Stanford Fails to Shake Down the Thunderchickens, at Least on Offense

John Ralston, who coached Stanford to consecutive Rose Bowl wins over Ohio State and Michigan in 1971 and 1972, said the Cardinal defense played like his old “Thunderchicken” teams Saturday against USC.

However, Stanford’s offense played like the Thunderturkeys in a 10-0 loss to the Trojans before 73,500 fans at Stanford Stadium.

Lyndon Johnson was in the White House the last time Stanford was shut out at home, 6-0, by Washington in 1964. The Cardinal was shut out by Washington last season on the road, 34-0; and the last time USC blanked Stanford was 1977 in a 49-0 win at the Coliseum.

“It’s a tribute to USC--they did a great job of coaching and playing defense,” Stanford Coach Jack Elway said. “When you get shut out, you’re not going to win.

“There’s no question that our defense played well enough to win, but you just can’t win when you don’t score any points.”

Stanford, off to its best start since 1971, was averaging 347.3 total yards a game coming into the USC contest. But the Cardinal finished with just 172 yards against the Trojans, 122 passing and 50 rushing.

There were scouts from seven bowls in attendance. But don’t look for the Cardinal to be invited to a bowl on the strength of its offense.

Stanford had just 64 yards of total offense in the second half, including only 10 on the ground. The Cardinal’s deepest penetration was to the USC 38-yard line. Stanford converted just 4 of 13 third-down opportunities.

Cardinal quarterback John Paye got off to a good start, completing 10 of his first 11 passes. Stanford used a no-huddle offense early in the game to throw the USC defense off balance.

But things quickly deteriorated for Paye and the Cardinal. USC adjusted on defense by using five and six defensive backs to stop Stanford’s passing attack.

Paye wound up hitting 23 of 37 passes for 122 yards and threw 3 interceptions. It was Paye’s worst performance of the season. He was averaging 228.2 yards passing per game.

Stanford was conservative on offense, rarely going for the bomb. Paye completed just four passes to his wide receivers, and the Cardinal’s longest gain of the game was an 18-yard pass from Paye to wide receiver Jeff James.

“You can’t hit a home run every time up,” Paye said. “It was one of my most frustrating games because we were never able to get into the end zone on offense. Our defense played a whale of a football game, but we didn’t respond on offense.

“Maybe our problem was that we didn’t make the big plays that we normally do. It seemed like everyone was trying to make the big play at the same time.

“USC has a lot of exceptional athletes, and they made the plays and we didn’t. They had lost two games and they were a lot more intense than we were.”

Paye’s first interception helped set up the game’s only touchdown.

USC cornerback Louis Brock stepped in front of James and picked off a pass from Paye early in the second quarter. Brock returned it 41 yards down the sideline in front of the Stanford bench to the Cardinal 32.

Asked what happened on the play, Paye said: “Jeff James ran an out pattern, but Brock followed the ball very well and he made a great play.”

James took full responsibility for the interception, saying: “I take the blame on that. I didn’t come back for the ball like I should have. I was running an out pattern and I was supposed to angle back to the sideline. I angled back, but I didn’t keep coming like I was supposed to.”

USC scored four plays after Brock’s interception when quarterback Rodney Peete threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to backup split end Erik Affholter, who made a leaping catch in the end zone. Affholter slipped in front of Stanford defensive back Pat Kelly on the play.

“It was just a breakdown in coverage,” Kelly said. “We had a three-deep zone, and Peete started scrambling. His receivers did a good job of finding the open field, and I just didn’t get to the ball in time.”

It’s quite a twist that Stanford, which has had flashy offensive teams and awful defenses, finally gets a stingy defensive effort but can’t score a point.

The highlight of the day for Stanford was a goal-line stand in the second quarter.

Leading, 7-0, USC had a first down at the Stanford one-yard line.

But the Cardinal held the Trojans on four consecutive plays. USC tailback Aaron Emanuel fumbled on fourth down when he attempted to dive over before he got control of the ball, and Stanford linebacker Kurt Colehower recovered the fumble.

The last time Stanford held USC on such a goal-line stand was in 1970, when the Cardinal went on to beat the Trojans, 24-14.

Stanford linebackers Dave Wyman, Barry McKeever and Colehower and tackle Tony Leiker were the stars on defense for the Cardinal.

Wyman made 22 tackles and intercepted a pass, while McKeever had 17 tackles.

Colehower made 12 tackles and recovered a fumble, and Leiker had 10 tackles and made two sacks.

“We played our guts out,” Wyman said of the Stanford defense. “It wasn’t a perfect game because they got 10 points, but I felt like we played well. They just got one break (Paye’s first interception).”

Said Leiker: “We didn’t get the big plays on offense. They just didn’t happen today.”