[socalstanfan1]

First, I respect Mike Riley and everything he has been able to do at Oregon State during his time there. 

But while lauding the OSU defense's ability to shut down elite runners (though I believe Montee Ball was just coming back from injury, so that might have helped in that case), Stew missed the fact that OSU gave up about 350 passing yards to the Bruins.

Time will tell if Mandel correctly tabbed OSU as dark horse candidates; Riley certainly has a history of getting his teams to improve as the year goes on.  But right now I'd say the difference between Stanford and OSU on the defensive side of the ball is that Stanford was able to shut down USC's running game while primarily playing nickel and dime packages to also control the passing game.  Just judging from the box score it looks like Oregon sacrificed some pass defense to shut down the Bruin's run game. 

[socalstanfan1]

First, I respect Mike Riley and everything he has been able to do at Oregon State during his time there. 

But while lauding the OSU defense's ability to shut down elite runners (though I believe Montee Ball was just coming back from injury, so that might have helped in that case), Stew missed the fact that OSU gave up about 350 passing yards to the Bruins.

Time will tell if Mandel correctly tabbed OSU as dark horse candidates; Riley certainly has a history of getting his teams to improve as the year goes on.  But right now I'd say the difference between Stanford and OSU on the defensive side of the ball is that Stanford was able to shut down USC's running game while primarily playing nickel and dime packages to also control the passing game.  Just judging from the box score it looks like Oregon sacrificed some pass defense to shut down the Bruin's run game.