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Dr. Saturday

Sun Sep 26 06:56am EDT

Owen Marecic, Stanford iron man, scores both ways

By Matt Hinton

It had been a little over four years since the last time anyone else did it, but given the opportunity Saturday at Notre Dame, it only took Stanford fullback/inside linebacker Owen Marecic 13 seconds to score touchdowns on offense and defense to put the Irish away in the fourth quarter:

The last guy to score on offense and defense in the same game, Utah safety Eric Weddle, only took 32 seconds to turn the trick in a win over San Diego State in 2006. Of course, Doak Walker still thinks all these facemask-wearin' pretty boys are just sissyin' it up out there with their "passing game" and "water breaks," even if Marecic (unlike Weddle and other dabblers on offense, a la Charles Woodson in his 1997 Heisman season) does qualify as a true, old-school iron man by holding down full-time starting jobs on both sides.

[Related: College football team ranked for the first time since 1948]

His two-way role is one sign of weakness for Stanford: Lack of depth, especially on defense. But the Cardinal haven't showed any others in their 4-0 start. They feature one of the most balanced offenses (223 yards per game rushing, 234 passing) and widest margins of victory (they're winning by a hair shy of five touchdowns per game) in the nation. When the polls come out later Sunday, the hapless, 1-11 bottom feeder coach Jim Harbaugh inherited in 2007 should be on the verge of the top 10 for the first time since lord knows when. By this time next week, a win at Oregon could leave them as frontrunners for the Rose Bowl. Even the old-timers have to be impressed by that.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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