After surprising everyone on the road with a two point win against the Fighting Irish two weeks ago, the Cardinals squeaked out another victory—this time by just one point at home against the visiting Arizona State Sun Devils. It took all game long to get it done as they were behind 7-6 at the end of the 1st Qtr, 14-6 at the break, and 14-9 after three. But after scoring back-to-back field goals in the 4th Qtr they finally went out in front 15-14 with 6:28 left and then held the Sun Devils to a punt on their next possession and a turnover on downs on a 4th and 19 after three consecutive pass incompletions.
Although not able to get one in the end zone Stanford Junior QB Tanner McKee connected on 33-of-57 for 320 yards and 1 interception while the Cardinals rushed 25 times for 78 yards—also failing to score. As far as points go, the game ball goes to Junior Place Kicker Joshua Karty who accounted for all 15 of Stanford’s while connecting on a perfect 5-for-5 field goals in this game which tied the all time Stanford single game record and is 12-for-12 so far on the season. Arizona State Junior QB Emory Jones connected on 14-of-25 for 227 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception with that one score and 118 of those yards to Sophomore Elijhah Badger while Senior RB Xazavian Hallady rushed 18 times for 1 TD and 76 of their 128 yard total.
Stanford’s under achieving coach David Shaw had this to say after the game about their performance; “We’re finding our groove. This is how hard we play and how hard we push to finish in those games. The ball bounced our way a couple times, which is great — the ball bounced against us a couple times too throughout the season.” It’s been 15 years since the Sun Devils won on the road at Stanford. Regarding this game Arizona State interim head coach Shaun Aguano had this to say; “We weren’t efficient enough on offense [but] our defense did a great job … keeping them out of the end zone. Fifteen points shouldn’t win football games.”
Provided in the Take Away by the AP for ESPN it was noted that; “Entering Saturday, Valladay led all active FBS players with 3,847 career rushing yards and was averaging 94.3 yards per game this season. Stanford’s defense held him to 76 yards on Saturday, leaving him 77 short of 4,000 yards in his Arizona State career.” Well, like Coach Aguano said, “fifteen points shouldn’t win football games,” and it certainly won’t next weekend as Stanford heads South to the Rose Bowl to take on a UCLA team that can’t afford another loss. Arizona State also hits the road but should have an easier time of it as they’re off to Boulder to take on Colorado.