[CTcard]

One thing I don't really understand about the aversion to kicking it OOB is that the 35 isn't that great of a starting position.

Well, Stanford's starting field position after UCLA kickoffs was:
S-25, U-4, S-26, S-25, S-25, S-25, S-25.
So, compared to kicking off out of bounds, that would be a net +2 yards for Stanford on the game.

Of course there are other considerations beyond that average (one great return is worth more than many kind of good returns), but I am also sure that UCLA thought they could keep McCaffrey from having a 96 yard return.

Generically, I think it's pretty easy to see why you don't want to just give up all those yards.

[CTcard]

One thing I don't really understand about the aversion to kicking it OOB is that the 35 isn't that great of a starting position.

Well, Stanford's starting field position after UCLA kickoffs was:
S-25, U-4, S-26, S-25, S-25, S-25, S-25.
So, compared to kicking off out of bounds, that would be a net +2 yards for Stanford on the game.

Of course there are other considerations beyond that average (one great return is worth more than many kind of good returns), but I am also sure that UCLA thought they could keep McCaffrey from having a 96 yard return.

Generically, I think it's pretty easy to see why you don't want to just give up all those yards.