Previewing USC's matchup: Five things to know about Stanford

Through coach David Shaw's first eight seasons at Stanford, the Cardinal averaged a tick above 10 wins a season, making the program a beacon of stability in the Pac-12.

Then came the 4-8 drop-off in 2019 and a bounce-back in 2020 -- but a tough-to-read season overall as Stanford lost its first two games to Oregon and Colorado and then strung together four-straight narrow road wins by an average margin of just 2.5 points over Stanford, Washington, Oregon State and UCLA.

That was with an experienced quarterback in Davis Mills and a veteran-led defense.

Some of that defense returns, but Mills is now in the NFL with the Houston Texans and Stanford let its quarterback competition extend into the first week of the season, with senior Jack West and sophomore Tanner McKee splitting the action.

West threw for just 76 yards and 2 interceptions before giving way to McKee, who completed 15 of 18 passes for 118 yards and a late touchdown.

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McKee will now make his first start Saturday night against USC, but having a new QB isn't the only concern for the Cardinal, which rushed for just 39 yards on 1.8 per carry las week -- hardly numbers anyone would expect from a traditional ground-and-pound program. (It marked the fewest rushing yards in a game for Stanford since a November 2019 contest vs. Washington State, but it was also the third time in the last seven games the Cardinal has been held under 100 rushing yards).

"Watching the film, I put it on my shoulders that we had a lot of Game 1 issues, particularly on the offensive side. More so than we usually have," Shaw said this week. "It's our job to get that out. ... We had opportunities, we took advantage of some but many we lost."

And to think USC fans have been grousing all week about the Trojans' offensive struggles.

As is the same for both programs, more will be expected Saturday night.

Meanwhile, here's a closer look at the matchup that awaits USC ...

USC vs. Stanford

Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

When: 7:30 p.m. PT Saturday

TV: FOX

There may not be a whole lot of film to study on Stanford sophomore quarterback Tanner McKee just yet, but there are a few Trojans who have some familiarity with him.

McKee was a four-star top-100 national prospect out of Corona Centennial High School in the 2018 recruiting class (before delaying his arrival at Stanford for two years with a LDS mission).

At Corona Centennial, he overlapped with USC outside linebacker Drake Jackson, defensive end Korey Foreman (for a year), linebacker Tuasivi Nomura and wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr.

Foreman shared his thoughts on his former teammate earlier this week.

"He's a guy. He's a guy. I know he can do a lot of things. He’s a speed quarterback. I know he can run. I know he’s a leader. I know he can be a leader. He’s got that leadership mentality," Foreman said. "And he for sure, he knows how to use his body well. ... He’s not a get-down type of quarterback. I feel like he’s not scared to run over somebody. But yeah, it’s going to be a blessing to play against an old Huskie."

McKee was the No. 4-ranked pro-style QB in that 2018 recruiting class, so he has the pedigree of a top prospect. And while he's a sophomore in standing, he's three full years removed from high school already so he's not necessarily a young quarterback.

"He has a lot of the traits that you're looking for. That's the reason he was so highly rated coming out of high school. Quick release, very accurate, very competitive, great leader," Shaw said. "For a tall guy, he's pretty athletic too -- he can move. And he's got a strong arm and he doesn't need a lot of space. He doesn't need to really step into it. He's got a strong arm and he can get the ball down the field.

"This competition really has gone really well. Both guys really elevated their games, both guys played really, really well up until this past weekend. So he's shown the team a lot of what he can do. Going out in the game, I thought he still made some young guy mistakes, still some things he needs to clean up and get better, but at the same time I thought he also showed a lot of promise."

Shaw is hoping the rest of the offense does its part this week so that McKee doesn't have to be carry a heavy burden in his first start.

"I just told Tanner I just want him to play. He doesn't have to take the world on his shoulders, he doesn't have to do anything other than play quarterback," Shaw said. "... Us being able to run the ball I think will take some pressure off of him in his first start, so that's going to be a big factor is really getting our running back started in order to be as balanced an offense as we want to be."

The Cardinal have plenty of experience in the ground game with returning starter Austin Jones back at running back and three returning starters along the offensive line.

Jones rushed for 550 yards in six games last season, averaging 4.4 a carry and 91.7 yards per game. In the opener last week, though, he managed 25 yards on 9 carries (2.8 per carry).

Behind him is sophomore E.J. Smith, the son of Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith. He had 3 carries for 18 yards last week after not receiving any carries as a freshman.

Leading the offensive line in front of them is junior left tackle Walter Rouse (18 career starts), junior left guard Barrett Miller (15 starts) and junior right guard Branson Bragg (8 starts). Junior center Drake Nugent and sophomore right tackle Myles Hinton are new starters this season and showed some vulnerability last week.

