California at Stanford
With Cal coughing up two fumbles that were returned for TD’s and another that led to a TD four plays later it’s really hard to say that the Cardinal won as opposed to saying that the Golden Bears lost it or gave it away. But the final score was 31-10 in favor of Stanford. Both teams were held to three-and-outs on their first possession before Cal took a 3-0 lead at the end of an 11 play 56 yard drive and 40 yard field goal by their Freshman Place Kicker Abram Murray. Stanford’s second possession was like the first and their third had twice as many plays but still resulted in a punt. Sitting 1st and 10 at the 45 yard line Cal finally helped the Cardinal out with the first of those fumbles returned for TD giving Stanford a 7-3 lead early in the 2nd Qtr. The Golden Bears would take the lead back on their next possession, a 15 play, 75 yard, clock eating 8+ minute drive that resulted in an 8 yard TD run by their Freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to make it a 10-7 game. Stanford’s 23 yard field goal attempt to tie the game was blocked but that’s OK because Cal gifted them with another fumble returned for TD from the same 45 yard line as the first to give the Cardinal back the lead at 14-10 with less than a minute left in the half.
Stanford tried another field goal to start the second half and although this one wasn’t blocked their Senior Place Kicker Emmet Kenney missed the 35 yard attempt anyway. The next three possessions all resulted in three-and-outs, one for Stanford and two for Cal. But on the Cardinal’s third possession of the second half Kenney finally got one to go through the uprights from 36 yards out to give Stanford a seven point cushion at 17-10 with a little over two minutes left. I guess Cal’s third fumble of the game wasn’t as bad as the first two since it wasn’t immediately returned for a TD. But it was fumbled just three plays into their drive at their own 25 yard line and recovered by Stanford at the Cal 20 yard line. Four plays later Sophomore RB Micah Ford would run it into the end zone to push that Cardinal lead to 24-10 with most of the fourth quarter left to play. After holding Cal to a three-and-out on their next possession Stanford would find the end zone again just five plays later on a 34 yard TD pass from Freshman QB Elijah Brown to Senior WR CJ Williams to make it a 31-10 game with ten minutes left. Cal would drive all the way down to the Stanford six yard line on their next possession, but needing TD’s and not field goals attempted to convert a 4th and goal at the Cardinal six yard line and ended up having to turn the ball back over after eating up more than half of the time that was left. Stanford picked up a couple of first downs on their next possession while eating up enough of the clock that there was less than two minutes left when they turned the ball back over to the Golden Bears. Cal spent 9 plays getting down to the Stanford 19 yard line but Sagapolutele was sacked on 4th and 3 giving the ball back to Stanford and preserving the 31-10 win.
For Stanford, Freshman QB Elijah Brown was 10-of-20 for 123 yards, 1 TD to Senior WR CJ Williams, and no interceptions. On the ground, Cal had no answer for the Cardinal’s Sophomore RB Micah Ford who carried the ball 29 times for 150 yards and their only rushing TD. For Cal, Freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele connected on 33-of-49 for 269 yards without a TD or an interception but did run one into the end zone. Except for the one TD by their QB, the Golden Bear’s rushing game was non-existent. While Junior RB Kendrik Raphael did accumulated 47 yards on 15 carries by the time all the negative yardage was added in, collectively the team rushed 26 times for 12 yards. Stanford had two more first downs, 17-15; 15 less total yards of offense, 282-297; had possession of the ball for seven fewer minutes, but had just 30 yards in penalties compared to 123 yards for Cal and most importantly had no-turnovers compared to those three for the Golden Bears—all resulting in TD’s.