entered the season with 17 career tackles and two quarterback sacks as a nose tackle. On Saturday, the newly-anointed starting fullback Frank etched his name into the Cardinal record books with his first career touchdown.

For Evan Moore, T.J. Rushing and Michael Sgroi, scoring touchdowns has been familiar.

It all added up to a Stanford victory as the Walt Harris era began with an offensive explosion.

Harris started putting the pieces together last spring, converting Kimble and Frank into power runners and inserting special plays for guys like Crochet. Against the Naval Academy, Harris pulled all the right strings.

"We are real excited about what these guys did," Harris said of Kimble and Jason Evans. "The guys up front made it happen."

Redshirt junior quarterback Trent Edwards threw for 235 yards and a touchdown, the Cardinal rushed for 181 yards, Rushing returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the second time in his career, and Sgroi split the uprights with room to spare on two field goals of 40 and 47 yards.

Defensively, linebacker Kevin Schimmelman recorded 12 tackles, linebacker Udeme Udofia and cornerback Nick Sanchez each intercepted a pass and the defense sacked Navy quarterbacks four times.

"These guys pulled together," Harris said. "You could feel the camaraderie. Everybody was rocking."

Stanford will take that momentum into its home opener on Saturday against UC Davis at 7 p.m. The Cardinal will also be without some of their key players. Moore, who caught Edwards' 17-yard scoring pass, sustained a dislocated hip near the end of the first half and was taken off the field by an ambulance.

"That is a hard loss to take," Stanford linebacker Kevin Schimmelman said. "No one can duplicate what he can do. It's tough to lose a guy so talented."

Redshirt junior Trevor Hooper left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury and is out for Saturday's affair as well.

Left tackle Jeff Edwards (ankle), nose tackle Matt McClernan (knee), and nose tackle Babatunde Oshinowo (ankles) also suffered injuries of varying degrees and their status is in doubt. Edwards needed crutches to leave the field after Saturday's win.

Otherwise the trip to Annapolis was a success. Navy (0-2) was coming off one of its finest seasons ever, which included a bowl victory, and despite the loss of 17 starters, the Midshipmen were a tough group to play.

Winning on the road was also an important step in the Cardinal's development. Stanford had won exactly two of its previous 17 road games, which includes the Seattle Bowl loss in Tyrone Willingham's final game.

"A lot of close games we lost last year we were ahead at halftime and lost it in the fourth quarter," Crochet said. "The difference between 4-7 and 7-4 was just a few touchdowns. That's been one of the biggest points of focus for us: to finish."

Despite criticizing himself for what he called "a horrible job" in the brief three-play sequence following Sanchez's fourth-quarter interception, Harris' imaginative offense seems to have injected a boost of confidence.

"Trent deserves a lot of credit for moving the ball around at a high percentage without a turnover," Harris said. "He's got talent, he won, 1-0 baby!"

If the coach is having this much fun, imagine how nice it was for the players. Kimble, who rushed for 59 yards, made sure his first collegiate appearance was memorable.

"I had a lot of fun just getting the win on the road," he said. "It was fun to get back on the field. We believe in each other."

Frank managed all of three rushing yards on four carries, but that included a touchdown. He played a prominent role in his first appearance in the backfield, helping to create holes for Kimble and Evans (63 yards on 10 carries) and paving the way for Crochet to waltz his way to a 46-yard touchdown on a reverse. He also led the team with six receptions for 45 yards.

Stanford is hoping the rest of the season can fall into place, with thoughts of a bowl game seeping into the Cardinal's collective conscious.

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