Go Cardinal! As always, be sure to follow along on Twitter too: Rule of Tree Stanford trails 7-0 after a Juwan Washington touchdown. Washington already with 84 yards on the ground. Juwan Washington out here putting on a CLINIC. 84 yards on seven carries has us on top 7-0 with 2:38 left in the 1st quarter!\#Win22 | #OneCityOneTeam pic.twitter.com/8R6S7UUfK5 — SDSU Football (@SDSUFootball) September 1, 2018 Near scare for Stanford after Connor Wedington almost gave away the rock on a punt return. The Cardinal still unable to make anything of the opportunity and put the ball away down 7-0. Bobby Okereke with a massive hit on SDSU’s Christian Chapman to get Stanford on the board. K.J. Costello and company get the ball back, trailing 7-2 following the safety. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside moves the chains with a toe-tapping catch, good for 35 yards. Craziness ensues in the Stanford vs. SDSU game! Costello’s pass is batted into the air and picked by Noble Hall. However, veteran Cardinal receiver Trenton Irwin forces a fumble to get the ball back on the same play. Three plays later, Costello connects with Arcega-Whiteside for 38 yards and a score to go up 9-7 before the half. Stanford separating from SDSU after a 19-yard score to a wide open Arcega-Whiteside puts the Cardinal up 16-7. Arcega-Whiteside snags the hat-trick on an 80-yard score to answer the Aztecs’ field goal. He also snags the the 2-point conversion as Stanford goes up 24-10. Arcega-Whiteside’s 193 yards on five receptions makes for a career high. ⚡️ ELECTRIC FACTORY. 80 YARDS. ⚡️ New career high receiving yards for @jjarcega_22 on his THIRD (!!!) TD tonight. » @FS1 #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/wSSKhERmYm — Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) September 1, 2018 The Cardinal add real distance with a Colby Parkinson touchdown to go up 31-10. It is Costello’s fourth passing touchdown of the night.<doc-sep>Aztecs At Stanford: Game Prediction and Preview The Cardinal and Aztecs play game two of a home-and-home match at Stanford. The Aztecs won last year’s game in a heated battle. Contact/Follow @tedmcgovern & @MWCwire Game Broadcast Date: Friday, August 31 Game Time: 6:00pm PST 9:00 pm EST Venue: Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, CA Network: FS1 Stanford (0-0) vs. SDSU (0-0) Preview Stanford faced off against the Aztecs last season. SDSU played “lights out” and won 20-17. The Cardinal starts this season ranked #13, while the Aztecs, who delivered three straight ten-win seasons, will again have to prove they are worthy of a ranking better than #41. Even Stanford coach David Shaw expressed disbelief in the Aztecs’ current ranking. Heisman hopeful running back Bryce Love returns for the Cardinal, and a talented Juwan Washington fills an impressive legacy built by NCAA rushing leaders Rashaad Penny and Donnel Pumphrey. The Cardinal face USC, Oregon and Notre Dame in September. Lose again to the Aztecs, and they could start the season off balance. Conversely, if the Aztecs win, they could be on track for a very big season, and a 4-0 record against the Pac-12. Why Stanford Will Win Stanford has a potential NCAA top-five offense this year including a strong passing game; arguably the nation’s top running back, and a strong offensive line. Bryce Love managed a pretty good game last year against the Aztecs. Love will be on the Aztecs’ minds and will be covered thoroughly. He will likely be used as a decoy as much as he runs the ball. Also, expect to see him catching passes. He is healthy, so watch out. The Cardinal passing game will be formidable. Quarterback Keller Chryst played poorly against the Aztecs last year completing 9-of-20 passes for 72 yards and was picked twice. Did the fallout from his performance lead to his Tennessee exodus? Quarterback K.J. Costello is healthy, and he is expected to take very good care of the ball this time. We may see a minor air assault, and the Aztecs secondary must be ready. Why San Diego State Will Win Rocky Long’s Aztecs are a defensive powerhouse. This will be disruptive to Stanford’s offense. The Aztecs offense is solid, and this year Stanford’s defense is arguably the worst / least experienced it has been for well over a decade. So, the Aztecs will have to be careful to disallow Stanford’s offense play time. Juwan Washington is a formidable running back with speed and great vision. He will be supported by a veteran offensive line. Quarterback Christian Chapman is back as the underrated veteran field general who very rarely turns over the ball. While the Aztecs run the ball, Chapman is a strong passer and will run for the chains. The SDSU defensive line is a force to be reckoned with. The defense gave up just 132 rushing yards per game last season. They are among the nation’s best. The Aztecs special teams are also formidable. Kicker John Baron II is a Lou Groza finalist. What Will Happen The unanimous prediction has been that David Shaw’s Cardinal will defeat the Aztecs. This is the safe declaration that everybody predicts. Nonetheless, Stanford has major challenges with a surprisingly soft defense. This will be a fierce battle, but Rocky Long’s Aztecs offense should be stronger than Stanford’s defense. Conversely, while Stanford’s offense is one of the nation’s best- San Diego State defense is also one of the nation’s best. A contrarian prediction: the season opener will be a higher scoring game than last year’s 20-17 match, and the Aztecs will manage a 24-20 upset. Game Prediction & Line Stanford 20, San Diego State 24 Line: Stanford -14.5, o/u: 49.5<doc-sep>Get Pac-12 Conference news in your inbox with the Pac-12 Hotline newsletter Sign Up STANFORD – Stanford’s 20-17 upset loss at San Diego State last season was surprising. But perhaps even more surprising was normally unflappable Cardinal coach David Shaw arguing with an Aztecs assistant as the teams heading into their locker rooms at halftime. “We were both talking about getting our teams under control,” Shaw said Monday. “We were talking about making sure we were good representers of college football. Because I thought for many times in the first half we were not, and that’s both sidelines.” Shaw said “there was too much talking” in what he termed the “pre-halftime events.” Stanford needed to cross the field to get from their sideline to the visiting locker room at San Diego State, and it appeared some Aztec players were jawing at the Cardinal as they made their way to the tunnel. Drama at the half. If there's one thing coaches hate is the opposing coach coaching/directing your players. Shaw was reminded that. @XTRA1360 pic.twitter.com/xG2j3iujjd — Judson Richards (@Judson1360) September 17, 2017 At one point, Shaw put his hand on an Aztec player’s chest and directed him away from where Stanford was. That led to chirping between Shaw and an SDSU coach who seemed to take offense at Shaw’s actions. You typically don't see @StanfordFball coach David Shaw show this much emotion. pic.twitter.com/FCLGRSSS0G — CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) September 17, 2017 The Cardinal certainly hope for a better showing off – and on – the field when the teams open the season Friday at 6 p.m.at Stanford Stadium. Though Bryce Love had two touchdowns runs of more than 50 yards last year and ended with 184 yards on 13 carries, Stanford was held to 64 passing yards and gave up an 8-yard touchdown pass in the final minute. Related Articles Stanford’s Heck captures NCAA women’s golf title Was Stanford’s new starting quarterback revealed during spring game? Stanford will keep 11 sports it planned to cut, reversing course amid pressure Pac-12 commissioner search ends in unlikely place (which was entirely predictable): With an MGM Resorts executive Athletes sue Stanford over plan to eliminate 11 sports by end of school year The teams share similar philosophies and have made bowl appearances in at least eight straight seasons. “What they do program-wise, I have a lot of respect for,” Shaw said. “It’s a football game that I recognize. It’s football for tough guys. It’s football for smart guys.”<doc-sep>San Diego State's enjoyed a successful few seasons recently under head coach Rocky Long, and the Aztecs scored perhaps the highest-profile win of that stretch last season against Stanford. The 20-17, smash-mouth affair catapulted San Diego State into the Top 25, while Stanford rallied to win eight of its next nine. Both teams enter the 2018 season with lineups capable of winning their respective conferences — Stanford the Pac-12, which it claimed in 2012, '13 and '15 under head coach Shaw; and San Diego State the Mountain West, which it won in 2015 and '16 under Long. While Friday night's rematch at Stanford Stadium has no bearing on their conference goals, this gem of the Week 1 docket will set the course for two of the most consistent winners on the West Coast. San Diego State at Stanford Kickoff: Friday, Aug. 31 at 9 p.m. ET TV: FS1 Spread: Stanford -14.5 Three Things to Watch 1. Mirror images About a decade ago, San Diego State was a program treading water. The Aztecs had not reached a bowl game since 1998, and a 6-6 finish was their high-water mark when Brady Hoke came on as head coach in 2009. Hoke spent two seasons on Montezuma Mesa, quickly turning around the program before leaving for Michigan. What began with Hoke reached new heights under Rocky Long, culminating the past three seasons with 32 combined wins. In many ways, the program's rise mirrors that of Stanford. The Cardinal languished in the doldrums in the mid-2000s before Jim Harbaugh arrived in '07. By his final season there in 2010, Stanford won the Orange Bowl, and successor David Shaw has since improved Stanford's place in the national landscape even further. What's more, the two programs succeed with similar styles, employing physically imposing defense to feed a run-first offensive approach. Each will aim to establish the ground attack behind veteran offensive lines — two of the best offensive lines out West — likely setting up another slugfest akin to last year's meeting. 2. The quarterback question The key difference between Stanford late in the 2017 season, when it beat a Notre Dame team with College Football Playoff aspirations, and in the Cardinal's early loss to San Diego State, was the emergence of quarterback K.J. Costello. Costello finished 2017 strong and developed a noticeable chemistry with talented wide receiver, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside. That dynamic can go a long way to keeping defenses honest against returning Heisman Trophy runner-up Bryce Love, who smashed the 2,000-yard barrier in 2017. However, Stanford needs Costello at full strength to maximize his potential, and he'll have to bounce back from offseason hip surgery against one of the most tenacious defenses in college football. Likewise, with San Diego State's own 2,000-yard rusher gone, Rashaad Penny, the Aztecs need an uptick in production from returning starting quarterback Christian Chapman. Should Stanford stack the box to defend the run — and it's likely — the Aztecs need greater consistency than the 22-of-47 passing he produced in last year's regular-season losses to Boise State and Fresno State. 