Five takeaways from Stanford’s loss to No. 15 Clemson
On Saturday, Stanford football fell to Clemson on the road by a final score of 40-14. In the next AP Top 25 Poll, Clemson improved their ranking from No. 17 to No. 15. Below are five takeaways I have from the game.
RECAP: Stanford falls to No. 17 Clemson in Death Valley
#1. QB play is holding the team back: The biggest takeaway I had from Saturday’s game is that quarterback play is holding Stanford back. Ashton Daniels went 9-19 for one touchdown and three interceptions and only 71 passing yards. Stanford had 361 total yards to Clemson’s 405, but thanks to some bad decisions by Daniels, Stanford wasn’t able to put more points on the board and put more pressure on Clemson in the first half. If Stanford had better quarterback play, they’d be a much better team.
Hopefully true freshman Elijah Brown will be able to return for at least the final three games of the season and lead the offense. My intel indicates he should be ready by then and be able to preserve his redshirt. But for the next month, Stanford is going to have to make do with Justin Lamson and Myles Jackson if Daniels has to miss any time due to his foot injury.
#2. Emmett Mosley V is a welcomed addition: In his first game, true freshman wide receiver Emmett Mosley V had a solid outing with seven receptions for 48 yards and one touchdown. Stanford has been very excited about him and he showed why. He gives them another receiving threat and somebody who takes some of the pressure off Elic Ayomanor and Tiger Bachmeier. It’s also good timing to get him back as Mudia Rueben is done for the year and expected to take a medical redshirt.
#3. Micah Ford is the best running back on the team: True freshman Micah Ford proved that he’s the best running back on the team, rushing for 122 yards on 15 attempts. He’s the real deal and playing very well. He runs hard, downhill, and has a great feel for the game. He’s only going to get better as the season goes on, which should make Stanford excited.
#4. The defense is the strength of the team: While the offense had struggles, the defense kept Stanford in the game a lot longer than they should have been. The defense had six tackles for loss and one interception (cornerback Collin Wright), doing a nice job of getting stops and forcing Clemson to punt or settle for field goals. Outside linebacker David Bailey was putting great pressure on the quarterback all night long and the defense just in general was playing with a lot of intensity and had a great edge to them. This game established that defense is going to be what Stanford needs to hang their hat on so long as the quarterback play remains an issue.
#5. Troy Taylor isn’t afraid to be aggressive on fourth downs: Stanford went 0-3 on 4th down conversions though to defend head coach Troy Taylor, one of those would have been a successful conversion had Justin Lamson held onto the ball. Love it or hate it, aggression on 4th downs is a part of Troy Taylor’s modus operandi. I did ask Taylor about this during Tuesday’s press conference and he said a lot of it comes down to analytics though they don’t just blindly follow what the analytics say.
I think on the whole, this is good for Stanford. Specifically the analytics part. David Shaw had an almost hostile approach to analytics saying he believed in going with your gut. It’s good for Stanford to have a coach who embraces analytics for a change. It’s a cool feature of this modern era. There’s no reason to not use it.
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