Tag: Ashton Daniels

Stanford statistical leaders through 11 games

The Irish can’t lose to this team, right?

Stanford is trying to salvage something out of its season. Even its win over Coach Prime and Colorado has become lessened by the fact that Buffaloes turned out not to be much better than the Cardinal. A victory over Notre Dame would by far be the signature of their season. That won’t be easy though.

There are a few talented players on the Cardinal, but they only can do so much to make up for their shortcomings. For instance, the offense lives off the pass to the point where the quarterbacks actually are the top rushers. For our purposes though, we’re discounting them in that category for this listicle. That alone should speak volumes about the Cardinal.

It’s no surprise that a team with this many shortcomings has dragged the Irish to the dying Pac-12 Network for its final live football game. If it somehow pulls off the upset, here are the players most likely to factor in:

After four games it seems Stanford has finally found a quarterback

Stanford has had a lot of issues on offense, but it seems as if quarterback Ashton Daniels has taken the reins from Justin Lamson.

The old football adage is when you have two quarterbacks, you really have no quarterbacks.

That might be the case for Stanford this season as first-year head coach Troy Taylor is making his way through the year. Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson have split time behind center, but in the 21-20 loss to Arizona, Daniels took most of the snaps and it looks like he’s QB1 for now.

Going with Daniels, a 6-foot-2 215-pounder from Buford, GA, would seem like the smart decision. Daniels is completing nearly 60 percent of his passes and the Cardinal are gaining on average 12 yards per completion.

His favorite target, and deservingly so, is tight end Benjamin Yurosek. He was a Second-Teamer last season and the media selected the big 6-4, 248-pounder as a preseason First-Team All-Pac-12 player.

Although every defense knows Yurosek is Stanford’s No. 1 target for whoever is throwing the ball, he still leads the team with 15 catches, 247 yards and a score.

Stanford’s run game is better than what Colorado showed the Ducks, but not by a lot. Tailback Casey Filkins leads the way with 46 yards per game and a touchdown.

This game will feature a below-average offense that will face one of the Pac-12 best defenses. That equation should be bad news for Stanford. But the Ducks still have to do their job at the end of the day.

“I mean this is a bring-your-own juice game, It’s gonna be a different atmosphere,” Lanning said. “But if you step on the grass and it means something to you, you’re gonna step on there and try to perform to a certain level because you have pride in the game.”

Along the offensive front, Stanford had one of the biggest lines in the country. Those days are over. The biggest starting lineman is the center Levi Rogers at 301 pounds. We all saw what the Ducks do to an undersized line and it’s not pretty.

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5 Cardinal the Ducks need to watch out for on Saturday

Stanford has had more than its share of problems this season, but there are five Cardinal that stand out and Oregon needs to watch out for.

This game would probably take a different tone if Stanford hadn’t lost to Sacramento State. The Cardinal are 1-3 with their only win coming at Hawaii, but they should be 2-2. That loss to the Hornets sticks out like a sore thumb, however.

Stanford has gone through two quarterbacks, which is never a good sign. When you play two quarterbacks, it means you don’t have any quarterbacks and the lack of offensive production shows it.

The defense is playing better and had its best game just this past week against Arizona, but the Cardinal still went down 21-20 at home.

Even with the “rebuild,” Stanford has some players Oregon can’t ignore and could hurt the Ducks if they have a letdown. But after the Colorado game, it’s doubtful Dan Lanning will allow that to occur.

Here are five Cardinal that might have an impact on Saturday’s contest down on The Farm.

Ashton Daniels will try to seize the moment vs USC on Saturday

USC’s defense needs to be ready to contain Stanford’s starting quarterback.

Former Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor made his Stanford debut last week. Taylor took over for previous Stanford coach David Shaw.

The Cardinal walked away with a 37-24 victory over Hawaii last Friday in a game that was never in doubt.

Ashton Daniels, the new starter for Stanford at quarterback, was ranked as the No. 90 recruit in Georgia for the 2021 class according to 247Sports and the No. 56 quarterback overall.

Daniels completed 25-of-36 passes (69%) for 249 yards and two touchdowns against Hawaii. He silenced any talk about the quarterback battle needing to continue against backups Ari Patu and Justin Lamson.

The Cardinal finished with 406 yards of total offense versus Hawaii. Tight end Benjamin Yurosek led the way with nine catches for 138 yards and a touchdown.

Stanford was picked to finish last in the Pac-12 preseason media poll. Its new tempo offense ran 70 plays and averaged 5.8 yards per snap last week.

The Cardinal kick off their final season in the Pac-12 Conference at USC on Saturday. Last week, it was announced by the ACC that Stanford would be among a trio of additions to the conference next year.

Let’s see what Ashton Daniels and Troy Taylor can cook up against the Trojans on the road. They will need to score a lot of points to keep up with Caleb Williams and the Trojans’ offense.

Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team overviews for the 2023 season:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State  — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State