STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford’s victory against Army was well in hand before anything of lasting significance took place. And when it finally did, the Cardinal had its second-team defense to thank.
Facing a fourth-and-1 from the Stanford 2 with 80 seconds left, Army wasn’t content breaking up the 35-0 shutout with a field goal. For the Black Knights, it was end zone or bust.
“Well, there are certain situations where you've got a shutout, and you put the second team in there and the [other] team drives down," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "You think about putting the starters back in there, but absolutely not [this time].”
Option-left was the call, and Stanford countered with a successful corner blitz to help preserve what amounts to a historic shutout. Following its Week 1 shutout of UC Davis, the Cardinal has multiple shutouts in the same season for just the third time since 1950.
“We did the same about three plays in a row there, and it worked every time,” said defensive end Henry Anderson, who watched from the sideline. “We wanted to keep that shutout. We were happy those guys got it done.”
The last time Stanford recorded multiple shutouts in a season came in 2010, when it had three, but before that it hadn't happened since 1969.
The performance was also the 26th consecutive game the Cardinal held its opponent under 30 points -- the longest such streak in the country. With former defensive stars Shayne Skov, Ben Gardner and Chase Thomas watching from the sideline, the defense, again, showed no signs it'll regress.
Coming into the season, there was reason to wonder.
Losing five players to the NFL -- OLB Trent Murphy, S Ed Reynolds, DE Josh Mauro, Skov and Gardner -- plus defensive coordinator Derek Mason -- didn't figure to allow for a seamless transition. But through three weeks, there's no reason not to classify Stanford among the nation's best.
While obviously premature, Shaw was even asked after the game if the defense can be the best he's had since arriving on the Farm on Jim Harbaugh's staff in 2007.
He didn't take the bait.
"Those are discussions for when the season's over," Shaw said. "We're off to a great start. The thing that I'll keep hammering home to our guys, because they should feel good about themselves on defense right now. That's great. We're only three games in, and we're where we are on defense because we're playing together."
Inside linebacker Blake Martinez, who has proven to be a worthy replacement for Skov, finished with a game-high 11 tackles and James Vaughters finished with six tackles, including two for loss.
With three days of practice to prepare for Army's triple-option offense, Shaw credited new defensive coordinator Lance Anderson for installing an effective game plan. The Black Knights were limited to just 207 yards of total offense a week after putting up 47 points and 466 yards against Buffalo.
Stanford now has two weeks to prepare for a trip to Washington, where the Huskies will be making their Pac-12 debut under new coach Chris Petersen.