Halftime recap of Stanford's Week 2 matchup against USC

In a very uncharacteristic manner David Shaw and Stanford elected to start the game off with the ball against No. 10 USC.

They may as well deferred with as quick as they gave the ball away. Three plays into their first drive, Tanner McKee threw a high pass to tight end Benjamin Yurosek, who was unable to haul it in and tipped to to a USC defender for the interception. It took the Trojans just four plays before Caleb Williams was able to find Lake McRee for the touchdown.

The Cardinal would go on to mix in the run and pass on their next drive, which led to what was thought to be a touchdown pass to Brycen Tremayne, but was later overturned. Stanford would get a prime opportunity to score when USC jumped offsides on a field goal attempt making it 4th-and-2, but McKee would go on to throw his second interception of the first quarter.

The turnover led to another touchdown for the Trojans, as Williams would find Jordan Addison for the score. However, Stanford's next possession was their best one yet as. they leaned on running back E.J. Smith and even got a huge 50-yard run by Yurosek. McKee would find smith in the flat for their first score of the game to make it a one possession game for about 30 seconds.

On USC's first play of their next drive Williams found a streaking Addison, who got behind Kyu Blue Kelly for the 75-yard touchdown to take the momentum right back. The Cardinal were able to again drive down to the red zone, but a fumble by Smith at the 2-yard line gave the ball back to the Trojans and prevented Stanford from being able to bring the game within one score. Williams would go on to find his fellow Oklahoma transfer Mario Williams for a touchdown to make it 28-7.

The Cardinal would finally go onto exercise their red zone demons the next possession as E.J. Smith was able to rush in his second score of the game, to cut the lead to 14. The Trojans would again answer right back as Oregon transfer Travis Dye rushed in a touchdown to make it 35-14.

If the Cardinal have any chances of getting the win in this game they need to force a couple three-and-outs, something they haven't done yet. Granted, it is hard to do so when USC's offense has only seen one third down.

Stats Comparison:

Total Yards: Stanford 319, USC 366

Passing Yards: Stanford 148, USC 244

Rushing Yards: Stanford 122, USC 171

Penalties: Stanford 3-27, USC 4-35

Turnovers: Stanford 3, USC 0

Time of possession: Stanford 11:51, USC 8:26