It took all of 19 seconds for the Mustangs to take a 7-0 lead over the Cardinal in this one—a lead that would increase to 21-0 with less than a minute left in the 1st Qtr. Stanford would start the second quarter off throwing up an interception, punt the ball away at the end of their next two short possessions and might have not scored a single point at all in the half had it not been for a Cardinal interception of SMU’s QB Kevin Jennings in his own red zone at the 14 yard line. Three plays later Stanford was in the end zone on an Elijah Brown TD pass to Elic Ayomanor to make it 21-7 halfway through the 2nd Qtr. Twelve plays later, aided by a roughing the passer penalty, the Mustangs would be in the end zone again on an LJ Johnson 5 yard TD run to go up 28-7 with less than two minutes left in the half. But it was plenty of time for SMU to hold Stanford to a three-and-out and come down the field in a little over a minute to kick a field goal with time expiring to take a 31-7 lead at the break.
Not exactly sure what went on in the locker room at half-time—maybe a scolding for scoring too many points in the first half and a new strategy to ensure failure, not sure. But after having it all together in the first half the Mustangs didn’t score a single point in the 3rd Qtr. In spite of that, the Cardinal could only close the gap by three to 31-10 on their first possession after the break and apparently decided that was enough excitement for the day—not scoring another single point the rest of the way. Although SMU would miss a field goal with just one second gone in the 4th they would still put more points up on the board when DB Cole Sanders Jr. sacked the Cardinal QB in the end zone for a safety to make it 33-10 and then follow that right up with a TD 13 plays later to make it an even 40 with still five minutes left to watch an inept Stanford offense putter around the field sitting at 4th and 1 for their last two plays of the game at the SMU 25–unable to even pick that up and probably feeling too silly probably to kick a field goal.
For Stanford, starting Freshman QB Elijah Brown was 16-of-32 for 153 yards, 1 TD, and 2 interceptions while on the ground fellow Freshman RB Micah Ford led the retreat with 13 carries for 31 yards. And I don’t mean to be critical of him as he had six times more yards than their next leading rusher—but sometimes my sarcasm oozes out and I can’t stop it. The team actually gained 43 yards total on 22 attempts but once you add in the negative 10 yards on Brown’s 12 attempts to get out of danger it adds up just 33 for the team. SMU’s Sophomore QB Kevin Jennings connected on 17-of-27 for 322 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 pick while rushing 10 times for another 18 yards. In a run-by-committee approach four players rushed at least 8 times each for 37 carries, 180 yards, and 2 TD’s—both by Junior RB LJ Johnson. SMU led in first downs and had 300 more yards of total offense but also had 10 penalties for 100 yards and three turnovers both of which normally would have given an opponent opportunities to get back in the game. But nothing they did seemed to help a Stanford team that seems well on their way to a fourth consecutive 3-9 year.
In high school football, the Mercy Rule is designed to prevent games from becoming excessively one-sided while maintaining sportsmanship, player safety and morale. This regulation allows games to either end early or changes how the game clock operates when one team establishes a commanding lead. I think everyone would have benefited from having this one end at the break–especially me.