It was a loss, their sixth on the year, but it was the best they’ve played since their Week-3 26-24 win over Syracuse. Down 27-24 with under two minutes left in the game and sitting 2nd and 10 at the Wake Forest 36 with almost 30 seconds left to get the ball in position to at least tie the game with a field goal, Cardinal QB Ashton Daniels got his pass intercepted at the 10 yard line with just 21 seconds left and that was it—six losses, five in a row, and three to ranked teams by an average of 32 points. As the AP pointed out in their Recap for ESPN; “The Cardinal lost their fifth straight game and are winless at home against FBS opponents in two seasons under coach Troy Taylor. Stanford has lost 12 straight home games overall against FBS opponents.”
Taylor currently holds the record for the lowest winning percentage in a Cardinal football history that dates all the way back to 1892. He had this to say afterwards; “We were a couple of plays short. It could have been in any of the three areas — special teams, offense, defense. If we make one more play on any side of the ball, we probably come away with the win.” Come on coach, “it could have been . . . we probably,” are you telling me you don’t know specifically at least something that lost that game for you? If not, how are you going to ever fix the problem. Is winning just a coincidence? You coached three solid seasons at Sacramento State going undefeated, 11-0, in the regular season of your final year and set a school record for most wins in a season at 12 and were ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in the FCS polls. Come on, figure it out—do better!
It took the Cardinal four possessions to get unscrewed in this one with a three-and-out to start the game, an interception on their second leading to a Wake Forest TD, a missed field goal on their third leaving the Demon Deacons good field position which led to their second TD, then finally a TD of their own on a Justin Lamson run into the end zone early in the 2nd Qtr and down 14-7. Wake Forest would help the Cardinals out on their very next possession with a fumble at mid-field returned for TD by Stanford’s Junior LB Tevarua Tafiti to tie the score at 14 a piece. But would take the lead back with a field goal and then extend it by seven more when a Stanford fumble on their first play after the kick-off would lead to another Demon Deacons TD to go up 24-14 with under two minutes left in the half. The Cardinals used all but one second of it to come 53 yards down the field in 11 plays and close the score on a 40 yard field goal by Emmet Kenney to go in 24-17 at the half.
The second half was similar for Stanford, more mess—a three-and-out, two interceptions, a punt—with a score thrown in there to start the 4th Qtr which tied the game 24-24. After picking off a Wake Forest pass the Cardinal had a chance to go ahead in this one but had to punt it away after the drive stalled at their own 45 yard line. A 36 yard punt return would set the Demon Deacons up at midfield. Ten plays and 45 yards later they would kick a 23 yard field goal to go up 27-24 with under two minutes left in the game. If you’ve forgotten the ending that goes here head back to sentence number two at the top.
Interesting fun fact about Stanford’s football history. Probably everybody that reads this remembers that the great Bill Walsh and Jim Harbaugh both coached Stanford in the past. They’ve had a lot of coaches—32 in fact—one of which was Glenn Scobey Warner, better known as just Pop Warner. He led the Cardinal for nine years starting in 1924, a season in which they were undefeated and played Cal—also undefeated— to a 20-20 tie in their final game. But because that was Cal’s second tie of the year Stanford was chosen to play in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day against Notre Dame and their well known backfield of the Four Horsemen—coached by Knute Rockne! Pop Warner had his own horseman in Ernie Nevers who Pop referred to as his greatest player. Warner, inducted into the inaugural class of the College Football Hall of Fame had developed the single and double wing formations which eventually evolved into what we know at the spread and shotgun.
The game was a contrast of styles, Pop Warner’s system of wing backs, unbalanced line, and power running against Knute Rockne’s variation of the single wing called the Notre Dame Box formation which relied on a lot of deception with complicated backfield shifts and motion. Although Pop’s single horseman Ernie Nevers played every minute of the game and rushed for more yards—114—than all of the Four Horsemen combined they struggled to get points on the board and lost 27-10. In 1926 his team went undefeated and played Alabama to a 7-7 tie in the Rose Bowl. After that game both teams were recognized as co-national champions. This next Saturday—the Cardinal hit the road to take on a much more mundane assignment against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.