Nugent and Hinton combined to allow 5 QB hurries and 2 sacks vs. Kansas State while the line allowed 8 QB hurries overall in addition to those 2 sacks overall.

"We didn't put our best foot forward -- I think that's pretty obvious," Bragg said. "We didn't perform the way we wanted to and the way we feel like we can."

That matchup up front could be the key to the game for both sides. For USC, the Trojans came away very encouraged by their pass rush last week even without notching a sack. The coaches noted that San Jose State QB Nick Starkel consistently got rid of the ball quickly to ward off any sacks but that they felt their pressure disrupted a number of his throws. (Indeed, he had Tuli Tuipulotu in his face on the pass that went for a pick-6 to Greg Johnson).

USC is expected to have its full pass rush intact. Coach Clay Helton said defensive end Nick Figueroa is a game-day decision, but defensive line coach Vic So'oto expressed no doubt he would play.

"I thought we played OK up front. I thought we could have played much better and we're going to need to. USC's front, there's size, speed, athleticism, they're always on the attack and that's one of the things that we need to respond to and not receive their attack but we need to be on the attack," Shaw said. "If we play well, I think it's a good match."

Stanford is without its top three receivers from last season, losing All-Pac-12 first-teamer Simi Fehoko to the NFL, Connor Wedington to graduation and Michael Wilson to injury.

Senior Brycen Tremayne (14 catches for 265 yards last year) and junior Elijah Higgins (15-176) return, and Tremayne had 5 catches for 62 yards and a touchdown in the opener. The name to note, though, might be sophomore John Humphreys, a highly-rated prospect out of Corona del Mar HS who the Trojans recruited heavily. The athletic 6-foot-5 target had a quiet freshman season, but he notched 3 catches for 53 yards last week.

Stanford often has a strength at tight end, but the group this year is largely unproven. Redshirt senior Tucker Fisk plays on both sides of the ball, while sophomore Benjamin Yurosek had the first 3 catches of his career (for 25 yards) last week.

Stanford lost two of its top three tacklers from last season in linebacker Curtis Robinson and free safety Malik Antoine and in general is counting on a number of players to contribute more than they have in the past.

On the defensive line, Stanford returns a starter in senior defensive end Thomas Booker (a preseason first-team All-Pac-12 selection) along with a pair of fifth-year seniors stepping into bigger roles in DT Dalyn Wade-Perry (who had a sack last week) and DE Ryan Johnson.

There is age but not so much proven experience overall at linebacker, as well. Senior inside linebackers Ricky Miezan (team-high 8 tackles last week) and Jacob Mangum-Farrar each missed most of the last two seasons with injuries, while sixth-year outside linebacker Jordan Fox has started games each of the last three seasons and junior outside linebacker Stephen Herron was a part-time starter last season.

Junior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly is in his third season as a starter and recorded an interception last week while senior corner Ethan Bonner is largely unproven.

And at safety, senior Kendall Williamson is also in his third year as a starter while fifth-year senior Noah Williams made just his second career start last week.

Overall, Stanford allowed 200 yards rushing on 6.5 a carry to a ground-oriented Kansas State team.

This should be a prime opportunity to continue to build some momentum in the rushing attack for USC, but then again the last time these teams met Trojans quarterback Kedon Slovis completed 28 of 33 passes for 377 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs.

Asked if he sees anything different in the Cardinal defense now vs. then, USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said no.

"It doesn't seem that way," he said. "I think it's really probably for anyone, but it seems like for us a lot of times you'll get different stuff than you see on tape, so we'll obviously prepare for what we see on tape and got to be ready to adjust if something else comes out. But the tape looks similar to what they've always been."

This is the 101st all-time meeting between USC and Stanford, as the Cardinal are the Trojans' oldest rival with the series dating back to 1905. USC officially leads the all-time series 63-33-3 with another win vacated from the 2005 season, but Stanford has won 9 of the last 15 meetings.

Because of the pandemic-shortened Pac-12 season last year, the programs did not play each other for the first time since 1945.

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Interestingly, Stanford begins the season with three straight games away from home -- no other Power 5 program even has two straight games away from home to start the year. Moreover, it will ultimately be seven straight away from home overall dating back to last season.

After opening against Kansas State in Arlington, Texas, last week, and now traveling to Los Angeles this weekend, Stanford next goes on the road to Vanderbilt.

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Stanford is 27-20 all-time against top-25 opponents under Shaw and has defeated at least one ranked team on the road in 7 of Shaw's 10 seasons.