3. A game of runs Few programs can match the impressive string of standout running backs to come through both Stanford and San Diego State in recent years. Love's Heisman-caliber season ago marked the third time since 2009 a Cardinal running back finished second in balloting for college football's top individual award. Meanwhile, tucked between that impressive stretch with Toby Gerhart, Christian McCaffrey and Love, Stanford also featured Stepfan Taylor, Tyler Gaffney and Remound Wright. San Diego State's recent running back legacy boasts Ronnie Hillman, Adam Muema, Donnel Pumphrey (yet another back to eclipse 2,000 yards), Penny, and now his successor, Juwan Washington. Washington accrued 759 yards and scored seven touchdowns as the Aztecs' change-of-pace option behind Penny. Now, he'll get the opportunity to continue San Diego State's impressive running back lineage. Maintaining an effective enough run to wear down the opponent's defense should prove critical to Friday's outcome. Final Analysis Despite reaching the Pac-12 Championship Game for the fourth time under David Shaw, Stanford finished 2017 with a pedestrian (by its standards) 9-5 record. But gauging those five losses reveals that four were by a combined 11 points. The loss at San Diego State was the first of three by three. That suggests Stanford was a team just on the cusp of competing for a national championship. The Cardinal have knocked on the door of both the BCS and College Football Playoff more than a few times since 2010. While there are question marks on the usually dependable defense — namely, who replaces Harrison Phillips? — this could be the best offense since 2015, or perhaps even 2011 if Costello progresses on the same trajectory he capped last season. San Diego State's aggressive, 3-3-5 stack defense features a variety of turnover-generating playmakers like Tariq Thompson, who picked off five passes in 2017. However, the Cardinal's outstanding offensive line and Bryce Love should wear the Aztecs down over the course of the night. Prediction: Stanford 31, San Diego State 20 — Written by Kyle Kensing, who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network and a sportswriter in Southern California. Kensing is publisher of TheOpenMan.com. Follow him on Twitter @kensing45.<doc-sep>
No. 13 Stanford does not need to wait long in order to be supremely motivated in a game as the Cardinal will have revenge firmly on their minds when they welcome in San Diego State on Friday night. You see, just last season, Stanford suffered an early shock on the road when it was upset 20-17 by the Aztecs, so there should be no doubt whatsoever that it will be looking to avoid a similar fate two years in a row. Friday night's opener also happens to serve as the official beginning of the Heisman Trophy campaign for senior running back Bryce Love, who opted to return to school despite rushing for 2,118 yards and 19 touchdowns a year ago. Viewing information Date: Friday, Aug. 31 | Time: 9 p.m. ET Location: Stanford Stadium -- Stanford, California TV: FS1 | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free) Storylines Stanford: It's exceptionally easy to become lost in the allure of Love and his run at the Heisman, and for good reason. But that shouldn't be the focus going into the season opener. Rather, eyes should be on quarterback KJ Costello, who takes control of the offense after starting the final six games of 2017. As Stanford made a run toward the Pac-12 Championship Game, Costello proved he was much more efficient than Keller Chryst (who has since transferred), throwing for nine touchdowns and just two interceptions over the final three games of the year. It also helps Costello's cause that Stanford returns its four top receivers, led by senior JJ Argeca-Whiteside, who hauled in 48 catches last season for 781 yards and nine scores. San Diego State: While we're taking the focus away from the run game for Stanford, it's the opposite for San Diego State. Rushing for 2,248 yards last season, including 175 yards to aid in the upset over the Cardinal, Rashaad Penny lit the college football world on fire en route to eventually becoming the No. 27 overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. With Penny gone, the backfield workload for coach Rocky Long now falls to junior Juwan Washington, who turned in 759 yards and 7 touchdowns last season in relief of Penny. Washington has lofty expectations in front of him as the full-time starting running back for the Aztecs, attempting to become the third consecutive San Diego State back to crack the 2,000-yard barrier, which would join Penny and Donnel Pumphrey (2016). But with five returning starters on the offensive line, it seems like a goal that can be attained. Prediction, picks Under the direction of Long, anything is possible when it comes to the Aztecs, as we saw in their upset of the Cardinal last season. But with a wealth of returning talent and vengeance on their minds, the Cardinal should emphatically announce themselves as a credible threat in the Pac-12 right off the bat with one of the more balanced attacks we've seen in the David Shaw era. Pick: Stanford -14.5 Which teams should you back on the first full weekend of the college football season? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected final score for every single FBS matchup, all from the model that nailed its final seven picks of the 2017-18 season and has returned over $4,000 in profit to $100 bettors over the last three seasons.